Reviews// Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath (Xbox)

On this positive note, one of Stranger’s Wrath’s definite highlights is the weapon system. Unusually, you’ll only ever have one. Instead of collecting a few shotguns, Uzi’s and rocket launchers in a magical coat-pocket of tremendous girth, your various projectile needs are met by assorted livestock. Populating the odd world are little communities of various critters than you can collect and cue up on one barrel of your double-crossbow before pinging headlong towards your targets. There are little furry balls with sharp teeth, stinky skunks, wailing chipmunks, web-slinging spiders and plenty more besides. So instead of constantly collecting ammo, you’re constantly hunting ammo: a subtle, but surprisingly effective twist to the norm. So, what we have is a platform cum FPS game with some unique gameplay tweaks and impressive production values… what’s the complaint?

The principal problem is the overall progress structure. OSW only becomes compelling after a certain twist about 7 hours in, and getting through those first few levels might feel rather tiresome to a true action junkie. It just doesn't make sense to have things this way round. After the basic introduction, we want to be fully reeled in so that we're there for the duration. Instead we were faced with quite an arduous task trying to reach a point where we actually cared about the game: a task we probably wouldn‘t have attempted if a review wasn‘t in progress. This weakness comes down to the fact that we didn't particularly like the characters, or the world. Towards the finale, things are filled out with more satisfying detail: but that effort would have been better used in those all important opening chapters.

Take the main character, for example. What is it? It's a sort of humanoid puma cowboy, a supposedly menacing bounty hunter creature. He's not really menacing because he's kind of furry and cat-like. But he's not cute either because he's grizzly and sepia toned. Yet he's not that moody because this cocktail is clearly ridiculous. And although the script may raise a smile or two, he's not funny. This goes for many of the ancillary characters as well, which all too often are weird for weird's sake. The story actually turns out to be quite interesting, but it doesn’t overcome the seemingly incoherent mix of influences. Certain Japanese game designers can do the surreal thing with consummate ease, giving games a brightly coloured dream-like quality. But OSW's design doesn't hold that appeal, being more reminiscent of a crap early morning children's cartoon.