![]() However, just as my memories glisten with the polish of rose-tinted spectacles, so too do the visual of the newly updated Oddworld: Strangers Wrath HD.Īnd let me tell you, this is a game worthy of being remade. It’s just another painful reminder that many, many years have now passed since those halcyon days of my youth. In an era of gaming where first-person cameras in third-person games were used as a crutch for early camerawork, Stranger’s Wrath uses it to its advantage to build a solid action-adventure game that I can easily recommend to anyone.It’s hard for me to believe that Oddworld: Strangers Wrath was first released almost twenty years ago. Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath is just as good today as it was 17 years ago. As it stands, they’re the only blemish on this port that I’ve experienced, besides a random crash. With the tools available now, I’m sure there are ways to remaster these video files that are cost-effective. ![]() It’s a bit of a shame, then, that the full-motion video cutscenes are still the same old video files from the original XBox release. And it all looks better at higher resolutions and framerates, which this port happily includes. The colour palette might always seem moody, but it fits the backdrop of a world that’s just very out-of-shape and the game knows when to change up its colour usage. The world of Oddworld is as crass and humourous as can be, and the aesthetics coupled with the writing and world design are still visually pleasing in the original Xbox sort of way. This look like some kinda farm ‘ta ya? (Genghis H./Oddworld Inhabitants) Oh, and bosses have funny things to say when you lock them up. But again, going guns blazing isn’t always the best move-as keeping enemies and bosses alive is crucial to saving up moolah for Stranger’s operation. The challenge of this game is finding out the best steps to advancing to the target ‘boss’ bounty and the later stages have a lot of paths to let you undermine traps and enemies or give you a nice vantage point to blow things up. Your move set stays virtually identical in this mode, and the keen eye view is necessary as the levels become more and more complex. These ammo types range from alerting enemies with annoying chipmunk-thingies to snagging them with webs and blowing ’em to bits! I should note that collecting ammo at times can be a bit annoying because of their hitboxes, but the game gives unlimited ammo of a specific type that lets you not worry about aiming your shot on the tiny critters.Īlthough the first-person mode seems complementary, you’ll actually find yourself running through the game a lot in said mode. See, this game lets you switch between third and first-person for most areas of the game, and the latter is required if you want to use the ammo you’ve been picking up across levels. Players can hoof it and knock out enemies with melee attacks, but that will not work against bosses, and you’re only making things harder if you don’t engage in combat from the first person. Preferably alive, as that nets you more monies and gets you closer to your outrageously high medical bill. (Genghis H./Oddworld Inhabitants)Īs you can imagine, the gameplay loop is taking up bounties and turning them into local law enforcement. From towns to infiltration, Stranger needs to put in the work if he’s gonna survive. As in, biological organisms fired from your crossbow at baddies. But all works out as you use your environment to hide from enemies and bag them, dead or alive, with the help of actual living ‘live ammunition’. Being a one-man army, naturally, it’s difficult to go up against multiple enemies with good accuracy and strong reflexes. Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD follows the bounty hunter dubbed ‘Stranger’ as he bags high-valued bounties across the Oddworld to save up enough ‘moolah’ to quote on quote, “survive”. This HD port, developed and published by Oddworld Inhabitants, has actually made the rounds across several other consoles, but modern Xbox consoles had no way to play this game until very recently. A mouthful that one, but it’s true-and yet it stayed fairly niche in the grand scheme of things. Released exclusively on the original Xbox way back in 2005, Stranger’s Wrath was a fantastic attempt at incorporating first-person combat with a third-person character action-adventure slash platformer. Were it not for gaming magazines of yore, I would have never picked up on the Oddworld games, and in particular, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath. ![]() The following game software was reviewed on an Xbox Series X. ![]()
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