Posted in: Games, Review, Video Games | Tagged: game review, Munch's Oddysee, nintendo, nintendo switch, Oddworld, Oddworld Inhabitants, switch

Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee – Solid Port of Average Puzzler [Review]

One advantage of being a Nintendo Switch owner is the backlog of game developers willing to port their older titles to the mobile console. Oddworld Inhabitants' first title for the Switch was Stranger's Wrath, the fourth title in the Oddworld series. Their next title is its predecessor Munch's Oddysee. Once ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2003, Switch owners will be able to experience the full game as Xbox, PlayStation, and PC players once did upon the game's original release 19 years ago. Early in the console war between Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, most companies often passed upon the Big N mostly due to inferior hardware and lack of interest dedicating a team for their console. Despite support for the Game Boy platforms, Oddworld Inhabitants largely avoided support for Nintendo's major consoles like the N64, Gamecube, and Wii. They came around in 2016 porting Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! to the Wii U. With the release of the Switch, Oddworld chose certain select titles for those to play catch up on once-exclusives to Xbox and PlayStation.

When starting Munch's Oddysee, OI was kind enough to offer an extensive video containing a backstory from the first two titles Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus. Once you are caught up, you get the typical tutorial on how to coral your fellow Mudokon for various tasks. The player needs to gather as many Mudokon as he/she can as puzzles are littered throughout the stage. While you're not collecting "spooceshrubs" to get through gates, you're leading your followers from puzzle to puzzle. Some require you to gather them to a particular spot so they can perform an opening ritual. Others might require you to throw a follower in various places to trigger a sequence. You switch between Abe and Munch as followers can vary. When you have fuzzles, which are Oddworld's version of "Critters", they'll attack in packs to incapacitate enemies.

Munch's Oddysee is OI's first foray to 3D as their previous titles were in 2D. Controls are as responsive as their counterparts. The puzzles get repetitive after a while. Obviously, the port is the remastered version in high definition. Unless you're a big fan of the series, there are better retro titles to invest in and superior puzzlers. The game will be available in digital and physical media on May 14th.

Following the events of Abe's Exoddus, the Glukkons commercially harvest the froglike Gabbits nearly to extinction, harvesting them for their eggs, to create a caviar-based delicacy called "Gabbier", and their lungs, needed to replace their own because of their excessive chain-smoking habit.

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