Game Review: Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty! (PS Vita)

After seventeen years since the initial release of Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, publisher Oddworld Inhabitants decided to save the series from purgatory by releasing a HD remake of the game in 2014 for the PlayStation 4, shortly followed by a release on a plethora of other systems.

So how well does this remake live up to the original, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, one of the ’90’s most creative side-scrolling platforming games?

Rebuilding Oddysee from the ground up, New ‘n’ Tasty brings a seventeen-year old game into the modern-day with its truly unique art – which happen to look wonderful on the Vita’s OLED screen – without compromising the challenging gameplay or its thrilling level design that we fell in love with so many years ago.

New ‘n’ Tasty follows Abe, a rather peculiar, nonsensical alien set to free both him and many other Mudokons from slavery. The genius level design provides challenging gameplay, as well as a deeper meaning to game’s narrative, as the not-so-threatening Abe must use timing, stealth, and awareness to traverse through the dangers of the levels – which range from sleeping guards, armed guards, explosive traps, and even moving lasers which will alert enemies if they detect movement – freeing any Mudokons along the way. While saving Mudokons is entirely optional (though it will shorten your experience and alter the ending), it certainly adds to the game’s arduousness; you’ll need to use observation and precision in addition to the timing, stealth, and awareness that was previously mentioned in order to direct your fellow Mudokons to magical portals.

Both newcomers and fans of the original game will be exuberant to hear of two new prominent features that have been implemented: Mudokons can now receive commands via the arrow buttons, allowing you to stop them and keep them at a safe distance while you deal with whatever hazards that lay ahead. In addition, a quick-save feature is available at all times, at the press of the Select button, which feels very deserving given that one mistake could kill you and your Mudokons that you’ve tried so hard to save.

Moving on from the gameplay elements: New ‘n’ Tasty on the Vita seems to suffer from rare, very minor framerate issues, thankfully this is only really noticeable when you are sending a large quantity of Mudokons through portals. In comparison to New ‘n’ Tasty’s console and PC releases, graphical fidelity is something that has clearly been sacrificed in order to port the game to the Vita; with certain textures looking quite dated here and there.

New ‘n’ Tasty is an astounding nostalgia trip throughout. With the only downsides being the rare framerate hiccup, and somewhat steep learning curve for those that have never played an Oddworld game before. Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty is a remake of a game that is nearly twenty-years of age, yet easily competes with modern puzzle-platformers. The experience may not be on par with its console and PC releases, but it is still an amazing one nonetheless.

  • Title: Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty!
  • Publisher: Oddworld Inhabitants
  • Developer: Just Add Water
  • Cross Buy: Yes
  • Cross Save: No
  • Memory Card Space Needed: 1300Mb

Vita Player Rating - 08

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