Oddworld: Strangers Wrath (Xbox)
Title: Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
Developer: Oddworld Inhabitants
Players: 1
Genre: Adventure
Platforms: XBOX
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Wildly Western
The Oddworld franchise has always been a bit of an oddity (No Pun Intended), the wonderful, yet twisted art direction of the series, plus it's somewhat sick, and potty mouthed humour has always appealed to a large audience since the early 90's (1994 to be exact) ever since the series kicked off with Abe's Odyssey it's had a sort of cult following worldwide. Oddworld Inhabitants latest addition to the oddworld trilogy changes the Oddworld formula dramatically, but does it keep the essence, and attitude of past games in the series? Stranger's Wrath deters from the chronicles of Abe & Munch and shifts it's focus to a new addition to the Oddworld Universe, Stranger. Stranger is a bounty hunter, who needs to hunt down outlaws just to survive, you see, Stranger has to pay for an operation, but the price is a hefty one, $20,000. As Stranger, it's up to you to haul in as many outlaws as you can, and raise enough funds to pay for the operation. And as a seasoned bounty hunter, this shouldn't be much of a problem for the animalistic Clint Eastwood look-alike.
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Hand Of Odd
Strangers Wrath combines free form gameplay with a linear path on which to follow. Whilst travelling between certain towns you can mosey on into your nearest bounty shop to acquire about certain bounties in the nearby areas, you'll only get a handful of bounties at a time but the order in which you tackle each outlaw is completely up to you, after all bounties in a certain area are cleared your presented with a final scenario in which to take part in, completion of these finales usually result in you having to proceed to the next town/village. It's nice to have such freedom to tackle anything you want in any order, but the game keeps you in your place by presenting the player with a mostly linear path in which to progress on between bounty missions.
The series originally started out as a 2D platformer, but as time passed Oddworld Inhabitants opted to bring the series into the 21st century in glorious 3D with moderate success, it was a flawed title, but it still emulated the look and feel of the 2D games to a tee. Strangers Wrath is the second Oddworld game to experiment with 3D gameplay. The developers decided to change the formula dramatically by implemented more action orientated elements and FPS gameplay, as well as keeping the 3rd Person platform elements that the developers have kept so close to their hearts. Many other games in the past have tried to mix hybrid gameplay and have failed, but Strangers Wrath manages to do this very well.
The platforming elements of the game are done really well, Stranger himself is an extremely versatile, and flexible fellow, he can scale ropes, sprint on all fours, melee enemies when close and double jump short distances and heights. You'll be using these skills for the most part of the game, to navigate round the expansive environments you'll come across during the course of the game.
By clicking the right thumbstick you go into first person mode, this makes switching for a third person perspective to a first person quick and effortless. The combination of platforming and shooting is just one of the many unique aspects of the game.
Where as most games use an ammo system that consists of collecting ammo boxes and various firepower, Strangers Wrath decides to ditch this system introducing a "Live" ammo system in its place. You see, Strangers Wrath only provides the player with a single weapon. A crossbow. It's highly unorthodox for such a system to be introduced into a game such as this, but it's not the gun that provides the player with different modes of fire, it's the ammo itself, you see, the crossbow doesn't use bullets as such, it uses wild critters, each critter found wandering around in the wild can be mounted onto the crossbow and can be used as projectiles, to either immobilize enemies, or kill them. Two different types of ammo can be mounted onto the crossbow at once and can be fired by using the left and right triggers simultaneously depend on which side of the crossbow the ammo is located. Each type of ammo has it's own unique look and behaviour. For example; Skunkles can immobilize a foe by making them keel over barfing due to the extreme stench they let off upon impact, whilst Bees pound the enemy with fast firing rounds, which can finish a foe off quickly. It's a unique premise and is pulled off extremely well, it's immense fun experimenting with certain ammo types and seeing what they can do.
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Crossbows and Fuzzles
Visually Strangers Wrath is beautiful, even to this day. The distinct look and feel of Oddworlds inhabitants, and the rich Wild West style really mould together well, it's a departure from the usual style of the oddworld games, but the distinct character design and scenery really hits home in true oddworld style.
The audio is simply charming. The soundtrack is distinctively western, with low-pitched banjo's playing and various other western themed instruments being thrown into the mix. But the voice acting, as charming, and stereotypically western as it is, sounds rather subdued, and played at a low bit rate, it's not awful but in comparison to how clear the music sounds it's rather obvious that the speech quality isn't as good as the music clarity.
The game is rather on the short side, you could easily complete it within a few lengthy sittings, and the boss battles can feel dragged out at times, but Strangers Wrath is a fun title, rich with atmosphere, an easy to play structure, and a unique premise which is pulled off brilliantly. Strangers Wrath is one of the best games that people aren't playing, which is a shame, as the game is one of the better, lesser known titles on the market.
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Graphics: 9.0
Looks fantastic, the character design is distinctly oddworld-ish and the western theme is rich and vibrant, everything animates brilliantly as well, it's high quality presentation and has a charm of its own.
Sound: 8.5
Much like the look of the game, the soundtrack is rich in the western style, further enhancing the western theme, which the game goes for. Speech samples sound a bit subdued, but they're all performed well.
Gameplay: 9.0
Mixing two distinctly different styles of gameplay is one thing, but doing it so successfully is another completely different story. Strangers Wrath does this perfectly and should be commended for such a unique achievement.
Lifespan: 8.6
A little on the short side, but the game is fun enough to come back to on multiple intervals, collecting all the extras upgrades dotted around the games overworld adds a bit more lastability.
Overall: 8.8
Oddworlds brilliant premise, style, presentation, and gameplay, more than makes up for some of the games more major flaws, it's one of the few games that nails hybrid gameplay on the head, and throws in a great backdrop, and atmosphere in the process. The game needs to be played by more people, and if you check out your local game shops xmas sales you may just find this at a bargain price.
