Abe is a Mudukon on a mission. Armed with only his mind he intends to take on his employers in the meat factory and save his colleagues from becoming literally the meat in the sandwich. By using the unique "ALIVE" (Aware Lifeforms In Virtual Entertainment) technique, Abe can greet his workmates and ask them to follow him to the strategically placed "bird portals" and teleport them the hell outta there. Should Abe encounter any nasty "Sligs" (gun toting armoured slugs) then he can possess their mind and control them, using their weapon to destroy fellow sligs and then make them spontaneously combust, leaving the path free for Abe and his pals on their escape route.
Abe must leave the facory into a very surreal outside world in order to get back to rescue the remaining Mudukons. Here he will encounter many other bad guys on his travels including "Slogs" (sligs slavering pit-bull type pets) and also Mudukons who require their whistle and bodily function noises repeated a la Simon Says in order to let Abe proceed.
Visually this is a stunning game with beautifully rendered backgrounds and the detail and animation of the games' many characters is superb. Although predominantly a 2D platform game there are some beautiful moments where the camera suddenly goes 3D and swoops through the background to a distant platform and then back to 2D as Abe appears on screen. Also the FMV sequences at the beginning and throughout the game look almost life-like (err.. if you lived in Oddworld).
The music score in the game is very good and is not just background music. As the tempo in the game hots up... so does the music. The sound effects are good and the unique "Gamespeak" function is very good fun as well as being an integral part of the game.
Abe's Oddysee commands quite a vast area to cover as from Rupture farms you are propelled into the mad worlds of paramites and scrabs before returning to complete your mission. Some particularly complex puzzles make the game very frustrating yet somewhat intriguing and addictive. Once you finish the game you will either get a "good" or "bad" ending depending on the amount of Mudukons you rescue. If you get the "bad" ending I think you will feel compelled to go back one day and find out what the "good" ending reveals. As with most adventure games though, once it is fully complete there isn't much chance of you going back to it.
Overall Abe's Oddysee is a very good looking game and the gameplay doesn't suffer for it. It requires brain-power, skill and lightning reflexes to combat your way through Oddworld. A nice touch is the fact that Abe is unarmed and particularly weak, so you have to think of alternate ways of disposing of the bad guys other than blasting them like you would in most games. I have played the game through once but didn't rescue enough of my pals so I got the "bad" ending. I am positive I will go back to it eventually and finish it with the "good" ending. Well worth buying as you can get it at a fairly reasonable price in some stores.
Update 4/10/98: I have now been back to Abe's Oddysee and finished it with the "good ending" like I said I would. Very enjoyable again. Now out on Platinum range so even more of a bargain. Look out for the sequel "Abe's Exodus" which is released in November 1998.
