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By Kyle Johnson on July 10th, 2002
Introduction Oddworld has created some pretty cool games since their start. They’re the creators of the hits Abe’s Oddysee and Abe’s Exoddus. Now, they’ve done it again. They’ve made yet another cool game; yet, the game isn’t really about Abe this time. It’s more about Munch. The game is Munch’s Oddysee. You take control of…guess who…that’s right, Munch. Well, you can change over to Abe at times as well. Presentation When Munch’s Oddysee first boots up, the graphics of the Munch’s Oddysee logo is amazing, with a little bug flying around. Pretty sweet. While you’re in the game, the pause menu is pretty basic. Save game, quick save, options, continue game, quit game, etc. So nothing new there.Graphics & Sound If there’s one thing that Oddworld Inhabitants does very well, is that they know how to make a game looks awesome. They made Abe’s Oddysee and Abe’s Exoddus look amazing, and now it’s Munch’s Oddysee’s turn to follow in their footsteps, and become a game that is graphically amazing. Munch’s Oddysee raises the bar for future Xbox games, and future games in its genre, on how they must look graphically. It’s just amazing on how well the creatures look, how well the land looks, and especially the water.Okay, you’re probably thinking right now, “Okay, so the game looks amazing graphically, but if it looks that great, then I’m pretty sure there’s some glitches in the game as well, right?” Well, you’re wrong. If theirs is a single glitch within the graphics in Munch’s Oddysee, I have yet to come across it. There are a lot of games out there that don’t have very good sound. Maybe the developer didn’t take a lot of time working on the sound, or whatever. But Munch’s Oddysee isn’t one of those games. The sound is pretty close to being the best out there. Every one in a while you will come across a point where the sound is not even a second off of what the character is doing, but nothing major. What’s amazing with the sound in Munch’s Oddysee, mainly the voices of Munch and Abe, is that both Munch and Abe, and probably most of the other speaking characters, are all done by Lorne Lanning, co-founder of Oddworld Inhabitants. So some major kudos goes out to Mr. Lanning for his hard work and dedication. Like a lot of games, music is what can make or break the sound score for a game. Which is mainly why Munch’s Oddysee got a sound score like it did in this review. The music, although it does fit the game pretty well, could have been put together better than what it was. Also, the music gets very boring after a while, and it almost puts you to sleep if you listen to it long enough. The one thing that saved the sound score for Munch’s Oddysee in this review, are the sound effects. It seems that Oddworld Inhabitants spent a lot more time working with the sound effects, than the game’s music. Which, I don’t blame them for doing that. In fact, they did an excellent job with the sound effects. Everything that should be heard is heard. The swishing of the water as Munch swims is heard. Gameplay The gameplay in Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee is awesome! I don’t think they could have chosen a better controller for this game, other than the Microsoft Xbox controller! It does take a while to get used to the controls and the camera angles, but after you do get used to them, you’re flying through the game like no body’s business. But that’s the bad part, you have to get used to the controls, which takes a lot of time and patience. Don’t be discouraged if you end up getting killed a couple times before you are used to the controls, and kickin’ ass. Overall in the controls area, Oddworld Inhabitants should have taken more time while coming up with the controls for the game, as they aren’t the best in the world, and there’s no way to configure the controls so it suits you better.Despite the fact that the controls of the game aren’t very well thought out, that doesn’t mean the game doesn’t play well. In fact, it has to be one of the best games on Xbox, in the area of gameplay, to date. In fact, I can’t think of too many games that actually beat Munch’s Oddysee in the gameplay department. In fact, I think the controls are actually pretty decent for the game, although, like I said earlier, the controls could be better than what they are, but at least they get the job done, right? Lasting Appeal Munch’s Oddysee really isn’t a game that once you beat, you want to go through again, unless you’re a die-hard Oddworld fan. Once you’ve gone through the game, there’s nothing more you can do, except trade it into your local retailer for store credit, and try and get another game to play. But like I said, if you are a die-hard Oddworld fan, chances are you’ll want to go through it again, try to beat it quicker than before, or possibly just keep it as a collector’s item. The choice is up to you.Conclusion Overall, Munch’s Oddysee is a good game to play if you have nothing else to do, and no other games to play. If you don’t have this game, I suggest a rental before you decide to buy it. You never know, you could beat it within 5 days, then you’ve spent $50 on a game to play it for 5 days, when you could have rented it from Blockbuster for $5 and not have spent as much. |
