I recently asked a good friend of mine, Alex Welsh, if he had any games that he felt belonged on this blog. He promptly began to talk about Oddworld Abe's Oddysee. Alex is currently a freelance video game programmer and gaming enthusiast.
Oddworld Abe's Oddysee is a 2D platforming game that was released by Oddworld Inhabitants in 1997 for the PlayStation. Gameplay revolved around solving platforming puzzles and saving other Mudokons (Abe's species). Abe can possess enemies to do his bidding or use the environment to trap or kill potential threats. The GameSpeak system also let Abe communicate with other Mudokons or even hostiles.
Welsh had been introduced to Oddworld by a friend of his about a year or so after it had been released, and he had never actually heard of it before. After his introduction to Oddworld, he rarely ran into other people who knew anything about it. Most of this is due to the recurrent problem of bad marketing. Welsh commented that he, "can't really think of seeing any kind of advertisement for Oddworld anywhere. Not even in game stores."
When I asked Welsh what he felt elevated Abe's Oddysee above and beyond being an average game, he actually referred to a gameplay experience that wasn't his own. Apparently, the sound design of the game would include the sounds of objects that were currently off screen. This system was so well designed that a man named Terry Garrett, who just so happened to be completely blind, was able to complete an entire playthrough of Oddworld Abe's Oddysee without assistance.
Currently, the easiest way to play Abe's Oddysee is to download it from the Oddworld Inhabitants Official website, where all four installments of the series can be found. Welsh and I both recommend the sequel, Abe's Exoddus, as well.
Until next time.
Sources:
A. Welsh (April 13, 2013) Personal Interview
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