Review for Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty. Game for PlayStation Network, PC, iOS, Mac, Wii U, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Linux, the video game was released on 22/07/2014 The version for PC came out on 25/02/2015 The version for Xbox One came out on 27/03/2015
Rogue nostalgia
There are certain memories that remain indelible in the mind. We realize this when, once again crossing the heavy doors of the Hernia slaughterhouses, we almost seem to smell the penetrating smell of the meat being processed. It is then that the most terrible memory comes back strongly to our mind, accompanied by a long shiver that runs down our backs: the scrab meat is over, the next raw material for the delicious snacks of the slaughterhouses we have become workers. So, while we think about what to do, trembling with fear, Abe arrives: “Hi”, he says. "Hello" we reply, standing up. "Follow me", he continues, and we, today as then, give him the only possible answer: "Ok!"
A bit of history
It was the year 1997 and, in their Playstation One, the little editors of Epic Videogames Guide discovered Oddworld in all its uniqueness: a graphically delightful title, with a grotesque plot and immoderate difficulty, which slowly managed to carve out a place in the heart of all the gamers of that period. The structure of Abe's odyssey is, also in this remake, the same as the original: as the green alien - who has just discovered that the Mudokons, his race, will be the raw material for future snacks produced in the slaughterhouse in which he works - players will have to overcome a series of deadly traps in two-dimensional puzzle / platforming screens, bringing both their fellowmen and their own skin to safety.
This is enough, if you don't know Abe, to know everything you need to jump into the action. To gamers with a few more years on their shoulders, who like us have tasted all the goodness of the original videogame product, we can instead assure that the cutscenes and the narration bring with them all the spirit of 1997, giving the same emotions and proving capable of make anyone fond of poor Abe.
Before Dark Souls
When the games were still difficult - especially the platfoms - and, above all, when this difficulty was extraordinarily capable of not turning into frustration, there was Abe's Odyssey. The remake features a very convenient quick save feature that we will talk about shortly but, apart from that, the difficulty and the very high number of deadly dangers (with related subsequent deaths) has remained exactly the same. Enemies ready to shoot at the slightest noise, bombs, mines, electric saws, alien watchdogs and, of course, unlikely jumps and climbs that require a deep knowledge of a control system that does not forgive the smallest of mistakes: these are the characteristics highlights of Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty. In the game you continue by trial and error: you will hardly pass a pattern on the first try, even if you are lucky players. Trying different solutions, figuring out how to get a weapon or how to deal with a sequence of switches to save all the Mudokons in the area are tasks that require the patience of an experienced Tibetan monk, since you will be called over and over again and repeat the steps. same actions after being cruelly murdered by one of the deadly threats in the world of Oddworld.
We said above about the only feature capable of lowering the difficulty bar, meeting the less experienced or patient players: in the version we tested - the PS4 - a simple press of the touchpad is enough to set a control point, to be recalled simply with a longer press. This allows, in case of sudden death, to restart from your quick save rather than from the checkpoint automatically saved by the game, thus saving a series of tedious steps already passed. Despite this, our warning should still go to those unfamiliar with Oddworld: it is not a title for impulsive gamers but, on the contrary, it is a fairly retro game, difficult enough, in which the difficulty incredibly manages not to become frustration. rather, proving to be a challenge that leaves a feeling of great satisfaction once overcome.
Graphic restyling, but not too much
New and Tasty it is not a simple high definition re-proposal of the original 1997 title: the game has been entirely rewritten both in the mechanics - faithful to the original but slightly different - as in the graphics. The latter was a real workhorse of Oddword and the developers have been able to celebrate its genius also in New and Tasty, in which Abe's macabre deaths take on a caricatural aspect thanks to a style poised between cartoon and grotesque . The pride of this edition are shadows, a feast for the eyes both in the narrow corridors of the Hernia slaughterhouses and in the sunny rocky mountains where the Mudokons live.
As for the sound, however, good news and bad news. The first is given by the return of the many hilarious effects that aficionados will remember, first of all the voices of Mudokon and Slig, to be used more than once to unlock passages and open password-protected doors. The second news, the bad one, is the lack of localization of the game, at least in the version we tested: the menus and subtitles in our language are not enough to make us forget the small dialogues - like the one mentioned at the beginning - between Abe and his peers and listening to them in English doesn't have the same effect, a bit like when the voice actor of your favorite actor changes. However, this is a marginal detail that, who knows, may also be corrected in the near future.
New and tasty
The new Oddworld could not have had a better subtitle: new, because it manages to bring back the classic mechanics of the series, partially redesigning the levels and proposing a degree of difficulty that is sometimes extreme that we can rarely find in video games released in the last decade; tasty, as it proves perfectly capable of entertaining old and new fans, with small variations on the theme that manage to demonstrate how the mechanics and gameplay of more than fifteen years ago are still incredibly current and fun. For those still not convinced, we point out that the game, distributed in digital delivery at the popular price of 21 Euro, offers cross-buy and cross-save functions, thus allowing you to bring the same purchase from the living room to the bus without any solution. continuity. Saving all the Mudokons to watch the best ending will certainly not be easy, but we are sure that old and new fans will spend several hours in the company of Abe and his brothers, trust us.
[signoff icon = ”quote-circled”] The charismatic Abe returns in a re-edition of his first, memorable adventure. Celebrating enough, redesigned and rethought without however distorting the spirit of the original game, Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty is one of the titles that should never be missing in any gamer's playroom. [/ Signoff]
► Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty is a Platform-Puzzle-Adventure-indie game for PlayStation Network, PC, iOS, Mac, Wii U, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Linux, the video game is released on 22/07/2014 The version for PC came out on 25/02/2015 The version for Xbox One came out on 27/03/2015
