Previous Next

Welcome to Oddworld. Game Boy Color magazine is sure that you have probably seen nothing else quite like it before. Your tour guide during your visit is Abe, an odd-looking humanoid creature from a race called the Mudokons. The Mudokons have been enslaved by the cruel and greedy Glukkons, and it is up to Abe to save his people, but he can only do it with your help.

Oddworld Adventures is the first Game Boy title in the phenomenally-successful PlayStation and PC series of Oddworld games. The first, Abe's Oddysee, was released back in 1997 and was followed with Abe's Exoddus late last year. The Oddworld series has built up a loyal and steadily growing following due to the endearing nature of the game's characters, and the Game Boy's own Oddworld Adventures is no exception.

Although initially Abe is 'visually challenged' (i.e. he's pretty darn ugly!) he quickly wins over even the most cynical of players with his naive charm. The same can also be said, but to varying degrees, of the Oddworld series' rogues gallery. From the gun-wielding, hand-faced Sligs, to the sometimes cute Paramites, each character in the Oddworld series has a life of its own.

The aim of Oddworld Adventures is similar to its predecessors, as you need to guide Abe across dangerous terrain, avoiding traps and the bloodthirsty Sligs, Slogs, Bees, Bats and Paramites. Abe needs to light all the flintlocks dotted around the Paramonium Temple, and once these 'holy fires' are lit, Abe will receive the sacred scar on his hand. This, according to Mudokon legend, will give Abe the power to save his people from their Glukkon tyrants.

It may sound tough, but our Abe is no slouch, for starters he can possess Sligs (but only when he can't be seen by them) and even use their machine guns! Abe can also communicate with other Mudokons by whistling a secret password - which you'll pick up during your adventure, and whistling the correct password is the only way some Mudokons will trust you enough to talk to you.

Oddworld Adventures may be 'another' platform game, but this has got stacks of playability due to its quirky and original nature. There's plenty here to keep you occupied, as you attempt to negotiate land mines and falling boulders, open up chime-locked doors, ride pulley-controlled platforms, and discover the secrets of the Paramonium Temple by using the Story Stones. It's just a shame that it's not in colour!