Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee (Xbox)

From the box: "Munch on This! Play as the Gabbit with odditude, Munch, and his flatulent side-kick, Abe, as they lead a lab rat revolution. Munch has been captured, poked, probed and generally violated by the greedy corporate sickos, the Vykkers, and now it's time for him and Abe to turn the tables. Power up with Vendo Machines, use psychic powers to posess enemies and machines, arm yourself with oddball Vendo weapons, and rally Oddworld's whacked-out inhabitants (via GameSpeak) to stick it to the Vykkers and save the day".

What this means is that if you purchase this game, you are about to be thrown into a world that can barely be described without using the word ODD many many times. The characters look odd and the storyline is odder, but this all adds to humour.

The game is a mixture of action and very fluid 3D platform style gameplay. There are so many elements to this game that you wonder what will happen next. You can switch between characters to solve puzzles as each has different capabilities/physics to add variation. The levels are skillfully crafted and look stunning, the benefits of the xbox come to life here as it can render huge open areas, full of colour and effects, with no slow down in performance.

The game is challenging through the complexity of the puzzles but the levels get progressively harder as you would expect, but the increase is at such a pace that you wont be stuck right at the beginning of the game (in game tutorials).

Although I have not played the previous adventures, it doesnt make any difference. There is an opening intro that allows you to catch up on the story so far. As with the introduction, the cut-screens will leave you breathless, the modelling/skinning and texturing is so clear that it in my opinion beats any cut-screens rendered on my pc (Geforce 2 GTS).

There are a lot of buttons to learn but you will be required to use them as you progress through the game, you dont have to learn them all from the outset.

The game is also long, I have to date got some 20hrs out of it and I dont think I am that near completion. I would consider it a worthwhile purchase because of the length and sheer amusement value of it.

The only fault with the game that I can find is that in some places the gameplay is slightly repetitive. What I mean is that often to complete a puzzle will require the same manoeuvres to be done repeatedly...the puzzles themselves are very different throughout the game.

It has been given a rating of 11+ which in my opinion is about right. It has some toilet humour (farts and belches) and some gruesome cut screens, so I wouldnt recommend this title to anyone under that.

Final Notes: The game is one player and will only be available on the X-box.

Ammendment(17/05/02): Although originally intended solely for the x-box, it may be ported to the playstation 2 in the near future according to reports.