Oddworld: Soulstorm

While this adventure does a great job staying true to the series' darkly comic themes and unique look and feel, it suffers from stiff controls and a handful of annoying bugs. Oddworld: Soulstorm's story captures both the sadness and hopefulness of the Mudokons, who, having once accepted their fate, are now willing to fight for it. The beautiful cinematic sequences and carefully crafted dialogue help us make an emotional connection with Abe and his fellow workers. Plus, the puzzles and the action, which have been designed to reward players who are thoughtful, strategic, and merciful, are reminiscent of the sorts of challenges players faced in earlier games. Simply rushing in to situations is almost never the best option, especially since Abe can't directly attack or defend himself. It's always better to examine obstacles, enemies, and objectives and then plan out your actions before doing anything.

But there are a couple of issues that keep Soulstorm from really shining. First, the controls are stiff and a little awkward. It's very easy to miss jumps that ought to be a piece of cake, and the controls for sneaking and aiming thrown objects, such as brews, water bottles, and mines, never quite seem to click. It doesn't help that one tiny mistake is all it takes to cost Abe his life, sending him back to the last checkpoint and forcing players to retackle sizable stretches of hazardous ground. Add in occasional glitches -- mines falling through the floor rather than sitting on it, an inability to interact with certain objects if they're on a bend in the path -- and it's clear that this one needed a little more fine-tuning. Oddworld: Soulstorm should prove entertaining for longtime fans of the series who enjoy its themes and characters and are perhaps used to some of its quirks, but it's not quite polished enough to welcome new players with open arms.