Game: Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty
Genre: Platformer, Puzzle, Action
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam, Console and Mobile)
Developers | Publishers: Oddworld Inhabitants | theRednerGroup
Age Rating: EU 12+ | US Teen
Price: EU €29,99 | US $29.99 | UK £26.99
Release Date: October 27th 2020
Review code used, with many thanks to theRednerGroup
Originally released way back in 1997 on PlayStation One as Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee.
New ‘n’ Tasty was remade from the ground up using the script from Abe’s Oddysee and released in 2015 on Steam and other consoles including the Wii U. They gave it the new name of Oddworld : New ‘n’ Tasty. I have fond memories of playing the game, way back in ’97. And when it was revamped and released for the Wii U, I enjoyed it just as much as I did back in the day!
Abe the Floor Waxer
The story in Oddworld is centred around Abe, a mudokon who was a first class Floor-Waxer for Rupture Farms. Unexpectedly, Abe was catapulted into a life of adventure. Late one night while cleaning the floor he overheard plans from his boss, Molluck the Glukkon, to turn Abe and his fellow Mudokons into Tasty Treats as a final effort to rescue Molluck’s failing meatpacking empire!
Poor Abe and his mates will be turned into meat if someone doesn’t come to their rescue soon. That someone is you! You’ll control the unlikely hero as you set out to rescue your fellow Mudokons. But don’t worry, you’ll only have the fate of hundreds of Mudokons on your hands as you try to rescue them from Rupture Farms, so not really a big deal then!
Don’t get turned into Mincemeat
Rupture Farms is a dangerous place, from meat mincing machines to the local unfriendly wildlife roaming around. It’s not a safe place for a unarmed Abe to be in! You’ll encounter deadly armed Sligs, the factory enforcers. They’ll shoot the unarmed Abe on sight, but Sligs can’t jump and may be led astray by thrown bottle caps.
After escaping the horrible Rupture Farms, you’ll tangle with Paramites, a creepy mix of spider and coyote, who’ll shadow Abe relentlessly but only attack in packs or when cornered. The opposite is true of Scrabs, territorial quadrupeds with gigantic stabbing beaks, who’ll run you down in a blink of an eye but are equally happy to murder each other.
Mixed in amongst these terrors are your fellow Mudokon workers, busily polishing floors and walls till instructed to follow you to an exit portal. With taps of the D-pad Abe can say Hello, Follow Me and oh yeah, he can also fart! Very handy for distracting the guards!
How many Mudokons can Abe save?
Saving all the Mudokons (there are over 200, including those in secret areas) isn’t necessary to complete the game, but you’ll be treated to a gruesome ending if you leave the lion’s share in the lurch.
One of the biggest elements of New ‘N’ Tasty’s puzzle-solving is avoiding the enemy while freeing your fellow Mukodon mates. As Abe is both fragile and almost always without a weapon with which to do harm to his captors, confrontation without a plan tends to end in big failure pretty quickly!
You must instead use elements of the environment to your advantage and to do away with the enemy. From switches that open gaping trapdoors, to re-purposing proximity mines to blowing enemies into chunks.
Abe usually has a clear way with which to do away with his foes before liberating Mukodons. Abe can also use a variety of psychic powers by chanting to possess Sligs and other enemies allowing you to not only explode them from within or force them to do battle with one another. This, in my opinion, is one of the best things about Oddworld, possessing the Sligs just makes me happy and makes me chuckle, not sure what that says about me though!
Timed Jumps and Elum
Oddworld : New ‘n’ Tasty is predominantly a platform game with timed jumps, lots of timed jumps! And in one stage Abe uses Elum, a ridable companion, similar to Yoshi. These areas contain long pathways with gaps that are too wide for Abe to jump on his own and tight puzzle sections that require you to manoeuvre Elum around enemies and obstacles. The stretches that have Abe and Elum jumping across multiple bridges and platforms require accurate timing, precision, perfect jumps and an incredible amount of patience. And I’m not even going to mention how many tries it took me to complete these sections!
Challenging platforming has always been a standard throughout the oddworld games and it isn’t any different when it comes to New ‘n’ Tasty. And Abe isn’t the best at physical activity, he walks slowly, can’t run so fast, and feels a little cumbersome to control. The controls in past games where never 100 percent precise, resulting in restarts for the player and a frustrating time.
Visuals and Controls
The controls in Oddworld New ‘n’ Tasty on the Switch are slightly better than the Wii U version of the game. But there will still be times you can’t quite get Abe to do what you want him to do. Jumping is an issue, as there’s a little delay between pressing the jump button and Abe actually jumping.
Abe himself is full of character and injustice with a story of slavery and genocide which is still relevant today. You’ll pass through ancient civilizations and conquered landscapes on your journey to rescue your fellow Mudokons.
Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty may be five years old but visually it still looks extremely well on the Nintendo Switch. Either in handheld mode or on the TV the visuals shine though. Packed full of dark humour, you’ll find yourself laughing as you play through the game.
Conclusion
For gamers returning to the Oddworld series, you will find all the things you know and remember fondly from previous games still intact. For those new players to the series the Nintendo Switch is as good a console as any to try out Oddworld on. Plus you have the added portability that the Switch brings with it.
I’ve had a enjoyable and entertaining time revisiting Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty and being reunited with my old friend Abe. It has certainly given me something to chuckle over while playing through the game again, and a good chuckle is something we all need at the moment or at any time!
Final Verdict: I Like It a Lot