Gameplay Footage

Stranger gets down and dirty with some sewer critters in this clip.
Watch | Download

Oddworld Inhabitants' latest and arguably strangest trip back to its own bizarre realm of Oddworld is nearing completion, and we were lucky enough to spend a few hours with a recent build of Stranger's Wrath to get a feel for the way the final product will turn out. We can now say we're quite looking forward to late January, which is when the game will ship, because the Inhabitants have crafted a compelling and unique action offering that's big on gameplay variety and that trademark Oddworld charm.

We've taken a number of looks at Stranger's Wrath in the past and examined all the basics that make this quirky new game tick. If you're too lazy to click, here's a primer: You're Stranger, a mysterious figure from the wilds of Oddworld who brings in the unlawful for fun and profit. You can play the game both as a first-person shooter, with Halo-style controls, and as a third-person platformer, with the standard array of spin punches, double jumps, and other moves that have defined the genre. The first-person mode is especially amusing because you'll load your double crossbow with "live ammo" rather than with bolts. This "live ammo" consists of projectiles that are actually living critters, all of whom inflict different amounts and kinds of damage. You'll make your living by bringing in bad guys, and you'll get even more money for doing so if you manage to bag them alive, which adds an interesting strategic layer to the game's combat.

We've played several hours of the game from the beginning, so we've gotten a feel for the way it will proceed. Basically, you'll make your way through the outlands of Oddworld, which are full of unsavory characters that are all gunning for Stranger, and you'll eventually arrive at a new town. The town's bounty store will present to you any outstanding warrants, and you'll head outside of town to bring in the crooks to subsequently collect your reward. Once you've finished all the available jobs, you'll begin your search for the next town. Of course, there's more storyline involved than this, and Oddworld Inhabitants is promising some big twists later on down the line that will resonate with longtime fans of the series. However, at least in the early hours, the game establishes a rhythm that's easy to grasp.

Stranger's bounties will lead him from the deserts to the sewers to a whole mess of other places.

Stranger's Wrath is essentially a linear game, but you'll have some degree of freedom in choosing which bounties to pursue. So in some cases, there will be a couple of bad guys to go after, and you can hunt whichever one you'd prefer. Although for the most part, you'll finish one area and then be shepherded by the story and the game environment to the next one. But despite the general point-A-to-point-B structure, Stranger's Wrath does a good job of feeling open-ended due to several different factors. For one, the towns that you'll visit feel lively thanks to the many villagers wandering around, all of whom you can talk to at any time, and the number of shops and other buildings you can go inside. For another, we've noticed that the game very rarely pauses to load, so you'll cover massive distances, both in and out of towns, seamlessly.

Oddworld Inhabitants seems to have struck an excellent balance between first-person shooting and third-person melee and platforming in Stranger's Wrath. Transitioning between the two perspectives is as easy as clicking the thumbstick, and the switch occurs immediately. Consequently, you're free to use both types of gameplay to approach a given situation in whatever manner you'd like, all without the game's interface getting in the way.