Stranger is a bounty hunter in the Mongo River Valley on Oddworld, a planet seven times bigger than Earth. He captures outlaws to earn moolah for a life-saving operation; along the way, he solves a mystery, defeats an army, and saves a race of people.
Not bad for a man with no name.
I played this game on the Xbox, a lot. I can tell this because booting up Stranger’s Wrath is like slipping on an old pair of shoes; they fit well, are comfortable and, since you have had them this long and taken care of them, they kick major ass.
I have mentioned Stranger’s Wrath before (Gamers rejoice! The Oddworld factory is back online!) and with good reason, any one I have ever met that played this game on the Xbox considers it one of the best games on that console.
Everyone else had just never heard of it.
Which is a shame, Stranger’s Wrath is a beautiful game, both artistically and functionally and, with the HD upgrade for the PS3, it is difficult to take yours eyes off the screen or tear yourself away from the fluid gameplay.
Stranger’s Wrath defies any one specific classification; it is a mix of first person shooters and third person adventure/fighting games with a dash of role-playing thrown in for good measure.
In combat, you have the option to smoothly, and quickly, transition from using a crossbow in first person to spinning helicopter punches, charges and head-butts in third and then back again. Yes, you can do that in many games now, but this was far less common, frankly nearly unheard, of in 2005.
Stranger hates guns; he uses a double barrel crossbow with live ammo instead. By live ammo, I mean they are living creatures you have to capture or buy that when fired, interact with your targets in many different ways. Some electrocute, some explode, some attack and chew, and some just piss off your potential bounty.
(Yeah, Chippunks are funny; they even make jokes while sitting on the crossbow, sometimes at your expense.)
The role-playing comes as you move about town, talking to the folks there, buying supplies to fit your individual needs, acquiring information, and solving problems out in the field during and on the way to the next job. This is not a Bioware product, so the interaction with non-player characters is limited response-wise, but then again the industry has changed in giant ways in just six short years.
The role-playing aspect even extends to the missions, with all of the options in ammo, fighting techniques and in-game traps, there are tons of ways to capture a bounty; you just get more moolah if they are alive.
A couple of the coolest things about the game design are Stranger can literally ‘shake off’ his damage and all of the knives stuck in him will fly off; the other bit of awesome is Stranger has a loping, four-legged cruising speed that is fun to do down the long canyons and hallways in this game. I have even run him around just watching the graphics and marveling at the character design.
The story is solid and entertaining with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. While the gameplay may be easy at first, almost too easy, it is a great example of how to do a tutorial and the learning curve dramatically shoots up from there; the final Boss Battle can be one of the toughest you will ever face.
If you have never played Stranger’s Wrath, I highly recommend it. You will not be disappointed.
If you played it on the Xbox, I recommend picking this up in the PSN store for a little bit of nostalgia and a reminder of how good games are designed.
For $15 bucks, you cannot go wrong.
Rejoice fellow Gamers, Oddworld has returned.
Posted via email from Kevin’s Slice of Inspiration | Comment »
