I remember almost 17 years ago when Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee first arrived on my PS1. I marveled at the game's graphics and had a blast playing through the game from start to finish. Now we have the opportunity to play through once again in Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty on the PS4 and other platforms to come. Is it worth the remake or should Just Add Water and Oddworld Inhabitants just left alone and not made Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty? Well check out the full review just below to see what I have to say about one of the titles that originally got me into the PlayStation family.
Story
In a nut shell you play as a character named Abe in Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty. He is a Mudokon which happen to be slaves on the planet helping make tasty treats for the inhabitants. While cleaning the facility, Abe learns that there is a new product in the works called, you guessed it, New 'N' Tasty. It also happens to be made of the ground up meat of the Mudokon workers and slaves. This leads Abe to go on a grand adventure to try and save all of his people from being turned into that New 'N' Tasty treat that everyone is clamoring for.
Hated
The biggest and main gripe I have about Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty is that the PS4 build here just didn't seem all that stable. Not in a way that the game was unplayable but in more of an annoying way. It has been stated that the recent patches have fixed this but during my play through of the game it crashed about 10 times forcing me to restart from my last save before the crash. That was even if saving my progress was what crashed the game. It was never more than maybe a minute of lost time every crash but it sure did break things up and a few times force me just to power down for the night. Like I said, this could have been fixed since there have been patches since my last play and the writing of this review.
My only other real gripe has to come from the odd controller mapping in Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty. By that I mean that pressing up on the control stick would cause Abe to jump into the air just as if I hit the "X" button. This led to a few unwarranted deaths as that meant jumping into a floating mine. I am not sure why that would cause Abe to jump when there were no ledges to leap to and it felt like an unneeded control. If only there was an option to remove all of that then things would have been nice and I would have had one less thing to gripe on here.
Lastly, as I take back the above statement, Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty is a short game. Short to the point where I was able to beat the game in less than three hours on the hardest difficulty whilst collecting all of the hidden Mudokons. I was hoping that there would have been a bit more added to the game given the true HD treatment and remake it was being given. Granted I did have the added advantage of remember a bit from my first play through oh so long ago, but there should be something to keep me playing and looking for something new… and tasty…
Loved
For a remake, Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty really brought back the awe I originally felt so long ago with the original game. Even though everything wasn't hyper-realistic as other AAA titles out there Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty made me wonder at the visual effects and stimuli like I did back when the PS1 was new and shiny. It doesn't push much of the envelope when it comes to the power that the PS4 has to offer but if I were to just look at it as a PS4 title I would say it looks "next gen" and not just some HD remake. I was able to see the time and care that Just Add Water gave to Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty and that is appreciated.
I'll be honest here too; I forgot about all of the humor and fun from the original title and fell in love with it all over again in Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty. Specifically the Gamespeak mode where you could control Abe to an extent where you could just have him make all of the sounds and directions that he can issue during the game. I think I had to have spent a total of an hour so far just pushing all of the sound clips to make my own beat and interesting dialog choices. Granted nothing was more complicated than what is in Groot's vocabulary but it was just fun and that is what makes a great game; being able to just have fun.
Lastly, the puzzles. The bread and butter of Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty in my opinion. Figuring out how to get all of your Mudokon friends out of the meat grinder or coming up with the plans to do so were just as fun as before. They were never anything too complicated and always led to an amazing time; even if I had to die 30 times to get it to work out. Some were a bit more complicated than I remember but just challenging enough to get that sense of accomplishment when all was said and done. Never too frustrating but never too easy. At least outside of the tutorial "puzzles" that just gave you the solutions to move along.
Overall
If I had to recommend Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty for a purchase, which obviously I do as you are reading this, I would completely do so. It had its flaws but they sound to have been ironed out for the most part. If not, at least Just Add Water and Oddworld Inhabitants are still trying to make the game better based on user frustration. It is a bit short for a normal AAA title but so was Ground Zeroes and that sold a whole lot of copies and it was about 36 times shorter than Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty. So think about that before you decide that just about three hours is too short. Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty is well worth that and then some.
Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty was re-mastered by Just Add Water and published by Oddworld Inhabitants currently exclusive for the PSN (currently) and released on July 22nd, 2014. A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes.
