I first heard of Oddworld when I saw an advertisement for Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee on the back of a poster for Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge.  (Betcha didn’t know there was a Banjo-Kazooie game for the GBA!)  The series remained in the back of my mind for the ensuing 20 years until I found the demo for Oddworld: Soulstorm, which is apparently a reimagining of Abe’s Exoddus from 1998.  Of course, having never played any of the games before, this fact means nothing to me, but it must to someone out there.

Ahem, the story follows Abe and his efforts to save his fellow Mudokons.  The demo doesn’t exactly do much to explain the story to a newcomer.  The first cutscene mentions burning down a farm, which apparently belongs to this terrifying dude in a suit with no arms.  (He’s certainly the most frightening farmer I’ve ever seen, I tell you what.)  The only thing I knew about the series going into it was that Oddworld features some rather…interesting creature designs.  (In the case of the dude in the suit, replace interesting with repulsive.)  With that said, the creature designs are still pretty unique, the cutscenes are well animated, and the characters are expressive.  I’d like to know more about this whole odd world they inhabit (see what I did there?).  The problem is, the gameplay might make that a little difficult.

The demo for this side-scrolling adventure took me roughly 1.5 to 2 hours to complete and featured two levels, The Raid on Monsaic and the much longer Ruins level.  The first level is mainly a typical platforming level, though it’s frequently slowed down by the need to start and put out fires with bottles of flammable green stuff and water respectively.  The second level features lots of stealth as we avoid creatures called Sligs, which is not usually my thing, but at least it provided some interesting options for progression.

So Abe can run and roll and jump and other typical things that the heroes of platformers can often do.  He can also chant and use something called a chi orb to possess enemies and force them to shoot each other or even blow up.  (Yikes!)  You can also stun enemies and tie them up if you’re feeling more merciful.  Oh yeah, and I also learned by accident that you can throw those bottles of flammable green stuff at enemies, and then a single spark will set them ablaze, too.  I think I was just as surprised as my foe was when that happened.

Seriously, this game could be brutal sometimes, and I only played a small portion of it!

My biggest issue with the demo was that the slow pacing really dragged sometimes, making the whole experience not that much fun.  Sure, it was different, but also just a bit clunky and tedious to play.  Abe’s jumping was awkward and needed more horizontal momentum or something (especially when you’re expected to jump while sneaking), and the frequent need to start, then put out, fires really slowed the whole experience down.  Water bottles either need to be more effective in how much fire they put out, or the fires need to die down on their own after they’ve done their job of either burning down a wooden barrier or…incinerating my enemies.

Disabling the mines was really tough, too. Fortunately, this only seemed to be required once, but I still blew myself up far too many times attempting to tap it at just the right time.

Honestly, I know nothing about Oddworld, but the demo for Soulstorm didn’t really encourage me to keep playing and learn more.  From reviews I’ve read online, it seems this game has pretty mixed reactions.  Some people like it, while others think it’s not as good as the game it’s supposedly a “reimagining” of.  So if you’re interested in trying this series out for the first time, this game may not be the best starting point.  With that said, Oddworld: Soulstorm is available on all major consoles and PC for $39.99, but I’ve seen it go on sale for $11.99, making it a very good deal, considering the very generous 18-27 hours it takes to complete.