I was a bit afraid to play this because I really hate to see poor remakes of great games, and Oddworld is one of my favourite series. But I didn't need to worry, as the other reviews say, this game still has the spirit of the original Abe games, and it's really great to play Abe' Oddysey in this new form.
I'll list some advantages and disadvantages of this game:
+ Definitely keeps the spirit of the original game. The intro and other animations have even exactly the same scenes, just redone.
+ Exactly the same sounds and music, plus some more, e.g. working mudokons and sligs are talking to each other from time to time.
+ Still very challenging! On "hard" it is more or less like the original. On easier level Abe has health bar and can take some shots.
+ Some more tutorial messages in the game, but not too much. It still feels like a PC game, the hints system doesn't solve the whole game for you, which is the case with some other remakes and new console games.
+ More scenery in the background, it's just very nice graphically. There are more cut scenes, and now e.g. traveling to Scrabanian Temple on elum really feels more like a journey.
- Some minor graphical glitches, e.g. slig shot by another slig looks as if it died of heart attack or something. Also dead bodies sometimes get locked e.g. between the ground and a wall and shake frantically.
- Dead bodies - in the original dead mudokons or sligs just disappeared quickly, here they just lay there, dead. It's not nice to walk past them, next to a dead slig even, especially if it's shaking frantically. Creatures explode when going through electro bolts, instead of turning into blue mist. Just unnecessary gore.
- I couldn't configure some keys, changing them just didn't work. And I had some problems with using the controller.
- Easy mode with health bar, might be good for some.
- Nits: I liked the original throwing mechanics more. And the chanting animation is not that great, I liked more the original.
Great game!
