Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee Preview

On October 23, 2000, Microsoft finally signed a deal with Infogrames to obtain the exclusive worldwide publishing and distribution rights to the best-selling "Oddworld" game series, created by Oddworld Inhabitants.. Munch's Oddysee is a 3D adventure game set in the huge surroundings of the Oddworld. "The opportunity to bring the full force of our publishing and marketing resources to bear on such a popular game series as 'Oddworld' is a major coup," said Ed Fries, vice president of games publishing at Microsoft. "This maps perfectly to our long-standing strategy of working with the world's best game designers to create experiences that will excite the imaginations of gamers everywhere."

Carfull little guy...

Mates for life, oh yeah!

In other words, the moment we've all been waiting for is at hand and everybody's favorite Mudokon, Abe, will make an appearance in the greatly expected X-box title - Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee. The first two Oddworld games brought an impressive combination of game features, which included an imaginative and pretty comprehensive storyline with a special epic quality. Then there were the almost breath-taking in-game visual effects, animation details, followed by perfectly incorporated sound & music; all of these qualities added a unique atmosphere to a game that was later well-received by masses of players worldwide. Both games received a lot of Online, Industry, as well as countless magazine awards.

The developers, Oddworld Inhabitants, are a large number of extremely talented and creative individuals, most of who were with the company since it was first established back in 1994. Lorne Lanning, President and Co-founder of Oddworld Inhabitants, is very excited about their new Munch game: "Our goal with 'Munch's Oddysee' and future installments in the 'Quintology' has always been to create an immersive experience that pushes the boundaries of reality. Only Xbox gives us the graphical muscle and intense digital sound to unleash our creative juices and allow us to bring the imaginary world and rich characters of Oddworld to life." Senior CG Animator Scott Easley, currently working on the project, has a pretty imposing repute himself, with several received awards for his previous accomplishments (two Emmies and a Telly for a local commercial that he created and produced).

For the unacquainted, the main character Abe is the world's most famous klutz, and the first great hero in the Oddworld Quintology. Former slave laborer and Rupture Farms Employee of the Year, Abe didn't ask to be the savior of his people...and if his people had a choice, they'd throw him back. Joining Abe on an extraordinary journey, with traps, puzzles, and many other dangers, is Munch - the sole survivor of the Gabbit race and the victim of many lethal experiments performed on his poor body. After all, how would you feel if you broke your only leg in a bear trap, were abducted by soulless scientists, had an alien device implanted in your skull, and found out your race had been hunted to oblivion? That's right, you'd be mad as hell ... and so is Munch, the one-legged amphibian with a song in his heart and a plug in his head. He's the last of his kind and you need to help him bring his species back from the brink of extinction. Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee sets Munch and his clueless friend Abe against the full might of Oddworld's corporate power brokers and their legions of lackeys armed with the latest in addictive consumer weapons: Lungbuster cigarette rifles, Blitzpacker brew repeaters and the SnUzi line of pill blasting automatics. As the guardian angel over Munch and sometimes his best friend Abe, it's up to you to help or hurt their self-sustaining biosphere and all their friends that live within it.

Munch's Oddysee carries the spirit and expression of the old Oddysee games.

In its essence, Oddworld is an action/adventure game that initially combined parallax scrolling with 2D animation. This sort of restriction always pestered the developers, and is one of the reasons they decided to make the new Quintology in a full 3D enhanced environment. The X-box is the perfect opportunity to prove how effective the new game engine might be, since it uses advantages like true dynamic lighting and increased texture detail, which gives the game characters a more lush and realistic appearance. Naturally, the powerful X-box graphic muscle will leave the field open for more animated characters on screen at once, thus creating a more truthful and lifelike atmosphere.

The camera is an integral part of every 3D game. In Oddworld, it will be computer controlled, in order to relieve the player of patience-consuming adjusting of the camera angle. Mostly similar to games with fixed camera positioning, like Dino Crisis and Resident Evil, the point of view will enable the user to focus on the action on screen more easily than it would with a customizable camera.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention the sound qualities enriched by the variety of character speech reactions. With the GameSpeak feature, creatures are going to tease, you, threaten you, scare you, and so on. This will provoke you into communicating with other characters more often, using the speech abilities of the main characters. Rather similar to the old Oddysees, where every single creature had a unique voice-over.

The general population of the Oddworld Universe is divided into three categories: Native, Industrial, and Wildlife. Every race has a significant place in the game. Mudokons are the most common native species, that is until they were enslaved to work in the Margog Cartel Franchises. As you play, you'll notice that many of the characters belong to this race, including one of the central characters, Abe. Since natives are simple, kind, and honest creatures, that makes them an ideal target for the immoral Industrial races. Now this sort is really despicable in any way you might think. The most usual members of this race are the Sligs, which represent corporate security personnel and use powerful pieces of weaponry (however they don't use these weapons with great skillfulness). An interesting addition to their species is the Big-Bro Slig, who will be sent as a reinforcement to grunt Sligs, since grunt Sligs are known to be narrow-minded, weak, and consequently easily beaten. Furthermore, there are amusing characters like the crawling and flying Sligs that will appear tougher than the others; particularly the flying Sligs - they're competent, swift, and are never off duty. The, there are the cigar-smoking Glukkons and a predominant character of their race called Molluck. He's the boss of RuptureFarms and President in absentia of SoulStorm Brewery. Completely obsessed with achieving status and success whatever the cost, Molluck is the prodigal Glukkon son. If you think cruelty, ruthlessness, paranoia, and double-dealing are endearing traits, then Molluck is the C.E.O. for you. Missing in action since the destruction of RuptureFarms, Molluck is hiding from his masters who want to have him shot. Finally we come to the Wildlife creatures, which are completely neutral and have only two possible roles in their lives - to eat something or to be eaten themselves.

Races, different species, and a diversity of environments were all specifically designed with a strong determination of making you feel that you've not merely participated in a computer game, but that you've actually visited the Oddworld itself. There are 35 races all together, each character design is more captivating than the next and each of them has his own specific habitual environment.