Oddworld: Soulstorm Evaluate – Evaluate

Did you benefit from the “New ‘n’ Tasty” remake of Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee again within the earlier console era? Our personal Joel DeWitte had a fairly good time with the 2020 Change port. I personal New ‘n’ Tasty on PS4 however nonetheless haven’t cracked it open. I’ve fond reminiscences of the Home windows port of the unique 1997 PSOne sport, although I doubt I made it very far. Alas, I didn’t follow the Oddworld video games for all that lengthy, and after a short try at Munch’s Oddysee (an Xbox launch title), I fell off the wagon. Thus, I by no means performed the “sidestory” video games, Abe’s Exoddus and Stranger’s Wrath. I used to be excited on the announcement that the previous–a direct sequel to Abe’s Oddysee–had been remade for the PS5, however with these consoles in brief provide, I accepted that I would by no means play it. Any individual up there was listening, although, as a result of an “Oddimitzed” version was simply ported to the Change.

I’m comfortable to say that sure, Soulstorm appears to be a “New ‘n’ Tasty” model of Abe’s Exoddus, however my endurance for this type of sport has receded within the twenty-five years since my tryst with that Home windows unique.

This sport kicks off instantly following the ending of Abe’s Oddysee–our hero and his band of Modokon refugees, rescued from turning into Soylent Inexperienced at RuptureFarms, have settled in a subterranean cave system however are rapidly found by one of many villainous Mollocks and his military of Sligs. Abe and his brethren are separated rapidly, and after surviving the Slig assault and discovering his means out of the caverns, Abe goes about re-rescuing his Modokon household and serving to the remaining Modokons in different RuptureFarms vegetation.

Soulstorm options a lot of the identical gameplay as was in New ‘n’ Tasty: Abe traverses a 2.5D stage, utilizing a mix of platforming, merchandise use, and possession to make it previous Sligs and different enemies, in addition to discover numerous pickups and rescue Modokons. Possession is proscribed solely by the occasional look of units which zap Abe out of his chant, disallowing possession in that occasion. Abe can use brew bottles to unfold fires, then use water to place the fires out. He can throw Slig-stunning proximity mines, then tie up the snoozing Sligs to take them out of fee. He may, after all, possess Sligs and use them to take out different Sligs earlier than imploding them to regain management.

Soulstorm feels much less like a brand new sport and extra like an growth of New ‘n’ Tasty, and appears to distinguish itself by asking you to juggle small teams of Modokons at any given time. Chances are you’ll be requested to rescue them from a multi-level construction that requires a great quantity of stealth, merchandise use, giving route, and avoiding environmental hazards. Shedding too many Modokons ends the sport early, so that you’re virtually inspired to replay ranges the place you wind up shedding too many NPCs. Granted, Soulstorm does roughly ramp up the problem and complexity fairly effectively, so that you’re by no means offered with a state of affairs that’s fully alien to you. That stated, there’s a whole lot of trial and error, and a few of that is because of Soulstorm’s iffy controls.

Abe’s greatest enemy in his journey isn’t the Mollocks or Sligs, however the imprecise controls. To start with, your button presses don’t at all times register, which appears vital. There have been so many instances the place I attempted to leap or throw an merchandise and it simply didn’t occur, which might often result in my demise, however would extra usually result in irritating re-traversal. Whether or not water doused a flame or not was at all times a 50/50 gamble–doubtlessly losing one in every of your water bottles. Judging distances whereas leaping, particularly vertically, is weirdly tough, and I discovered myself defaulting to a operating begin in locations the place it most likely wasn’t vital simply to be protected. Abe’s new (‘n’ tasty) double bounce helps issues, after all, however this has inspired the developer to implement bizarre vertical shafts the place the double-jump, itself, feels too restrictive.

Additional, it’s not at all times clear what Abe can and might’t seize ahold of and even the place he can land safely. A part of that is the map design, however one other half is the unusually busy outside environments which don’t look nice in comparison with the PS5 model–not an enormous shock, however a whole lot of the environmental elements appear like vestiges of the PS3/Xbox 360 period.

I lately broke down and acquired the Change model of DOOM (2016) on sale as a result of I’d been impressed by Panic Button’s ports. Whereas completely serviceable, that port seems to be lacking a pair layers of graphical constancy, as if just a few texture or lightning results are merely lacking from the environments. It’s a lot the identical state of affairs right here, however with a lot puzzle-solving tied to studying your environment in Soulstorm, it’s a bit extra irritating.

Fortunately, interacting with Modokons is painless, and so they do what they’re informed fairly effectively. The Lemmings-like segments are maybe essentially the most pleasurable within the sport, however you’ll must endure just a few hours of toil to get there. It’s a humorous sight to see a small band of Modokons following Abe in what ought to be a line however winds up wanting like Alucard’s shadow in Symphony of the Night time since all of them technically occupy the identical area. Nonetheless, efficiency takes a success the extra Modokons you might have tagging alongside.

The few segments the place you should defend giant swaths of escaping Modokons, nevertheless, aren’t as enjoyable–you’ll normally be possessing enemies to forestall different enemies from capturing the Modokons down, and I want you had extra strategies at your disposal. I additionally didn’t notably look after crafting. To be truthful, I virtually by no means look after crafting in a online game: it’s an arbitrary method to make “getting an merchandise” extra taxing. Given all of the containers, lockers, and enemy pockets that Abe should pillage throughout his journey, it will’ve been faster simply to offer me the objects as a substitute of creating me discover the elements, repeatedly (in case you die).

I didn’t notably look after the story, though it is likely to be extra correct to say I didn’t look after Abe himself or his Modokon brethren. All of them converse in a slow-as-molasses, nasally, croaking drawl. Each time a Modokon opened his mouth, I readied myself for an agonizing monologue. It takes them 5 minutes to recite three strains of textual content. Abe, because the reluctant savior of the Modokons, shows all of Luigi’s cowardice with none of his appeal. The story itself is fairly attention-grabbing, with some enjoyable twists and turns, however sadly projected by the lens of the uninteresting Modokons.

Total, there have been too many irritations in Soulstorm to win any of my enthusiasm. Each play session left me considerably annoyed, and I usually needed to speak myself into booting it up. In case you’re dying to revisit Abe’s Exoddus, that is actually the easiest way to perform that. I simply want it was slightly extra enjoyable and rather less janky.