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Xbox | Action | Oddworld Stranger Wrath

Boxart for Oddworld Stranger Wrath
Oddworld Stranger Wrath 27 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.5
  • SOUND: 4.0
  • CONTROL: 4.5
  • FUN FACTOR 4.5
  • AVG USER SCORE 4.6
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 4.3
Winner of the GamePro Editor's Choice Award

Review: Oddworld Stranger Wrath

Review by STARDINGO | 01/27/2005 | 16:46:01 PM PST

The latest Oddworld is a first-person shooter for the thinker in you.

Old-tyme Oddworld veterans may be a bit put off by the latest installment's apparently "dumbed-down" FPS intentions, but they shouldn't be--this game is just as creative and clever as the earlier Oddworlds, even if the Stranger spends most of his time staring down a targeting reticule.

An Aptly-Named Visitor
Where most first-person shooters treat their weapons just as different means of wreaking havoc, only a few of Oddworld's "live ammo" types (read: animals and bugs you find in the landscape) are intended to be destructive. In fact, you get more moolah for capturing foes alive rather than dead. A surly chipmunk, for example, can be used as bait to lure enemies out of dangerous spaces, and Spiders wrap them up in silk so they can be captured in the Stranger's bounty-hunting vacuum.

While these odd ammo types could have easily wound up being gimmicky and useless, the designers have constructed clever "scenes" instead of traditional levels where trickery and cunning is rewarded. The way healing is handled is equally clever--as long as the Stranger has a full stamina bar and is under the cover of safety, he can just "shake off" any damage he takes, meaning there's no hunting around for health packs in crates and barrels.

The game is bursting at the seams with typical Oddworld creativity and charm. The Stranger is a great character, a gruff and none-too-bright Clint Eastwood type trying to save up enough bounty money for a mysterious, life-saving "operation." The townspeople and bounties (scary farmer-chickens and gross tadpole-things in 10-gallon hats) have unique personalities and waddles, and your ammunition tends to insult you while it's waiting to be fired.

The Odd, the Steef, and the Fugly
The control scheme is elegant and simple despite the complexity of some of the situations. Switching between first-person and third-person modes is as easy as clicking the right thumbstick, and switching ammo is accomplished quickly with the D-Pad (though there's a bit of a clunky learning curve as you try to remember what ammo is where in the bar). Halo players will immediately understand the control scheme (left trigger fires ammo type one, right trigger fires ammo type two) if not the pacing. Fighting in third-person mode isn't as elegant, but it's a ton of fun to guide the stranger when he breaks into his trotting, third-person plains-run.

No good game is complete without its flaws. The muddled radar doesn't prove very useful in determining how to be successfully sneaky, and some "bounty" battles are particularly nasty-hard. The Western landscapes tend to get old after a little while. And the voices, once again provided (mostly) by series creator Lorne Lanning, have a nutty helium-hick charm, but are poorly sampled and a tad too quiet.

Strange Tidings
Stranger's Wrath is a unique beast, a first-person "shooter" that emphasizes brains over blazing guns. It's great to see Lorne Lanning and the Oddworld Inhabitants back in fine form&even if it's not quite the form you would have expected.