New 'N' Tasty! Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee - Standard Edition (Nintendo Switch)

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In my very brief and not thorough survey it looks like it ran at 20 to 30fps on PS3, 35 to 60fps on PS4, 30 to 50fps on Xbox One, and mostly around 30fps on Switch. I would say it's a good way for people who missed the original, because it was ages ago, to reexperience the original style of gameplay. The remake is visually appealing, but it ended up sapping away much of the charm of the original game. Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty is a ground-up remake of the seminal puzzle-platforming adventure, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee. However, this is a frustrating game by design much more than by mistake, so while a couple of things could have been made to feel more fluid, this is still a good interpretation of the original’s gameplay with enough smart choices to make it less punishing than the original release.

This core concept ensures that the gameplay still holds up, and is incidentally the reason it’s still such fun to play.The level design is still good, there's still atmosphere here (though far less), the controls are slick enough and the multiple difficulty levels a sensible concession – though only the hardest mode is really worth playing, frankly, as this game was never that difficult in the first place.

And that may seem petty, but really, why remake a game only to strip it of precision and atmosphere like this? But, no, folks wanted their Abe action to get some sort of spit-shine, so in comes New 'n' Tasty "fixing" everything that wasn't broken and stripping the game of a good deal of its precision, atmosphere and general appeal.I bought one for my daughter to play Tekken during lockdown and she's ended up playing through Abe's Oddysee quite recently. Some good remakes they could bring, Soul Reaver, Urban Chaos, Tenchu, (man, how i miss Tenchu), Silent Hill (RIP), In Cold Blood, Nightmare Creatures 1 and 2. It totally recreates the atmosphere of that much-beloved classic in a gorgeous HD aesthetic that caters to modern gamer’s sensibilities. Donnerkebab I was going to suggest that video if nobody else had, I thought it was a really interesting perspective on what was lost (in their opinion, obviously not everyone would agree) with the remake, first thing I thought of after reading this review.

A cinematic platformer akin to the original Prince of Persia, the game took place in a flip-screen world with pre-rendered background environments, focusing on timing-critical action, tense stealth and light puzzle-solving. You'd think, hang on, I have no idea what's coming next, and you'd sneak onto the screen just in case there was a Slig in the land of nod. New N Tasty is much more playable compared to the original, looks better, sounds better and is a faithful remake that just improves on things. While the single-screen compositions were dated even in '97, they served the action brilliantly, making each new area stick in the mind.

A few smart upgrades and gorgeous visuals give Oddworld: New ‘N’ Tasty a fantastic modern-day shine, and the smart puzzle platforming gameplay and dark sense of humour remain intact. I know everyone has different standards, but I just always have trouble enjoying a side-scrolling game that doesn't run at 60.