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Xbox | Adventure | Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee

Boxart for Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee 30 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.5
  • SOUND: 5.0
  • CONTROL: 3.5
  • FUN FACTOR 4.0
  • AVG USER SCORE 4.0
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 3.9

Review: Oddworld: Munch?s Oddysee

Review by STARDINGO | 11/14/2001 | 14:57:14 PM PST

Abe steps aside and lets his disturbing little fish-man friend take center stage, but does Munch really represent the next phase of Oddworld?s evolution?

Once there was a land called Oddworld, a freakishly wonderful place of boundless possibility, primed for a great evolutionary transformation as it made the leap from Sony?s ancient PlayStation contraption to Microsoft?s shiny new Xbox machine. And leap Oddworld did?but evolve, alas, Oddworld did not. Instead, it just molted its old skin and emerged a little bit bigger, perhaps, and quite a whole lot shinier?but still mostly the same darn thing it had always been.

Munch?s Oddysee is a 3D version of the first two games?nothing more, nothing less. That means it?s a great new sequel to a great couple of games, with solid puzzles, creative-looking surreally detailed worlds, characters that bleed freaky personality, and hilarious voices that are almost reason enough to play the game.

Unfortunately, Munch rarely manages to instill the awesome ?whole world is yours? sense of wide-openness that Mario 64 did for the N64. The newest Oddworlds feel rather canned, confined, repetitive, and contrived, and Munch and Abe control more stiffly than most characters put in similar situations. The game is a lengthy commitment, though, and almost too challenging, with the focus on the familiar ?get friends to safety? style of puzzle and the tyrannical ?keep dying ?til you get it the right? style of gameplay. Luckily, thanks to that hard drive, you can save your progress at any time.

If creative visuals and lots of high-impact lateral thinking are what you seek, then Munch is undoubtedly the game for you?even if all logic suggests this Oddysee could (and should) have been more. There?s no question that this latest Oddworld incarnation harnesses the impressive power of the Xbox; the Xbox, however, doesn?t quite harness the infinite promise of Oddworld.


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