Vita port of the reimagining of Abe’s Oddysee launches next week
With the recent delays and cancellations of Vita projects such as Axion Verge, Klaus, Banner Saga, Not a Hero and many more you are probably after something a little more positive to read for the Vita, and thankfully I can provide some, at least for those of you that love Oddworld titles. Itself subject to a delay – at least in terms of the PS4 version – the Vita version of Oddworld: New ‘N’ Tasty is now finished and will release next week! I was able to get some hands on with the game thanks to the very patient team at Oddworld Inhabitants.
I must have embarrassed myself somewhat in front of Peter Chapman from Oddworld Inhabitants. As is typical for titles that also have a PS4 counterpart, I didn’t play New ‘N’ Tasty previously. I’m not an Oddworld virgin by any means, as I’ve played both Stranger’s Wrath HD and Munch’s Oddysee HD before, but I much prefer playing these (and many other) games through the convenience of the Vita, so not really knowing what to expect proved a little amateur. New ‘N’ Tasty is a very different beast to those other titles and is very much about patience, puzzles and tactics (as well as a little timing) as you seek to free the enslaved Mukodons from the barking mad owner of Rupture Farms, who intends to use his workforce as a meat supply for his products.
Abe is unable to use weapons, unlike some of the enemies you encounter, such as Sligs, but he is able to communicate with his incarcerated colleagues, either to great, follow or more to aid him in his quest – which is ultimately to see all 299 of them free. Abe is also able to sneak past enemies and run, as well as roll around rapidly to escape enemies if need be, but cannot directly strike his foes. Thankfully he can throw objects and isn’t alone – being joined along the way by his trusty steed, Elum.
I would say that the first thing that struck me was the difficulty, but that’s not quite true. The first thing I noticed was actually the visuals. Make no mistake, there have needed to be some compromises to get the game running on the Vita – and under 1.3GB no less – but New N Tasty looks quite special, and in some places quite stunning. Condensing the bigger console version has come at a cost, mainly in background elements and some of the textures but the game does run at a solid 30 FPS, I have been told and during my playtime there didn’t seem to be any performance drops. Peter from Oddworld told me that the game has essentially been rebuilt for the Vita – a tall order considering the game had already been rebuilt from the ground up in the first place. He said that Oddworld Inhabitants had made a commitment to do Vita, and were going to stick to that promise. The game also has a “screen shaking” effect which is a new addition for the Vita version, and is here due to the handheld’s lack of rumble.
So, that difficulty then. The game will come with three different difficulty settings, but this game is certainly not easy as I mentioned a few sentences ago. It was challenging back in the day (I’m told) and back then there were only 99 Mukodon slaves to free, and New ‘N’ Tasty packs three times that figure. Slow and steady wins the race, and you’ll need to demonstrate far more restraint than I did to navigate all that the game can throw at you, but for those of you that love a challenge, you are certain to enjoy this.
Thankfully you don’t have to wait that long, and the game will release on PSN next week, that’s the 19th January and for those that didn’t queue it when it released on PlayStation Plus for the PS4, it’ll cost you $19.99/£14.99. It does appear to be on sale still on the EU store, so if you are interested it might be a good idea to grab it cheaper…
We will bring you more news, an interview with Oddworld Inhabitants and a review very soon! Have you been looking forward to the Vita version of New ‘N’ Tasty?
