Is Oddworld Soulstorm: Enhanced Edition Worth It?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2024
- The most recent Oddworld game created by Lorne Lanning, Oddworld Soulstorm. We once again follow Abe as he tries to save his fellow Mudokons from slavery but is he up for the task? Well this is the Enhanced Edition of Soulstorm so I'm sure it wont glitch out right?
In 2021 Oddworld Soulstorm was released and it had a few issues with AI, graphics and glitches. Since it's initial release it has had a lot of patches and when it was finally released on Xbox they added the subtitle Enhanced Edition to show that it's not the same game from launch.
So how does this game stand up compared to the game it was origianlly based on? Oddworld Abe's Exoddus was fun so I hope it translates well to this remake.
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0:00 Intro
0:43 History of Oddworld
2:10 The Story
3:21 The Gameplay
5:09 The Level Design
6:24 The Challenge
7:35 The Cutscenes
8:30 The Comparison to Exoddus
10:39 How Does It Stand By Itself?
11:50 The Road to the Platinum
12:41 Is Soulstorm Worth It?
14:07 Outro - เกม
![Oddworld: Soulstorm / Abe's Exoddus Comparison [Part 1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pOiciPv8Rq4/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you for this review. Very well made and straight to the point! Buying the game now :))
You are welcome! Let me know what you think of it when you play it. Also I don't recommend going for the platinum Trophy (or 100% really), THAT isn't worth it hahaha
Had so much fun watching a compilation video of all of the glitches that is for sure. 👽👍
I did as well! When I was writing the script I watched lots of videos to make sure the glitches were a thing and it didn't disappoint!
@@Lytane They are great 😁👍
I was the prime age to get completely sucked into Oddworld when the first 2 games came out and have been in love with them ever since.
You and me both! From the silly goofy nature of Abe, the slapstick humour and the incredible world full of crazy locations and creatures made me a fan from day one!
I waited quite some time after Oddworld: Soultstorm initially came out to finally play it, and before I played it, I thought it was quite interesting to see how polarizing the game was, but after playing it myself (two times since I got the worst ending the first time around then the best ending the second time) I can understand the criticisms. There are some odd omissions like the lack of different emotions with the mudokens, the limited gamespeak, and where the heck is Bonewerkz??? I've encountered some glitches (not nearly as many as others have but still encountered them), and some of these levels are WAY too difficult or too dependent on protecting other mudokens (or both which is even worse). Soulstorm Brewery pre-Eye of the Storm is quite bland and repetitive which is a step-down from Exoddus's version which is far more varied and colorful. Some people have criticized the lack of Scrabs and Paramites which I can understand and partly agree with, but they're endangered with a limited range so it's not entirely unrealistic to see their absence, but it still would've been nice to see them if only sporadically. The lack of wild life makes some of the levels feel more lifeless than they otherwise appear, and the frame rate can be quite inconsistent at times too (I don't have a gaming computer, but I've got the benchmarks of 16GB RAM, a 144hz monitor, and a 4k HDMI cable while still experiencing these issues).
That being said, there's a lot I enjoy about this game. The levels and puzzles have a lot of variety, and the environments are enthralling and gorgeous to look at, even more so since it's not a traditional 2.5D since the maps twist and turn with the camera so you feel more part of the world around you. I appreciate the darker tone and the mystery filled story which also have much higher stakes than Exoddus and more interesting twists as a result. The bad ending is probably the most depressing in the entire series and the first time where Abe realizes he screwed up big time and is ridden with guilt, and the fact everyone loses (even the glukkons) was shocking to say the least. The descent for the Fragon's eye is tense and creepy, and Eye of the Storm and the final battle had an atmospheric, cinematic quality which made me excited to finish the game. The crafting system doesn't break any new ground from other games in different franchises, but it works pretty well here and adds a nice dynamic of Abe playing defensively or offensively instead of just constantly running away from one-sided battles that don't involve possession. It indirectly adds a crafty, adaptive quality to Abe's character given the hardships he faced with destroying Rupture Farms which is a nice touch. The characters are charming and have unique personality, and the cut scenes are absolutely phenomenal. Lastly, the open ending was still quite satisfying and leaves the door open for more possibilities while closing the chapter nicely.
All in all, despite my issues with the game and the fact it often misses as much as it hits, the positives outweigh the negatives to the point of Oddworld: Soulstorm being one of the most interesting titles in the franchise while raising the stakes and building the lore for the series as a whole. While not as triumphant as Abe's Oddysee nor as fun and humorous as Abe's Exoddus, it has more than enough going for it with the story and visuals to be a more than worthwhile edition to anyone's Oddworld collection, and it's nice to see more of the original vision Lorne Lanning had for this game finally come to life. Definitely worth it in my eyes.
Same here, I played the first 2 or three levels before I put it back on my shelf to play something else, only coming back after the enhanced edition was out that fixed many of the bugs (thank god!)
I also went through it twice in order to get the platinum and also got 100% of Muddokens saved, but those mass climbing levels can suck a $%^# as they had so much RNG it was frustrating. Also in Necrum the buzz saws may spawn out of sync and you wont know until you get to them, which can make saving some muds REALLY GOD DAMN HARD.
No Boneworks, no Paramite or Scrab temples either. Instead we get barren rocky hills all the time and like you said, sure the wildlife is endangered but seeing the odd (PUN) one or two should have been a thing. Especially when they are in the bonus game, Toby's Escape!! As I played on the PS4 I don't think there were any frame rate drops but there were some hiccups when many things were happening.
That's the same thing I felt as well!! This game has so much going for it but the fact that it is a remake is what makes it harder for it to shine. You wouldn't know emotions were important if you didn't play Exoddus and that the story wasn't so dark. I love the new take on the story, though I think Abe was a little too depressed for my taste as he is usually a goofy kind of guy. Oh that bad ending was insane, and the weight of the outcome where not only does Soulstorm crash but you effectively kill nearly every Mudoken in the world. Just wild.
The game is certainly worth it and I can't wait to see what the next game will bring us. Either an original story or a new adaptation of Munch, I'm excited!!
Lastly, what do you think of this game being the "new part 2 of the quintology"? So it's no longer a bonus game and each part is not going to focus on a new character. I personally don't like it.
Great game ..I just played this on the PS5. Great review as well mate
Thanks! Also I'm glad you liked it, did you ever play Exoddus? Or was this your first look into this part of the story?
The music and ambient is very disappointed, in old games every creature and every place has he's own music identity and ambient.
great argument, great review. I love soulstorm and it's probably one of the best game owi has ever made
Thank you for the kind words! This is certainly an interesting game, too bad it has to live in a shadow or I would say it's a great game
I very much enjoyed Odysee and Exoddus in the late 90s but Soulstorm was more frustration than fun for me. Theres a lot of exagerated, unnececessary difficulty which only makes you waste time...like trying to do multiple millimetric precision jumps until you are lucky enough to get them right. The texture quality is very low-res. The Enhanced ed. is also harder than the launch ed., like the ladder climbing part at the end of Phat station have the pistons move on both sides in the Enhanced ed. as opposed to only one side in the launch ed. This makes it very, very difficult to do...to the point of making long time fans wanna quit.
Sad to see a classic fall so far. They should have just given us a true remake.
Personally I don't mind the "this is the story I wanted to tell but the original exoddus had to be done quickly so I couldn't make it the way I wanted" idea is ok. It's just that this will always be compared to the original which brings it down. On it's own, it's alright but when thinking about what it lacks, no farts, no emotions, few possessions and level design that could be better, makes it more worse than it could be
wow thanks for that review! :)
i loved the original, and i totally compared it with exodus cause it was one of my favorite games, the new one just as new and tasty is too cartoony for me personally
i didnt care about spoilers i just wanted to know how the game will develope, wow interesting that there will be no creatures ..no controlling of glokkuns.. and only 2 types of mudokons ..hm kinda uncreative. i love the original game speak it was simple but it was working.
a thing that i really dont like is that the mudocons are soo talky now
all the time you say "wait" they say something like "he tells us to wait! i dont wanna wait, why are we watiiing?!" or something unfunny stuff, all the time
You are recuding a sick one, that is right next to a sleeping dog and hes standing up, yelling like child "yay you saved me" then also adding "are you that abe guy?? you rescued me just as they told us!" ..after the 5 rescue it get really annoying to hear all of these phrases and also in bad situatuions that are actually serious
thats what i meant with cartoony
it just tries to be funny all the time
But not this old dark humor where things guide you right into a funny trap, that will kill you or your friends
i looved this humor
i cant help it, i dont really like it as a game on its own
i just bought because i thought it would be like the old ones, with this very special dark atmosphere to it
You are welcome, thanks for watching it!
I get what you mean, even though this is more a spiritual successor rather than a remake you can't help but compare the two. In a vacuum this is a decent game, but when looking at exoddus and seeing what it is lacking that's when problems arise. Fewer posessions, no emotions, overall blander level design and most importantly, no farts! That's what holds this game back.
I can turn off my brain to those things so I honestly didn't notice it all that much but they are pretty chatty. The first time you hear it it is fun enough and does help with the world building, like other Mudokkens have heard of Abe which is cool. But when 100 of them say the same thing it sucks lol The old games had an element of cartoony with them as well, the slapstick humour or the farts but the difference being it was handled better and wasn't repetitive. I also prefer the darker humour the games had and there is some of that here, but it doesn't feel up to the usual standard.
Hey, that's fair enough! I can see a lot of reasons for people not to like this game, especially if you grew up playing oddworld. It does help if you separate this game from Exoddus but it's harder to do than you might think lol Regardless, I'm still very eager to see what is in the future for the Oddworld seriese but it has been quite so that's a little worrisome.
Great review! Thanks so much for the video!
It's definitely a mixed bag with Soulstorm.
Positives:
- INCREDIBLE cutscenes, visually, storytelling wise and character development. 10/10. In my opinion, Abe's emotional trauma from Rupture Farms, and his overwhelming feelings of fear in leading his people at the beginning of the game was perfect. Seeing him come to tears with his revelations after the trials actually brought a tear to my eye. 😥
Also, the message of how the media twists the truth, how we shouldn't believe everything we hear. How it affects the trust between the Glukkons and the sligs at the end. Absolutely loved this!
- The bad ending. Although not quite the gruesome shocker that is Munch's Oddysee, I love how everyone in Oddworld suffers a grim fate, and nobody wins (Mullock and his slig, the whole mudokon race etc).
- Crafting. I didn't think I'd enjoy it, but actually, I really did! The clever item combinations and strategies you can use in various situations. Plus the descriptions had me in stitches (that's of the laughing variety, not of the mouth being stitched shut! Haha!)
- The Caddicarus Cameo. Absolutely brilliant! I'd love to lend my voice to a beloved video game franchise.
- The environments. Absolutely stunning! I gasped in awe many times with the look of the places. 😍
- The mudokon voice performances and chatter. They were absolutely hilarious! "Oh my god, I am SO bored!" "The guy next to me is bored, and he smells too!" 🤣🤣🤣
Negatives:
- Bugs and glitches. At Necrum mines, the saws span towards me, so I physically couldn't get past. I had to start the level again. 😓 I nearly saved every single mudokon, but another glitch made me had to leave 4, as a slig was locked onto shooting (and I didn't want to start the level again). It made things feel unfair at times.
- No mudokon emotions. The streamlining of gamespeak really watered it down.
- Other than sleeches, there were no other creatures. You could only possess sligs.
- I really didn't like protecting the hoards of mudokons escaping while climbing up the walls. I found it tedious.
- Why did they get rid of quicksave? The checkpoint system was not good, and sometimes you'd run into checkpoints into an unavoidable situation.
Overall, there's more good then bad in Soulstorm, but it's so hard not to compare it to Abe's Exoddus. That game is still the best Oddworld game; I love it so much! ♥️
I'm in a perfect position to play this then. I didn't get into any of this before like last month. The world sucked me in quite out of nowhere and soulstorm makes other Mudokons not just treat Abe like rubbish. His friends are there for him ❤️
To end this off, sorry I must meme.
You gone and ruined a perfectly good Abe! Look at him, he's got anxiety.
Oddworld is such an amazing world to get sucked into. The creatures, the lore, the current stories and the characters are all so amazing! I love that each game has evolved the world in new and exciting ways and I can't wait to see where they take it in the future, especially as the sequel to this game.
Which games have you played now and what do you think of them?
@@Lytane I'm still chipping my way through new n tasty but I did buy soulstorm. I did wach a story compilation of all the games before I bought anything but maybe I'll experience the next one they make as intended.
All I wanted was Exoddus HD, and what I got was a buggy piece of crap on the epic store...
I wasn't impressed with Soulstorm. In terms of story, design, aesthetics, soundtrack and gameplay, Soulstorm is inferior to Exoddus. It only excels in graphics imo. They should've just given Exoddus the New'N'Tasty treatment.
I would say that the story in both are good for different reasons but you are right with everything else, Exoddus just has a lot going for it! Things like emotions, better distinction between levels, more possession and more.
I kind of wish they did the New treatment as well but I'm also happy we got something NEW in this universe. If it was just more original instead of a loose adaptation I think it would have worked so much better as a game. Instead it keeps getting compared to the original which only hurts the game because despite many problems, it's still a fun game to play.
It just lacks soul. It’s bland. The lack of music. Just a bland entry.
Isn’t that ironic as its name is Soulstorm! I don’t think it’s bland but I think it does lack in the visual variety at times. The cutscenes though are superb! Also Oddworld has a strange relationship with music, sometimes not there and other times being just atmosphere so personally I’ve never really been a fan of it