Munch's Oddysee may seem like an odd (no pun intended) beast at a glance: here you have the very first 3D game in the series... and it throws most of the important Oddworld elements into the bin. And yet, thinking about it, it makes sense. Some game mechanics were removed, some added. For the most part, the mechanics that were removed were also the ones that would have been most difficult to translate to 3D. One-hit deaths in a far less precise enviroment? Let me point out that not even the venerable Super Mario 64 had the guts to attempt that. Instead, you wisely get a health bar this time around. There's no falling damage or precise jump puzzles either, and this too was probably for the best, seeing as 3D platforming is never quite as precise as its 2D counterpart. Some other missing series staples are harder to forgive. Scrabs and Paramites are relegated to one small level each, and you can't even possess them. Sligs and Glukkon possession has also been drastially reduced in scope. On the other hand, new enemies have entered the fray - and new allies too. And this time, Abe's friends can actually defend themselves, and they can kick some can too! But your allies' lack of jumping skills may make the attack sections somewhat prone to annoyance, since you'll need to pick them up one at a time and throw them yourself. In fact, the whole game has a padding problem: some challenges, that would be nice if you only had to do them once or twice, are repeated ad nauseam. Like throwing Mudokons over a fence? Do that eight times. What about throwing eggs in a container with a crane? Well, there are like thirty of them at one point. Enjoy. Doesn't seem like a big problem, but it hurts. As for the rest... graphics are still serviceable enough, sound is disappointing. Music is too understated. Voices can be difficult to hear, too. It's not the best in the series, but this often-maligned entry has charm and its own reason for existing. Give it a whirl, keeping an open mind.
How long has it been since the last Myst-like game? The genre is essentially dead nowadays. Between a Dear Esther and a The Walking Dead, where are adventures? Indie developers have at least filled the old Lucasarts-style adventures niche, with their inventory and dialogue. But the Myst style is nowhere to be seen. Enter Obduction then. Everything is as you remember: nothing makes sense in the beginning, you learn what's going on by reading documents and even just looking around, and you gotta take a lot of notes or you'll never get past even the first world. Just like grandma used to make'em. Well, okay, that's a bit of an exageration. Obduction is overall a bit easier than the older games. It makes a few concessions to modern game design too, for example you can unlock shortcuts to make navigation easier. Now, easier difficulty is not necessarily a bad thing (hello there Riven). With a bit of patience most will be able to finish the entire game without having to look around for hints. The difficulty level is similar to the first Myst, though there's nothing quite like the old 'maze runner' (TM). The lack of sound-related puzzles is a bit of a bummer... but on the other hand, it means even sound-impaired players can get through just fine. So your opinion may vary on that. Where Obduction stumbles is in the technical side. Sure, some of the views are pretty gorgeous, but you really need a meaty PC to run it well. Loadings times can be pretty annoying, and considering that some puzzles will ask you to switch back and forth between Ages (not the right word really but you can see why one would use it), it gets frustrating at times. There are also several small bugs of differing impact, which seems the norm with Kickstarter game launches nowadays. Surely at least the biggest ones will be ironed out with time. Nevermind all that, though. Those seem like small issues in the grand scheme. As a throwback to the lost Myst genre, Obduction is a success. Thumbs up.
You can never quite shake the feeling that Secret Agent must have been a cheap side project for Apogee. The graphics engine is still based on Keen 1-3, but with even less animations, and there is no Adlib/SB sound support (this was 1992 already, peeps). Monster Bash came out little later, and it certainly looked like it had a much bigger budget. But does this all matter, if the game is fun to play? The answer is yes... for the most part. See, the issue is that Secret Agent is two-faced. On the one hand, you have a Keen-style puzzle platformer that, although iterative, controls quite well, looks pleasing enough, offers an acceptable amount of challenge and almost never feels unfair (notice I said "almost"). It even has some modern design sensibilities, such as the lack of a lives counter. That was actually a big deal in the early 90's. Secret Agent will never make you feel frustrated, and that's quite something. It deserves the utmost praise for that. But on the other hand, the game never builds up to anything. You are introduced to all of the gimmicks in the first couple levels - and for the next 50+ levels (shared across three episodes), nothing new is ever introduced. The ending screens for each chapter make a passing mention to "all-new enemies", but you won't find any. What you see early is what you'll get throughout. And a lack of new gimmicks also means a lack of new challenges. Some of the last levels are easier than early ones. It's all a bit repetitive. This lack of variety brings down Secret Agent a notch, and that's a shame because it is actually good fun for a while. You'll be hooked for a good two episodes. But by the third episode, with nothing new on the horizon, you'll be dashing to just finish the game. Perhaps the lacked the budget, and this was the best they could do. But, think of what could have been. Secret Agent falls just short of greatness, and could have been so much more.
Shadows of the Empire was one of the first truly 3D games based on the Star Wars license. Unfortunately, it also spelled the end of Lucasarts' amazing streak, and would be followed by more than one subpar SW title. The story takes place during the events of Episode V, but it's mostly forgettable. You play as Dash Rendar, a mercenary who looks suspiciously like Han Solo. There's something about a bad guy who wants to replace Darth Vader and all that, but honestly, it's hard to care. Let's just say you want to play Star Wars and that's it. After all, if you are here, it's probably because of the opening level (which lets you replay the amazing Hoth battle sequence from the movie). Good stuff, I'll be the first to admit. Grappling those AT-ATs on their legs never gets old. But after this one level, things crumble: the first/third person shooting gameplay, with its slippery and approximative controls, gets tedious soon. The areas are extremely linear and won't ever really challenge your wits. There's some platforming as an attempt to make things more varied, but you will hate it soon because of said slippery controls. You'll hate it even more when falling too often will lead you to running out of lives in a level. There are also some vehicle sequences, but they leave a lot to be desired as well. The Outrider (which looks suspiciously like the Millennium Falcon) is unwieldly, like the rest of the game. The Speeder Bike? Better not speak about it. While there's some replayability in the form of collectibles in each level, I don't know if anyone would really want to replay this game after it's done. From the company that gave us Dark Forces and later Jedi Knight, not to mention X-Wing and TIE Fighter, this is a very poor showing. It cannot capture either series' strengths, and any attempt to build an identity of its own are marred by bad decisions or technical issues. The Force isn't strong with this one, and this time there's no Han Solo to save the day.
I didn't even know about this game until two weeks ago, so I can safely say nostalgia didn't affect my final score. Still, I liked this game for what it was. The game uses the Keen engine, which is both a blessing (smooth scrolling!) and a curse (EGA graphics in 1993 were getting seriously ancient). The platforming is good enough, and the level design is quite impressive. You can't leave an area until you have found all of the pets, but I never really got lost, so that's a credit to the level designer for sure. Trying to get all the loot and skulls is a nice diversion too. And the game gives you hints for each level, which helps quite a bit. On the other hand, the shooting just isn't very good (you'll need to master that damn rock), and like many other shareware games from the time, the paid-for second and third episodes aren't nearly as good or memorable as the free first episode. In particular, the third episode has a lot of annoying platforming with semi-blind jumps. You'll be reloading your save state a lot. Still in the upper echelon of DOS platformers, I feel, although Commander Keen 4 was generally better.
