Stranger strays off the beaten path into obscurity. Any Oddworld fan, or shooter fan alike will be highly disappointed.
Oddworld Inhabitants have always been known for their unique gameplay ideas. Rolling around in wheelchairs, controlling minds, and even dropping cranes on enemies are just some of the fun and entertaining ways to play Munch’s Odyssey. But this review isn’t about Munch’s Odyssey. If it was, than I wasted an entire opening paragraph. Strangers’ Wrath brings something more unique to the classic “Oddworld” gameplay, and literally has never been done in any game before it. What am I talking about you wonder? The live ammo of course. Throughout the game, Stranger must acquire his ammo by first shooting them with a shock fly, and than rounding them up. Its not as complicated as it sounds, as all of the ammo is found hopping and flying around throughout the many levels of Oddworld. Once the furry little critters have been shot (yes I know how cruel that sounds), you simply round it up, and load it onto your crossbow. Your crossbow, which is your only weapon in the game, besides the basic punch and power attacks, can load two different types of ammo at any given time. Simply press on the Directional Pad which ammo you want to use, and load it on. Once on the crossbow, the ammo will actually talk to you, nasty or nice, it all depends on the ammo you have equipped. Once loaded on the crossbow, the ammo to the left is fired with the L trigger, and the one on the right, with the R trigger. Both can be fired simultaneously for great effects. Doesn’t this sound cool already? But on only gets better, each ammo has a different effect. Some are used mainly for offensive maneuvers like the rapid fire bee shot, and the bomb bug, which fires a devastating explosion that wipes out all enemies in the area, and some are used for defensive attacks, such as distracting an enemy into a certain location, and than firing a web on him so he could be captured, or killed, depending on how nice of a person you are.
With the basis of fighting covered, it’s not time to talk about how the game works. The game starts with Stranger in a Western style town, looking for bounties to pay for his “secret” operation. It’s quite shocking, so I wont tell you what it is. In each town, there is a Jail, a Local store, used to purchase items, and a Bounty Store, where you get your objectives. Each objective is to capture a bandit, dead or alive. The catch is, you will earn more “moolah” if they are captured alive. This brings up quite a situation early in the game, as nearly ALL of the bosses are impossible to catch alive. What do I mean? Every minor character, such as simple enemies, can be captured for money. When they are stunned, or simply tied down, you hold down the R button to bounty them. You get more money for ones captured alive than dead. When facing bosses, none of the tactics ever work. You can’t stun them, you can’t tie them down, you can’t distract them, and it’s basically a fight to the death, which results in making less money for the job.
Now on to the part of the game that truly shines, in most cases. Graphically, the game is one of the best i've seen from the many games of this gen. The cutscenes in particular are amazing. Top-notch detail and effects, shown through unique storytelling. Its often rivals the Ninja Gaiden cutscenes, it looks that good. So what happens outside the cutscenes, like in real game time? The production value takes a major leap down. The game still looks remarkably impressive, but not near as impressive as the cutscenes depicted. One to many times I found myself gagging at the jaggies, slowdowns, and bad effects that happened during the course of the game. But besides those minor mishaps, that occur only one in a while, the detail throughout the worlds is amazing, especially the detail right in front of your nose. The crossbow, and the ammo on your screen look astonishing, moving with the wind, and showing off the power that Xbox can truly perform.
Sound is one thing that disturbed me quite a bit throughout the game. Imagine watching a movie, and now imagine watching a different movie, but with the same voices. That’s basically how the different characters throughout the game sound. All of the “chicken-people” in the game have around one to three different voices, for the nearly 50 interactive characters. All of the bosses have the same raspy voice, just sometimes mellow down a bit for change.
The ammo offer a bit of humor, saying many things to you while they are resting on your crossbow, and allow for some good laughs. But once again, nearly all the ammo sounds the same. It seems to me that Oddworld Inhabitants paid five actors to do the voices of the games nearly 100 different characters in the game, which is a bad thing. Add in a Clint Eastwood sounding Stranger, and you’ve got yourself some funky sound.
I wouldn’t see myself playing Oddworld Strangers’ Wrath in the near future, and I’m not just saying that. It’s the kind of game that would either appeal to it the money you play it, or not. The game is roughly 15 hours long, which is average by today’s standards. But it’s not acceptable due to the fact that there are no mini-games or side quests available in the game. It’s a simple straightforward bounty hunt, mission in, and mission out. The bounties are sometimes very repetitive, which may not chase gamers back for more.
Once you find out the “secret” operation, it’s really no good to play through the game again. You basically want to finish the game to find out the operation, but there is no motive for you to do it again. With the somewhat mediocre missions, and lack of extras, there really is no need to play this game more than one time. For fans of the series, Strangers’ Wrath is definitely a must-have. From the lush graphics, to the slick live ammo feature, it’s just another amazing entry into the Oddworld series. Action fans will no doubt enjoy it as well, as the entire game has you fighting with ruthless bandits, sometimes in packs, or one on one, but all the time, very fun and heart-pumping action. It may not have the extras some of you gamers like, but it is a great game till the end. Trust me, you will want to play to the end, its that good of a game, even for only one time.