Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD review

Made2Game Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath review score: 8/10
Formats: PS3 (Playstation Network)
Developer: Oddworld Inhabitants / Just Add Water
Publisher: Oddworld Inhabitants

Every now and then we see games emerge from the swamp of same-old-same-old mediocrity that is the Games Industry that do things entirely in their own way – and in the nineties and early noughties one of the most reliable development houses for such titles was Oddworld Inhabitants. Having given us one of the most-loved puzzle/platform franchises of the last few generations with the Abe’s Odyssey franchise, they broadened their horizons and branched out in a surprising direction in March 2005 when they released Xbox-exclusive action game, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath. Immediately lent credence by the Oddworld setting, Stranger’s Wrath stood out on its own primarily because it dared to do things differently.

Although a PS2 version was planned, various complications led to it being shelved towards the tail end of the last generation. Now, almost seven years on, developers Just Add Water have teamed up with Oddworld Inhabitants to bring the HD remake to the PlayStation Network – and the results are quietly pleasant. (You can read our interview with Just Add Water's Stewart Gilray here.)

The Stranger. A steef, apprently. Isn't he cute?

A Stranger comes to town
Stranger's Wrath tells the story of the titular Stranger, a canine/feline/thingamajig known as a Steef, who is working as a bounty hunter in and around an Old West-style desert town. Trying to earn enough money to pay for an operation to cure some mysterious life-threatening ailment, the Stranger travels the land accepting bounties for various lowlifes in exchange for “moolah”. Arriving at a town of peaceful creatures called Grubbs, the Stranger soon learns that they are being tormented by a demon who is stealing their water. Dragged into the drama against his will, the Stranger finds himself at odds with a domineering landowner named Sekto who is hunting down the last of the Steef.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the more interesting mechanics in Stranger's Wrath have aged well. Movement and most of the action occurs from a third-person perspective, from which you can climb ropes and ledges, use melee attacks to incapacitate enemies and push the Stranger into a cat-like sprint to cover distances quickly – but it gets really interesting when you click the right stick and switch to first-person. It’s from this perspective that Stranger’s Wrath shows its genius: the Stranger’s crossbow. Armed with live (or rather, alive) ammo, the crossbow is key to tactically eliminating multiple enemies and opening various paths through the world.

When charging around in third-person, the Stranger is a nifty little bugger who can even gallop, cat-like, on all-fours

Unlike other FPS titles, the ammunition in Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath is alive and comes in several distinctive types. Spider-like Bolamites, for example, can be used to instantly hog-tie an enemy, while the cute-looking Fuzzles are actually ferocious little balls of fury that can be positioned around doorways or on ceilings as incapacitating traps. Using the limitless Zappfly, you can stun and capture your ammo out in the wild if you don’t have the moolah to buy it. It’s an effortless system that adds something genuinely unique and interesting to Stranger’s Wrath. Able to load two types of weapon at any time, the crossbow is also a great tactical weapon, where firing insult-hurling Chippunks into a clearing to lure an enemy before knocking them out cold with a Thudslug is just one of several ways to proceed. Once an enemy is down, holding the square button will suck them into the Stranger’s Ghostbusters-style bounty device to be turned in at a jail later on.

The Odd, the Strange and the Ugly
Recouping health is handled differently than in other titles, too, as finding a safe place and holding down the triangle button will see the Stranger shake off any injuries he has suffered without the need of first aid kits or medicine. Melee attacks use up stamina that refills on its own over time, and so moolah is usually spent on melee upgrades such as the knuckle-duster or stocking up on ammunition.

So long after its initial release, the element of Stranger’s Wrath that betrays its age the most is in the world itself. Used to densely packed and detailed environments, a world as sparse and barren as the Stranger’s sticks out like a sore paw. Despite occasional areas where the live ammo scurries on an animation loop across the path in front of you, little else moves in the dusty world. Likewise, the clap-board towns are thinly-inhabited by largely cut-and-paste NPCs that do little to perpetuate the illusion of life. Seven years ago you wouldn’t have noticed (in fact, the detail of the world was one of the title’s plus points back then), but nowadays it feels remarkably hollow at times.

The Stranger's double crossbow is awesome, and the live ammo is both cuddly and deadly

But it’s not really fair to judge a last-gen game by modern standards. The reasons behind the re-release of Stranger’s Wrath have little to do with competing in today’s market – it’s simply a case of presenting one of the last generation’s genuinely beloved titles to this generation’s gamers. As a PSN release it works because – despite its size – nowadays it feels and plays like an arcade release, which is not a criticism by any stretch. Although not an HD re-skin a la Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, the improved visuals are enough to allow Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath to hold its own in the arcade market, and the simple-yet-unique game mechanics are of the ilk that modern developers tend to experiment with in lower-budget downloadable releases.

Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD is one of those rare re-releases like Ico and Shadow of the Colossus that genuinely enrich the current generation’s catalogue. Not a cynical cash-in or an excuse to re-tread old ground in order to keep alive an ailing franchise, it instead showcases some brilliant game design and reminds us all what was so special about the Oddworld games in the first place. Good fun, very accessible and charmingly quirky, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD is well worth the tenner they’re asking – and well worth a few hours of your time.

Words by Mick Fraser (@Jedi_Beats_Tank)

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