The game’s title may be New ‘n’ Tasty, but it’s safe to say it’s taken a while for the 2014 reworking of Abe’s Odyssey to finally make it’s way into PlayStation Vita owner’s hands. This remake first arrived for the PlayStation 4, before being rolled out to other formats, as developers Just Add Water took the 1997 classic and lovingly built it from the ground up, using the versatile Unity engine to achieve a high-quality experience that was perfect for the current generation.
For anyone that hasn’t experienced the original Abe’s Odyssey, it remains a highlight of the puzzle-platformer genre. It starred the eponymous Abe, a Mudokan, looking to save his species from the diabolical Mullock the Glukkon, who’s planning on turning them into the latest food product from RuptureFarms.
He does so by traversing the increasingly dangerous landscape, and leads his brethren to safety by helping them to reach mystical bird portals through which they escape. You can talk to your fellow Mudokan using GameSpeak, with Abe’s iconic phrases such as “Hello” and “Follow me” always bringing a smile to my face, though you may want to watch how loud your Vita’s speakers are when using the ‘fart’ option, if only to avoid any bus-based embarrassment.
Each area generally houses a number of ways for Abe to die, whether they’re Sligs armed with machine guns, motion sensors that trigger mines, or, in fact, bees. Your task is to successfully navigate through these areas by leaping, sneaking, hiding or leading, with some of the solutions taking a great deal of trial and error as you watch Abe get gunned down for the umpteenth time.
New ‘n’ Tasty generally has checkpoints at the end of each testing section, and the game’s design is perfectly suited to being played on the go because of this, letting you pick it up for a few minutes as you try to make it past one more area, before putting the handheld to sleep or saving to return to it later. In this format, it seems to avoid some of the frustrations that the original could illicit as it doesn’t feel like a failure to set it aside for a moment or two.
There have been some allowances that have had to be made to squeeze the full experience onto the Vita, and these are primarily graphical, with New ‘n’ Tasty bearing the hallmarks of a 3D Vita port. There is a slight loss in character model quality, as well as the removal or reduction of some graphical effects, though this is most noticeable when calling the bird portals through which your followers escape. Some items have thankfully also been enlarged or made more obvious so that they’re clearer on the smaller screen.
Either way, it doesn’t diminish the game’s engaging action or storyline, and ensures that the game’s performance remains suitably smooth, all the while being displayed at the Vita’s native resolution. One of the key refinements that has been made here is to the controls, with the PS4 version’s ‘Old-School’ set-up becoming the standard, bringing the scheme much more in line with that of the original. It definitely helps to make your progress feel more considered having to hold the R button to run, with the standard walk speed preventing a number of unnecessary deaths by meat grinder.
One of the other great additions that makes it over from the PS4 version is the Quiksave and Quikload feature, where a tap of the Select button instantly saves your game, while holding it for a couple of seconds loads that save. With the frustrating nature of some sections, and the annoyance that losing a Mudokan can bring, it is hugely helpful to both your sanity – and the safety of you eminently throwable Vita – to be able to instantly reset an encounter rather than having Abe commit suicide in some fashion. Unless you’re feeling vindictive…
Perhaps Abe’s Odyssey from one platform to another is finally at an end here on the Vita, and if that’s the case it’s fitting that its bite-sized approach to gameplay works so well on the handheld. While there have been some technical adjustments made to squeeze the experience onto Sony’s handheld, they come alongside a number of platform-specific refinements that help to retain the magic of a wonderfully evergreen title.
Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty is out on PS Vita today, and as a cross-buy title, is free for all those who own the game on PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 3.
DividSmythe
Nice. I’m glad it works out, largely. I’ll be downloading this to my Vita today as I got it free with Ps+. I played it for a little while and I forgot about it. My Vita as a little less loved 2015 but I’m hoping to use it more in 2016.
wonkey-willy
have yet to experience vita rage.
but lets just say, my dual shock has been launched across the room on several occasions.
will jump into the store and grab this and dust of the ol’ vita