Oddworld: New ‘N’ Tasty

Genre: Puzzle-Platformer

Players: 1-2 (Local Alternating)

.

Review:

(Note: This game is included in the physical-only Oddworld Collection, along with Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee and Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD.)

A ground-up remake of the first Oddworld game, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddyssee (originally released on PlayStation and PC in 1997), Oddworld: New ‘N’ Tasty was originally released on PlayStation 4 in 2014 and gradually ported to multiple other platforms, finally seeing release on Nintendo Switch in 2020. While this game was directly inspired by its 1997 predecessor, it was not created to be a faithful remake so much as a game that modernizes the ideas behind the original as if it were made for modern platforms.

For those unfamiliar with the original game, both Abe’s Oddysee and New ‘N’ Tasty follow Abe, a meek alien creature called a mudokon. The mudokons are treated as slave labor by the corporate glukkon race, more or less happily working in their meat-packing factory until Abe happens across a meeting discussing the factory’s next big product, mudokon pops. Horrified at this discovery, Abe works to not only escape the factory, but free the other mudokons along with him.

The presentation here is very good, if you don’t mind the ugly, dingy, grimy, and at times gross and violent world the game takes place in. While the gameplay here is in 2D, New ‘N’ Tasty makes use of 3D visuals that have a lot of detail, amusing animations, and some pretty good lighting and shadows, as well as atmospheric effects. I’ve heard that this version suffers some slowdown not seen in the PlayStation 4 version, but if it does, it’s negligible. These visuals are backed by a mostly atmospheric soundtrack, with the sound being most noteworthy for the comical voices of the characters, especially Abe himself.

The gameplay here is pretty classic Puzzle-Platforming with a lot of focus on stealth and either evading enemies or guiding them towards traps. While nothing truly groundbreaking, this focus on stealth does a lot to differentiate this game from most others in its genre.

Having said that, the gameplay is not a complete success, even if your expectations are fairly low. Much of the game has you commanding fellow mudokons to follow you, but their AI is particularly dumb, leading them to have get caught easily by enemies and wander into obvious traps. However, even more problematic than this are the game’s stiff, sluggish controls, which often seem to have a delay in recognizing your inputs.

There is one other thing I should mention here, and that is the game’s “co-op mode”. This is extremely misleading – there’s nothing co-op about this mode, it’s more like a 2-player alternating mode, although even that is a bit overly generous, as the game doesn’t separately track progress for two players – you would get exactly the same effect if you simply passed the controller from one player to another in single-player mode.

While the gameplay here has its flaws, Oddworld: New ‘N’ Tasty still manages to charm players with its great characters, its interesting world, its good presentation, and its focus on stealth. This isn’t likely to be a game for everyone, but those who enjoy a game with an offbeat, macabre sense of humor may find this well worth playing.

tl;dr – Oddworld: New ‘N’ Tasty is a remake of the first game in the Oddworld series, the stealth-focused Puzzle-Platformer Abe’s Oddysee. The presentation here is great, and the world and its characters still have a fantastic personality with a lot of dark humor. However, the gameplay is hampered by stiff, laggy controls. Overall it’s still worth a look if you find the world of the game or the stealth elements appealing, but it’s definitely not for everyone.

Grade: B-

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Andy Miller, u/wonderponder, Johannes, Stov, Ilya Zverev, Eli Goodman, and KC. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}