Oddworld: Soulstorm Enhanced Edition

I've avoided many games, based on reviewers biased opinions, just to find out some time later that i've missed great games. Oddworld is beatifull, well thought out, provocative, grotesque, and above all inspiring. Sometimes AAA games are shite but are coated with eyecandy and earcandy, and for that, people support them and tolerate bad gameplay. This game has all that made the first two great, but in todays standards, people are just to wimpy and just can't take a challenge that doesn't carry them or include pay to win options. Plus, this is one of those games that is a giant metaphor for humanity and its society, so it's normal most don't get it and many more hate something that criticizes its mind numbing system of slavery and consumption, just like a good indoctrinated sheep would. This game is one of the old school models, brings story, music and gameplay and no bullshite, you know, that thing that videogames are supposed to be. My advice is in anything in life, if it makes your heart tick, probably is worth it. If your curious and never heard about, just watch the first 10 minutes of gameplay with no commentary. Just follow your buyers instinct.

There are not enough words for how much I absolutely love what SoulStorm accomplishes, and after the release of New 'n' Tasty, Oddworld's goal to REIMAGINE Abe's Exoddus with far more than the 9 months the PSone game had meant it could be approached as originally intended. GAMEPLAY: What results is a game that takes note of everything from the previous titles blended perfectly into the Oddysee remake and goes "how do we expand this?" How intuitive the inventory and crafting is, how streamlining the GameSpeak makes quick decision making and co-operative puzzle solving have new options, the fact SLIGS have an expanded arsenal of weapons changes the sense of dread and scale in ways I didn't think possible. Not to mention MINI BOSSES! STORY: Lore opportunities covered in concept art got a chance to be implemented; Fleeches had a chance to evolve too! No longer larval, they are TERRIFYING! The expansion of Necrum to differentiate itself rather than retelling Disc 1 as "Scrabania and Paramonia but different" was genius. Not to mention expanding the Mudokon legacy, while still leaving enough a mystery to the player that we have more to learn going forward. AND THE BREW'S PURPOSE! OH MY WOW! REPLAY VALUE: I'll just say it: getting the bad ending first was terrifying, but it really sold what the whole game was emphasising that the stakes are higher, the risks are dearer, and while failure mirrors the end of Exoddus, there are actual consequences for taking the easy solution. And revisiting older areas to get better Quarma to get to the Brewery felt so rewarding! There's too much to go over, but I easily poured 50 hours into my first playthrough, and I am so stoked to revisit it for additional clean-up. This has become my new favourite game, and I could not recommend it enough.

Much like the other reviewers, I was very mixed with this release. I really enjoyed Fresh n' Tasty, but for some reason Soulstorm had a lot of issues. Don't get me wrong, the game was very well done from a technical perspective (you should be able to finish it without an issue), but that doesn't mean that it's not without issues. The controls feel very janky and awkward, and the hit boxes can be unfair at times. There are also some very frustrating parts that you have to redo over and over to get past, and it gets incredibly frustrating. That being said, the game is a good length, and the artwork/cutscenes are fantastic, but just make sure you rescue enough of the workers, otherwise you'll get the bad ending and you'll have to redo some of the levels where you missed workers.

I absolutely love the Oddworld franchise, having played every game so far. This one is the only one that's given me mixed feelings. On the one hand I am very disappointed that it's not a proper remake, at all. It's not like New n' Tasty where that game was an excellent remake of the original. So that really disappointed me. On the other hand, it was a lot of fun exploring new Oddworld locations that I have never seen before, plus the interesting new mechanics were a lot of fun to explore and use. Sadly, I can not recommend this game for the other die hard Oddworld fans. It feels like the developers were trying too hard to impress both new and old fans, even though the game was made to play how it was originally intended to, so it's just not enough in terms of a remake. It feels like a new game entirely. The developers should have focused on making the remake first, like they did for New n' Tasty, and THEN create a new game with all the new locations that were added. That would have been a lot better than this mash-up of ideas. + Excellent game in terms of game play, new mechanics are refreshing + Beautiful graphics + New locations to explore - Not the remake I was hoping for - Ran into some bugs and glitches - Too edgy in my opinion.