You know, I've bought up a little game called 'Oddworld: Soulstorm' on my Blog a few times now and it has just occurred to me that I never really explained either what that this game is or what significance the series has to me. The reason for this is two fold; firstly it hails from a classic series of games from several generations ago that I'm unsure how many people are aware of and secondly because that series is incredibly creative and confusing, thus its also really hard to describe. Trying to explain the basic premise of the Oddworld is like trying to explain the intricacies of the Metal Gear Solid franchise in 40 minutes; you'll be struck with so many false starts and meandering threads until you realize by the end that you still haven't even decided where to begin yet. But I've had the igneous idea of talking about my relationship with this game at the same time in order to make everything a bit more palatable. ('Igneous' may be a stand-in for 'lazy', but what are you gonna do...)
Back when I was a little kiddie I didn't really have a track record for playing outside with my friends. That's right, I was a career nerd from day 1 and the one time that I invited friends over to my house I severely regretted it and have never repeated it since. (and that was back when I was like 7, so you know it must have had a serious effect on me to linger for that long.) As such, when I got into playing video games it was mostly something that I did by myself in the darkness of my bedroom. (A habit I kept up to this day.) The only moment when this wasn't true was in those times when I visited my Aunt and she would have a selection of computer games to choose from; most of which I honestly cannot remember to this day. During that time I would play games with my Aunt and sometimes even my parents back when they thought it was cool that I was getting into "this computer thing". From that time there was one title that really stood out as something that anyone could play and join in on without getting hopelessly lost; Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. (Yes, I know that's not how you spell 'Odyssey', it's a pun.)
Abe's Oddysee was an adventure platformer that featured a humanoid creature called Abe on his journey to free his people, the Mudokons, from their enslavement by the evil corporate entity known as The Magog Cartel. On his quest, Abe owned no high calibre weaponry or superhuman powers (at least not at the beginning), all he had was his smarts, platforming prowess, and species inherent ability to temporarily control the minds of others and make kill themselves or eachother in deceptively brutal/merciless ways. (Yeah, I played this game as a kid. What do you mean, "that explains a lot"?) The reason why my father or even my gaming-inept mother could get to grips with this game is because it had such simple controls and presented a simple premise, everything you need to progress is present on the screen in front of you and all you have to do is figure it all out. It's the same sort of allure that draws me to the Hitman games, except whereas that is a puzzle hidden in a complex 3D environment, this is a puzzle more blatantly hidden in a weird 2D platforming space. (I'm saying that I could definitely get my parents into Hitman if they only trusted me a little.)
Sometimes you'll hear people tell those stories about how their dad got them into playing games and showed them how to stretch their imagination in RPG's and the like. Maybe they introduced the world of table-top to them early, or maybe just got them their first console. With the exception of the console acquisition (obviously) I share actually very little with those tales. I was the one who got my Dad into gaming and the only game that we seriously collaborated together in was 'Abe's Oddysee' and later 'Abe's Exodus', the sequel. (It wasn't really practical for us to share our 'Medal of Honor' save files, anyway.) As such, I have a deeply personal connection with the Abe games as they are remind me off being young, something that every neurotic chronophobe cherishes above all else. (Either that or a sledgehammer to smash every clock in the house.)
The real thing that sets Oddworld and it's games apart from every other platformer which approaches this premise is the way in which it presents itself. Oddworld is a curious mix between the macabre and the surreal in a manner that makes you laugh and uncomfortable at the same time. This sort of implaceablilty is far more memorable than those games that pick one theme or the other, as it keeps the player asking for more. Take the intro for instance, wherein we see Abe perfoming his janitorial services whilst wondering the halls of Rupture farms. The entire scene is narrated in a sing-song rhyming fashion that hearkens back to the original Grinch cartoon, but the subject matter he discusses is relatively grim. He talks about an oppressively corporate monopolistic conglomerate that decimates local wildlife in order to turn them into fast food. Then he reveals that his own species, the enslaved ones, are next on the chopping block to become a fast food item. (Oh that's a pleasant thought, wouldn't you agree?)There's something decidedly Tim Burton-esque about this style of story and as a life-long fan of 'The Nightmare Before Christmas', (It's the second best Christmas movie behind 'Die Hard') I just eat that up completely. I think part of my reverence comes from the age at which I approached this game. (which was certainly younger than the proposed '12' tag. Shh, don't tell Pegi!) It appealed to that innate desire in children to be wowed by something fantastical and be slightly scared at the same time. (Hence why movies like 'The Secret of NIMH' are so widely beloved by eighties kids. Although, that doesn't explain the runaway success of 'The Secret life of Pets'...) Rapture farms seemed to perfectly encapsulate the archetypal 'big scary factory' that you imagine in your dumb little pre-adolescent head and Abe was just adorable enough, for an emaciated blue creep with his mouth sewn shut, to be the perfect conduit into this world.
Of course, nowadays the game is very much a product of it's time; but I honestly look on all those 'limitations' as an indistinguishable asset to the aesthetic. Abe's Oddysee is the one and only game for which I adore the 'static image behind a animated figure' style for the early 2000's. (And no, I'm not talking about the stylized way that 'Bravely Default' does it.) And I also cherish the rigid platforming controls wherein you knew exactly where you were standing and in which places you were safe. (This one is hard to describe, it's one of those things you have to be familiar with in these games to 'get'. In fact, the same criticism was raised against the Crash Bandicoot remakes, for they changed the way that platforming aspect specifically worked.) There was a heartfelt fan remake recently called 'Oddworld New 'n Tasty' which does sacrifice some of those more endearing aspects for modern tech advances, but the core experience is still very much the same if you're interested in this cult puzzle classic.
So that is the reason why I was so excited when I heard about a followup title after all these years called 'Oddworld: SoulStorm', and that is also why I am so critical of the Games industry when I hear about this game getting snubbed at so many successive trade shows. I mean if this title, which comes from a proven studio who already have built up a dedicated fan-base from making previous titles in this very series, can't get a spot at E3 than how are even fresher indie studios supposed to stand out? Oh that's right; by getting acquired by one of the larger companies so they can bring you up on stage and parade you about like a soon-to-be-sliced cut of prime cut beef. Okay, I'm getting off topic so I should probably wrap this up by leaving you with one final message; don't forget to pay attention to the little guys too, they may just surprise you.
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