Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee is a platform video game developed by Oddworld Inhabitants and published by GT Interactive. It was released in 1997 for the PlayStation video game console, DOS and Microsoft Windows in North America, Australia and Europe. The game was released under the title Abe a GoGo (エイブ・ア・ゴーゴー Eibu A Gōgō) in Japan for the PlayStation by publisher SoftBank, with a PC version following in 2001.

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee was widely acclaimed for having innovative gameplay, good graphics, and engaging cut-scenes; however, its steep learning curve and system of saving only at checkpoints, received criticism. It was the first game in the planned five-part Oddworld series, which also includes its direct sequels, Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee and Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath. A remake titled Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! was developed by Just Add Water and released through digital distribution in 2014.

Plot
Abe's Oddysee begins with the eponymous protagonist as a prisoner in RuptureFarms, from which he narrates his story. He and many other Mudokons are slaves to Molluck the Glukkon, the owner of RuptureFarms: "the biggest meat-processing plant on Oddworld". Abe is a contented floor-waxer First Class and currently Employee of the Year.

At the time of the story, the ingredients of the corporation's three major "Tasty Treats" (Scrab Cakes, Paramite Pies, and Meech Munchies) are quickly running out, with the Meeches already extinct. While working late, Abe overhears Molluck's plan to use the Mudokon slaves as meat products called "Mudokon Pops!", which frightens Abe into escaping from the factory.

Outside RuptureFarms and the surrounding Free-Fire Zone, Abe sees a moon with its face in the shape of a Mudokon handprint. Thereupon he falls down a cliff, smashing his head; and as he lies on the ground, the shaman BigFace orders Abe to rescue his enslaved brethren and "restore the lost land", having first accomplished the Mudokons' spiritual trials in the forests of Paramonia and the deserts of Scrabania. In each land, Abe traverses a labyrinthine, abandoned temple; and after each of these, BigFace marks one of Abe's hands with a scar: one representing the Paramites and one representing the Scrabs. When Abe has both scars, he can become the Shrykull, an invincible demigod.

With this new ability, Abe returns to RuptureFarms, rescues his Mudokon brethren, and deactivates most of the factory's power. When Molluck sees this and decides to flood the entire factory with poisonous gas, Abe uses the Shrykull's power to destroy the Glukkon executives and terminates the gas; but is himself captured.

Good ending: The Mudokon brethren strike Molluck with lightning, and Big Face send Abe to a pedestal to celebrate his victory.

Bad ending: The Mudokon brethren refuse to save Abe due to his poor performance, and Molluck drops him into a meat grinder, killing him off.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Impressive sprites and graphics.
 * 2) Very creative character designs of Mudokons and other races.
 * 3) Great plot with a dark tone and humor.
 * 4) Speaking of the plot, there are two endings in the game; you have to save more than 50 Mudokons to get the good ending, save fewer than 50 and you get the bad one.
 * 5) Amazing soundtrack composed by Ellen Meijers-Gabriel and Josh Gabriel.
 * 6) Smooth controls.
 * 7) Very fun puzzle-solving gameplay for saving Mudokons.
 * 8) You can interact with the other characters by possessing them, talking to them with the Gamespeak feature, or by throwing bombs or meat.
 * 9) The landscape and backdrops are morbidly gorgeous.
 * 10) Creatively, most of the game’s advice and story are told in rhyme.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Very high difficulty. In fact it is hard to know where to see your checkpoints and Abe dies in a single hit from just about everything.
 * 2) You can't make your own checkpoints, instead you save your game & restart at those exact checkpoints. This was fixed with quicksaving being added in future Oddworld games & the New 'n' Tasty! remake.
 * 3) *You can also only have one Mudokon following you at once. Though, like saving, this was fixed in later titles and the New 'n' Tasty! remake.
 * 4) The whistle puzzles are annoying and just slow down the gameplay.
 * 5) While on the topic of whistle puzzles, because the guards tell you exactly when you whistle wrong, there are only two whistle options, and there is no penalty for getting it wrong, it’s easy to just not find the pattern and just use trial and error to get through them.
 * 6) Abe is only capable of possessing the Sligs in this game.
 * 7) The Mudokon Pops in this game have a gruesome appearance. The Japanese versions and later Oddworld games changed this look.
 * 8) Issues with the save file. If a player tries to save their game, a different file is saved.