I’m going to be honest with you folks, I’ve had a bloody tough time ordering my thoughts on New ‘n’ Tasty. Since it was announced I’ve been champing at the bit to play it, and now I’ve finished it. I’ve been almost struck dumb by it.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the game, New ‘n’ Tasty is far more than a marketing ploy and a clever reference to what Abe and his friends were going to be turned into should the loveable klutz fails in his mission. It describes the experience in its entirety. It’s not a remake in the HD spit and polish sense, It’s more like Resident Evil on the GameCube: a completely new game that manages to retain the soul of the original whilst updating and revamping the parts of it that have aged about as well as 17 year old Scrab cake.
Rebuilt brick by brick with the Unity engine in glorious High Definition, New ‘n’ Tasty feels fresh and new even to veterans of the original. Gone are the CGI cutscene and pre rendered graphics of the original, replaced with a fully rendered 3D world and character models, in engine cutscenes and 2.5D game play.
Needless to say, it looks delicious, JAW have done a marvellous job of breathing even more life into a world which was incredibly well realised to begin with. Backgrounds have a much greater sense of depth and scale, and the new detailed character models look marvelous as well as enable Abe and his Mudokon buddies to effortlessly convey a much greater range of emotion with far more subtly ( and Abe was pretty adorable to begin with).
The game’s rerecorded score and additional voice work perfectly compliment the improved visuals bringing the world of Abe’s Oddysee to life in a way that just wasn’t possible before, as Mudokon slaves grumble about their lot in life and even take occasional pot shots at Abe whilst the Slig guards chuckle and guffaw as they assert their authority with ruthless efficiency.
You always got the feeling that Abe’s Oddyssey was only scratching the surface of what Oddworld had to offer and although New ‘n’ Tasty doesn’t rewrite the tale, it has been improved in the retelling, with reworked and additional cutscenes, fleshing out the story further and giving an already compelling tale, the sense of splendor it always deserved.
Veterans of the original will be happy to hear though that despite the new trimmings, at its core, New ‘n’ Tasty is very much the same game we played all those years ago, just tweaked and expanded upon.
Once again it’s up to you, to guide Abe to his destiny whilst avoiding deadly traps, outwitting and occasionally possessing the obnoxious slig guards and leading his fellow mudukan slaves to safety. However, this time there’s three hundred Mudokon to rescue ( compared to ninety-nine in the original) and finding the entrances to the challenge rooms where they are kept are very well hidden and incredibly easy to miss. (Pro tip: the one’s before you leave rupture arms are in the same places. Relatively speaking) In fact, they’re so well hidden that chances are on your first playthough you’ll probably get the bad ending for not freeing enough Slaves.
The moment to moment gameplay is also just as challenging, Abe is just as vulnerable, the Sligs are just as merciless, and Mudokon Scrubs will still happily run right into a meat grinder if you’re not paying attention. To balance this out though JAW have added more checkpoints and the ability to quick save at any time by tapping on the touchpad and quick load by holding it down. In theory this should make the game easier, although I would often stupidly tap the touchpad when I meant to hold it. Screwing up my progress and then having to reload the last check point when I inevitably cocked up anyway.
Abe has also gained the ability to toss bottle caps, probably stored in natures pocket, to distract hostile creatures. I barely used this trick as the Sligs and Scrabs never turned away long enough for it to be effective.
The game’s controls have also been revamped and are a bit of a mixed bag. Abe’s Movement now controlled with the left analogue stick and voice commands have been remapped to the d- pad. As such Abe’s movement feels less precise and makes judging jumps, especially whilst running harder, leading to a few more unnecessary deaths as you leap into a mine or down a pit. On the plus side though Abe’s throwing ability also been reworked as you can now aim with the right analogue stick so that rock you’re chucking is much more likely to find it’s mark.
My only other nit pick is that despite the game having the exact same story, the tone feels slightly lighter, Rupture Farms is less of shit hole for a start looking more like a well oiled industrial complex than the kind of place that would be featured in an expose on battery farming. The comedy elements are more pronounced and the grim aspects slightly reigned in too. For example, the promotional material for Mudokan pops is much less grim in the remake, although the change makes sense when you compare the art to happy colourful posters for Scrab Cakes and Paramite Pies nothing nails the point home like a head on a stick!
Still, it doesn’t diminish the power of the story telling or how depressingly relevant Abe’s tale remains even seventeen years after it was originally told, as the kind of unchecked corporate aggression that Abe rallies against is still alive and well in 2014.
If you’ve never played an Oddworld game New ‘n’ Tasty is the perfect place to start, If you’re a fan of the original it’s like being reunited with an old friend. They may look a little flashier and have picked up a few odd habits but beneath it all they’re still the same lunatic you spent many an evening drinking Soul Storm brew with whilst debating how crooked the game industry is. Welcome back Abe, We missed you.
