[gamebabble] Munch's Oddysee (XBox)
Story
Gabbits are amphibious creatures who mostly lived in the sea (they can’t walk very well) and have been fished almost to extinction by the greedy Glukkons. Munch is the last of the Gabbits, and has been captured by the Glukkons for scientific experimentation. They’ve put an electrical plate on his head by the time he escapes the lab.
Munch meets Abe, hero of the previous Oddworld games. They discover that the Glukkons have possession of the last can of "gabbiar"--Gabbit eggs, also known as Munch's unborn brothers. The can will soon be sold at auction to the highest Glukkon bidder as a delicacy! Abe and Munch join forces to save more of Abe’s brothers from the Glukkons, and take steps to obtain the can of gabbiar so that Munch's race can live on.
Gameplay
Munch's Oddysee is a puzzle-platformer. Munch and Abe each have their strengths and weaknesses, and most levels have sections that only one of the two characters can access. For example, Abe can’t swim, and Munch moves fast in the water--but extremely slowly on land unless he has his wheelchair. Abe can hardly fight at all (may as well not be able to) and Munch can fight, but only when he uses a ZAP vending machine that electrifies his metal plate.
When it’s necessary to get the various Glukkon toadies out of the way, our heroes can find things in the environment to dispatch them with. Cranes to drop bombs on them with, ZAP to knock them into the water (enemies can’t swim, either), various other vending machines like invisibility, speed-running, bouncing, etc. Abe can also "possess" an enemy and have it fight other enemies, run itself into the water, blow itself up on mines, etc., although sometimes barriers are in place that don't allow him to. Both characters can also enlist rescued friends to fight, but unless the friends are upgraded to fighter types, they are extremely frail and die a lot, which is bad for your "Quarma."
Look and feel
The story and effects have a really silly cartoony feel. From the story description, you might think it's a survival horror thing, but the whole thing is played lightly and for laughs. The Glukkons are hungry and greedy, not per se "evil." A homely version of Sylvester the Cat, you could say.
The sound effects and voicing are both excellent. Abe says "oof" when he hits the ground from far up; Munch says "waaaaaaahhhh" when he gets shot out of a cannon, and when he "runs" on his one webbed foot it makes a bouncy sound; the Mudokons say "Aw man" or "Whatever" when they’re asked to stand still, and give Abe a good-natured greeting when he gets their attention. "Hey, Abe." "What's happenin', Abe?" All kinds of things like that, and all funny--and they remained cute even when I’d heard them dozens of times.
If you wanted to stretch it, you could say the Oddworld games have a conservationist or environmental message, but it’s fine to take Munch as it is--funny characters in a mostly funny story. Munch is not the same as Abe as a character. You are made to understand that he is not (in human terms) the saint that Abe is. But no more spoilers!
Bullet-point time! Just a few.
- Good (this one’s definitely "in my opinion"): I’ve mentioned this a couple of times in my micro-blurbs on Backloggery, but Munch was perfect for my gaming style. On every single level, I could explore most or all of the area on a very leisurely basis, form a plan, then act on it. There were very few patrols or "unfair" surprises--and those made me made me laugh more often than not. This might be trying if you're not a methodical gamer, but it worked great for me!!
- Good: Munch is extremely forgiving in the way it handles character death and human error. If either Munch or Abe dies on a level, there is a “rebirth egg” point where the other character can revive them. "That was a little embarrassing, let's do it again." Only if both Abe and Munch die does your game reload. You can also quick-save wherever and whenever you want, and your game-over will default to that. Levels are designed so that it’s next to impossible to paint yourself into a corner. On the rare occasion where it does happen, you'd have to boot up your last quick-save or restart.
- Bad: Perhaps for the very reason that I found it so congenial, I also found Munch to be a little too easy. I only referred to a FAQ twice. Once very early on where it taught me a technique I hadn’t learned (and which I ended up using several times thereafter), and another time where I was missing a stray Mudokon (gotta catch ‘em all!). I found myself wishing for a bit MORE twitch or for the puzzles to be harder, which is very unusual for me.
- Bad: Ugh, the backtracking. Way too many levels require you to send ZAP-powered Munch into piles of enemies, where he dies, Abe revives him, and back Munch goes to the same little area over and over and over until all the bad guys are gone. On some levels, this took over a half hour, and it was especially bad towards the end of the game.
- Slightly bad: I don't think Munch gets enough time as the "primary character." I would have thought since the game was named after him, that'd he'd have the major percentage of the spotlight, but Abe gets at least 2/3 of it.