Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD Review

By Christian Donlan Published 30 November, 2011

What doesn't kill you…

Version tested: PlayStation 3

Editor's note: This HD remaster of Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath for PS3 doesn't have a confirmed release date yet, but it's due to be released very soon on PlayStation Network. The price will be £9.99/€12.99/$14.99.

Just Add Water has done a beautiful job on Stranger's Wrath. It's rebuilt the character models, upgraded the audio and readied the textures for the scrutiny that comes with a 720p resolution. It's boosted the frame-rate to 60 frames per second, and it's even found the time to throw in new difficulty settings.

It's a lovely restoration, understated yet effective, and it emphasises the fact that, back in 2005, Oddworld Inhabitants did a beautiful job on Stranger's Wrath too. Half a decade later, this is still a sharp and fiercely inventive shooter that lets you loose in an unusually convincing fantasy world.

It's an example of what happens when a clever developer explores the cracks between genres and when established franchises are allowed to drift into bizarre new territory. Best of all, it shows you the kind of things that video games can do when their narratives are powered by characters rather than set-pieces.

'Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD Review' Screenshot 1

It's frightening to think that this was the Oddworld team's first FPS. It's a brilliant piece of work.

So while Stranger is a taciturn bounty hunter exploring a landscape that - despite the tusks, talons, and general slack-jawed weirdness - is a recognisable spin on the Old West, he's there to do far more than just link together the typical series of action scenes that pass for plotting in most story-driven games. Instead, you're given the chance to truly inhabit a protagonist who turns out to have some genuinely intriguing motivations and conflicts knocking around within him. Then you set off on an adventure in which you learn a lot more about who he is and what he wants.

Without Stranger, there would be no plot. He is the plot, really, and while it's unfair to spoil any of the astonishing surprises that lurk in wait for newcomers, it's safe to say that this is an uncommonly rich adventure, revealing subtext and emotion as elegantly and effortlessly as it unleashes its brutal twists and its devastating reversals. It has both a theme and a message - it's a game that's unashamedly about something. And although it toys with standard beats like betrayal and redemption, the redemption is delivered with real moral force for once, while the betrayal arrives from an angle you'd never have suspected.

That's the power of constructing a game around a character, and it's not limited to the narrative alone. When it comes to mechanics, Stranger's there to ensure that everything you do in his world feels fantastic. Whether it's easing into a run that suddenly becomes a chuntering four-legged gallop, tangling bandits up in Bolamite webbing or capturing a downed criminal by vacuuming them into a Bounty Can - with that endlessly satisfying pop - Stranger's Wrath takes standard traversal and combat ideas and finds ways to make them feel fresh again.

Devices like resources and health are transformed into ingenious systems that are fun to use, as living (and often fairly vocal) animals and insects stand in for your ammo, and Halo's famous shield system becomes a recharging stamina bar you can then tactically exchange for HP. Elsewhere, the shift from third-person platforming to first-person combat is performed with a single click of the stick, and even stealth is incorporated with little fuss via a simple radar prompt that tells you when you're hidden and when you've been spotted.

It's a confident handling of complex ideas, in other words, and it all comes together to create a hero who really sets the pace for the game he inhabits.

In the first part of Stranger's Wrath, when you're picking your way from one beautifully-rendered deadbeat town to the next, talking to idiotic chicken folk and fulfilling bounties by taking down a selection of luminously warped outlaws, you're also learning to cope with a world that's dizzyingly rich in options. The narrative is relatively linear, but each encounter could play out a dozen different ways as Stranger's weird arsenal slowly evolves, and you get a sense for when to heal, when to run, and when to move in close for a good pummelling.

Experimentation is encouraged, particularly when it comes to toying with different load-outs for your dual-wield crossbow. There are standards, like the Zappfly, which offers an electrically-charged knockback that is earned through a lengthy recharge. Then there are exotics, like those Bolamite Spiders that snare enemies in sticky knots, or Chippunks who lure foes into ambushes with foul-mouthed babbling.

'Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD Review' Screenshot 2

The difficulty has been carefully rebalanced, but X'Plosives McGee is still cheap and a little annoying.

Towards the deadlier end of the scale you'll find explosive Boombats and heat-seeking Stingbees, capable of making a DualShock 3 shiver and shake with excitement as you burn through an entire clip in seconds, and while you'll need to spend a few minutes hunting most of your ammo in the wild before every encounter, the sheer freedom your weaponry brings you when it comes to approaching each fight easily makes up for any time wasted in scavenging.

And so the first two thirds of Stranger's Wrath zip past in a glorious blur of boss-hunting and exploration as you tackle a roll-call of gorgeously depraved freakery. From Meagly McGraw, who rides around in a turret strapped to the back of his huge friend Tiny, to Fatty McBoomBoom, whose name alone represents a high-water mark in video game creativity (and whose wrestling move, the Vertical Slice, is a developer in-joke I've only just got), Oddworld knows how to build a memorable bully. The result is a brisk onslaught of varied shoot-outs that is best approached with ingenuity and quick wits.

While you fight, you're also exploring some of the most beautiful locations last-gen tech ever created. Towns like Buzzardton and New Yolk City are glorious hick constructions of dusty clapboard and greasy metal, while Mongo Valley feels like a generous chunk of Yosemite National Park even when it's riddled with snipers.

My favourite on this latest play-through has been the shattered remains of Last Legs, a citadel you approach by boat just as the river's starting to ice over and the snow's beginning to fall. Last Legs is simplicity itself when it comes to art design, using a handful of different greys and some barbed chunks of dark metal to draw an entire war-torn landscape that's as vivid as it is sparse.

'Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD Review' Screenshot 3

You're not going to mistake it for a current-gen game, but it's still capable of moments of sustained prettiness.

It's just before Last Legs, incidentally, that Stranger's Wrath switches into a third act gear-change that players are still arguing over. While it's undoubtedly a shame to say goodbye to the knockabout business of snaring bounties and following the trail of money - or Moolah - from one boss to another, the shift towards a more straightforward agenda is entirely justified by the narrative. You're also left with a new method of gathering resources and some upgraded ammo to play with as you head towards the story's violent conclusion.

This last section of the game is also the part that benefits the most from Just Add Water's careful tinkering. The engine rarely misses a beat as the battles start to get larger and increasingly hectic, while the cleaned-up textures bring a touch more character to the game's final, oppressively industrial, environments.

The improved frame rate has also seen late-arrival toys like the vortex-creating Spark Stunkz transformed from a stuttering explosion of particle effects into the handy, creatively over-powered tools that they were originally intended to be. It was a weird moment when I loaded the first of them onto the crossbow and then fired one at some passing Wolvarks: the hardware can finally cope with the game's original intentions.

So yes, Just Add Water's done us all a real favour here, recovering the best Oddworld game ever made for a generation that either missed it the first time around or is just too lazy to get the original Xbox out of the attic.

It's particularly poignant given the history. On its initial release, this wonderful piece of work was all but ditched at retail by a publisher that didn't seem to understand what it was dealing with. Now Stranger's Wrath has finally received the lavish treatment it deserves, and the gaming world has a chance to reclaim one of its brightest treasures.

9 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Christian.

About Christian Donlan

Chris Donlan writes about games for Eurogamer and some magazines. His heroes include Eugene Jarvis, Errol Morris, and Linus Van Pelt.

Read more articles from Christian by visiting the Christian Donlan archive page.

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Comments (84) Latest comment 2 months ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • wizlon #1 3 months ago

    No fart button? This isn't an oddworld game!

  • yuggy #2 3 months ago

    I will get this, forgot to buy it when I had an xbox.

  • bad09 #3 3 months ago

    FYI the PC version of Oddbox is getting this and Munch HD as free updates about 6-8weeks after their releases on PS3, so if you already have that you'll already get the HD versions.
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/11 @ 12:00

  • chibber23 #4 3 months ago

    I'll be buying this tonight

  • ecureuil #5 3 months ago

    I bought this game on day one first time around, and completed it just the once. And yet I still remember so much of it. Says a lot about the quality of the game to me.

  • Darren #6 3 months ago

    V. nice. Now can we PC owners please have the HD update for Stranger's Wrath that was promised for 'late' summer (I think they meant autumn somehow)? Thanks! :)

  • metallicorphan #7 3 months ago

    let go of that pride Microsoft and let this happen on the 360,i loved this game on the Xbox....put it on Games on Demand if need be like the Resi games

  • Darren #8 3 months ago

    @chibber23 - Good luck with that then because the review mentions the PS3 version does not yet have a release date. ;)

  • bad09 #9 3 months ago

    @Darren

    Look a couple of posts above yours :)

  • Hellion83 #10 3 months ago

    Post deleted at 20:12:17 01-02-2012

  • ardamillo #11 3 months ago

    One of the few games I would buy again, despite still having the Xbox version

  • bad09 #12 3 months ago

    @gotyourmoney

    Yes you can buy seperately (SW is £7.99) but if you go down the PC route you may as well get the whole thing as it will get the Munch update to.

    The gits aren't tarting up poor old Abe though :( On the plus side though they are doing a new Abe game (and an RTS to but that's some free to play thingie so doubtful on the consoles)

  • Murbal #13 3 months ago

    Super. Looking forward to seeing what all the fuss was about.

    Remember when they were previewing an Oddworld game for PS2 that I was looking forward to until it suddenly became an Xbox title? Which one was that? Don't think it was this one.

  • JohnnyHeaven #14 3 months ago

    it is such a shame how Mr Lanning and the Oddworld Inhabitants crew never got to finish there saga. i still remember the PSone instruction manuals detailing all of the various story lines they had in mind

    Oddworld was truly the series that defined me and my sibling's childhood.

    i only hope that this remake is successful enough to revitalize the series in a downloadable form.

  • Derblington #15 3 months ago

    X360 plx.

  • bad09 #16 3 months ago

    To those asking about 360, they are supposedly still in talks with MS about it so there is still hope for you guys.

    Edit - No worries gotyourmoney.
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/11 @ 12:24

  • StewartGilray #17 3 months ago

    @JohnnyHeaven We will be completing the Quintology :)

  • ChronoMizaki #18 3 months ago

    @Murbal

    Munchee's Odyssey. It was also originally going to be a 2.5D Platformer (from the tech demo I've been shown), but all that change in the jump to the xbox.

  • Murbal #19 3 months ago

    @ChronoMizaki thanks!

    It's also making me want to buy the Abe's games from PSN. They're what, £3.99 each? Bargain.

  • Osahi #20 3 months ago

    Only 12 euros? I would've dug up anything between 15 and 19,99 ^^ All the better, I know I was disapointed when it only came to Xbox 7 years ago...

  • randyronald #21 3 months ago

    @ecureuil Same here, particularly the third act mentioned by EG. I can only hazard a guess as to why some fans didn't like it but I thought it was fantastic and had some of the most beautiful environments in the entire game.

    One of the many things I love about Oddworld games is that you really get involved in the character's journey and that you're traversing a world full of colour and character. This game is the best example of that (Munch's Oddysee being the worst although I still found a lot to like about that game).

    Although the game is easily fun enough to play through multiple times, I'm in a way glad I've only been through it the once - playing this HD remake is going to seem like a new game!

  • Doctor_What #22 3 months ago

    This was one of my top choices for backwards compatibility on the 360 (and greatest disappointments because it never happened). I'd only played it for about three hours on the Xbox and loved it. I'm very happy to hear they've done such a good job with it and will definitely be getting this when it is released.

  • AdamAsunder #23 3 months ago

    This will be a real tragedy if it doesn't get brought over to Xbox. One of the best gems from last gen for sure.

  • Mister-Wario #24 3 months ago

    It sounds like a wonderful game. I haven't been this excited about a shooter since The Orange Box.

  • Hellion83 #25 3 months ago

    Post deleted at 20:12:17 01-02-2012

  • frunk #26 3 months ago

    If Microsoft is "true to form" they will release this on 360 and the following day dump the console for the next gen...

  • millerlfc #27 3 months ago

    After being extremely dissapointed by Munch's Oddysee when I played it last year (awful game) I'm a bit cautious about this but the review does sound very promising...

  • Hellion83 #28 3 months ago

    Post deleted at 20:12:17 01-02-2012

  • winter #29 3 months ago

    yes :D

    can. not. wait.

  • miseryguts #30 3 months ago

    One of my favourite games of all time is finally getting some love, already got it on Steam (and waiting for the HD patch) i remember when i bought this on the original Xbox & was completely blown away.. but couldn't convince anyone else to give it a second glance (alas i suspect it will be again hugely overlooked by the masses) as it "looked weird" or didn't have a rent-a-hero type main character or a familiar (generic) setting.. well dismiss it at your peril.. one of the most unique, well crafted & downright brilliant games i have ever played.
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/11 @ 13:34

  • Oli Verified Reviews Editor, Eurogamer.net #31 3 months ago

    Just Add Water's been in touch to correct the pricing... Apparently the PSN pricing structure has changed and it will cost €12.99. The prices in Sterling and dollars remain the same. I've corrected the article.

  • Mughes #32 3 months ago

    Easily one of the best games on the Xbox. This deserves to be the hit it should have been originally, so hopefully it won't get buried on PSN.

  • onyxbox #33 3 months ago

    PS+ plus discount please :)

  • eightbit #34 3 months ago

    I loved this so much in 2005, I can't wait to play it again. I will sacrifice my dissertation for this.

  • monkie_king #35 3 months ago

    Good to see Mr Donlan actually finished the game, instead of giving up halfway though and missing the best stuff like the original review did ...

  • lemonfist #36 3 months ago

    I liked this game on the old Xbox (one of the best FPS'es on the system, surely), but found the first half dragged on a bit too long.

  • lucky_jim #37 3 months ago

    Insta-buy, whenever it appears. Shame I'll have to play it with a PS3 pad, but I absolutely loved this first time round and will gladly buy it again just to encourage more like this.

  • apoc_reg #38 3 months ago

    Didnt this come out ages ago on steam....?

  • Brutal_Zen #39 3 months ago

    Awesome!! And just under 13 euro's! Instant-purchase...
    Well, at least until it shows up on PSN ;)

  • captain_Carl #40 3 months ago

    Sold! Bargain price too

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #41 3 months ago

    Eurogamer, you revisionists!

  • wattsn26 #42 3 months ago

    @metallicorphan They can't, cause then they'd have to charge $19.99 for the game on both PSN and XBL. Go look at Microsoft's ToS

  • one-liner #43 3 months ago

    Oh god, this is the waffffer thin mint of gaming. I don't need it but damn I'll have it anyway.

    *boom*

  • Triggerhappytel #44 3 months ago

    Sounds brilliant; I never played the original so I can't wait for it to come to PSN. And 10 pounds seems very reasonable considering the care and attention that has gone into this port.

  • Khanivor #45 3 months ago

    Any chance that one day someone reviewing a remake might take the time to properly look at the improvements and changes made, rather than re-review a game that's been out for yonks? I'm fairly sure game reviews don't have an expiry date...

    /looks at Mentalist's post

    Oh, look, they don't.

  • whatfruit #46 3 months ago

    I miss Oddworld.

  • smelly #47 3 months ago

    Right, i didnt buy the original as it was on the xbox - which i didnt have at the time.

    Now they've remade it in HD - and i want it for my 360.. But now (unless i'm wrong?) it's ps3 only?

    GAAAAH!

    Oh well.

  • You_shlaaaag #48 3 months ago

    Managed to get this in the Steam Autumn sale for £1.99! It still remains as wonderful as it was upon its initial release. A bloody marvellous piece of work.

  • Mudo #49 3 months ago

    When comparing krudster's 2005 review with this one, it's hard not to notice just how dramatically reviewing styles have changed in 6 years. (though it's a different reviewer, I think it's indicative of a general change of how reviews are written)

    Whereas in 2005 the review focused almost exclusively on the game mechanics, laying out the steps involved in playing and completing a level, and discussing the first/third-person dichotomy, in 2011 the review weights towards discussing theme, character, story and atmosphere. I for one appreciate that and this is an excellent review.

  • AOFanboi #50 3 months ago

    @MENTAL1ST, I would guess that the initial review was written in a time when the Oddworld universe was strongly tied to the platforming shenanigans predating Stranger's Wrath. New times, new tastes and all that.

  • Kanjin #51 3 months ago

    It's great that this game is getting the attention it deserves again. See, EA this is how you make a single player shooter.

  • Scimarad #52 3 months ago

    Never played it at the original release so I'm definitely getting this one.

  • simonpm #53 3 months ago

    Never caught the reason this wasn't being released for Xbox 360? Anyone?

  • TRUTH #54 3 months ago

    Might have to get this as I remember a great gaming time on the original Xbox. The graphics were impressive back then!

  • randyronald #55 3 months ago

    @simonpm Not sure, the vast majority of remakes seem to occur on PS3 (Ico Collection, God of War, Splinter Cell to name a few) and have been successful. You'd think publishers would want that success to carry over to 360, I'm assuming some bullshit market research has concluded that remakes is only viable on the Sony platform.

  • _Price_ #56 3 months ago

    Bugger legal issues - this needs to come to the 360. A couple of years back I even delayed choosing which current gen. console to get because of the lack of BC with Stranger's Wrath.

    So yeah: Port or 'Stranger's Wrath 2' please.

  • lucky_jim #57 3 months ago

    Wasn't it over the file size limit for XBLA? Or did that get sorted?

  • MaoZedong #58 3 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:40:08 17-12-2011

  • weebl #59 3 months ago

    I loved the original and it is good to see it stands up well in this day and age.

  • Subdominator #60 3 months ago

    I don't see the HD in the HD video. Weapon models are nice but otherwise the game still looks pretty blurry.

  • smelly #61 3 months ago

    >otherwise the game still looks pretty blurry.

    Erm - you DO realise what HD does dont you?

  • davey_wells #62 3 months ago

    Unfortunately, regardless of how good it is, I can only imagine that virtually no-one will buy this second time round either.

  • Subdominator #63 3 months ago

    @smelly Just Add Water has done a beautiful job on Stranger's Wrath. It's rebuilt the character models, upgraded the audio and readied the textures for the scrutiny that comes with a 720p resolution.

  • waggy79 #64 3 months ago

    Bought Oddbox during the recent Steam sale so very happy its getting an update :)

  • ps-360 #65 3 months ago

    another shit game after the november rush of top games

  • OleOddworlder #66 3 months ago

    As a former Inhabitant (8 years with the company) it is very bittersweet to read this article and comments. The company was one in a million and Lorne far ahead of his time. Our day to day world there was just as unique and full of adventure as the games we pumped out. We had personal trainers in-house, vitamins delivered to our desks each day, and bottomless bowls of fruit around the office to help us stave off any illness born of working 20 hour days:) Our fellow inhabitants were our family, and like all families we had our weirdness! Oddworld demanded much but gave much in return. Here's to Abe and his heritage!

  • CloudXIV #67 3 months ago

    I got the xbox pretty late, around 2003 and couldn't find a copy of this game. I guess I'll finally play it on ps3. Too bad it's a digital release, I'm a collector type and I like to have my games in boxes and on display. Guess I'll buy and play the psn version and then get an xbox version anyway just to have a boxed copy. XD

  • ToAks #68 3 months ago

    @oleoddworlder

    respect! :)

  • higgins78 #69 3 months ago

    Who is buying this toss!? Yes, I enjoyed the Oddworold games as much as the next guy (back in the day) but since when did charging £10 for a game most have played already in a world full of better (un-played) games constitute good value? I'm telling you...this gen will be remembered best for the sheer amount of disposable games.

  • DBLue #70 3 months ago

    @higgins78 If paying a tenner for a remastered classic is too much for you, perhaps you should consider getting a job.

  • Retro_ #71 3 months ago

    Nice review. Never played this first time around so It'd be criminal to miss it now.

  • Smudge1983 #72 3 months ago

    By jingo its game after game after game at the moment. Good work on the Hd make over looking forward to playing this bad boy.

  • Subdominator #73 3 months ago

    @OleOddworlder Well, what did the family think when the father decided after Stranger to quit the industry and make a movie instead (which never happened)? Was it necessary to close the gaming department because of financial reasons?

    I think the reason why OI failed is Stranger. Munch (despite being a great game) was already a stretch, an Oddworld game without the iconic character Abe as the lead is hard to sell. But at least Abe was in the game. Stranger totally got rid of the past. It was a great game at the time and it was an odd world game, but it was no Oddworld game.

    I'm wondering why developers/publishers decide to create something new when they don't have the financial security to survive an experiment. See Halo without Masterchief (or Spartans). It's something Microsoft will never do again after ODST.

    It probably didn't help that Stranger as a character is not very likeable, being the grumpy cowboy type that he is.

  • eightbit #74 3 months ago

    @Subdominator

    Stranger is most likeable and with the exception of one FMV scene, he never came across as grumpy. He's a dosile and somber soul, struggling to survive.

  • TRUTH #75 3 months ago

    Just now have to wait to get this! just bought the excellent King Of Fighters XIII (great 2D beat-em up, if not the best on this gen)

  • scuffpuppies #76 3 months ago

    One of my personal favourites of last generation, regardless of platform (but the XBOX had outdone itself). Hopefully more people will actually play this stunning game 2nd time around.

  • darkmorgado #77 3 months ago

    @Subdominator

    Erm, ODST was a huge financial and critical success. And many Halo fans rank it as their favourite in the series, for story and atmopshere alone.

  • Jinglenaugt #78 3 months ago

    @higgins78 Have you realised that almost every single comment you've made on eurogamer has been incredibly negative? No one is forcing you to be part of the gamer community, feel free to get off at the next stop.

  • WarlikeRogue #79 3 months ago

    I think I still have the xbox version somewhere. I don't think I finished it though. I do remember being blown away the location/sense of place of the game though. A definite repurchase I think, to right a video game wrong I commited.

  • Nova1977 #80 3 months ago

    I for one am glad this game is getting a HD remake as I missed out on the Xbox version.

  • StewartGilray #81 2 months ago

    @OleOddworlder Hello :) We do this for love, just as the original team did.

  • StewartGilray #82 2 months ago

    @higgins78 You'd be surprised, not many bought the original title.

  • irve77 #83 2 months ago

    have it on Xbox
    Have it on PC

    but still tempted to get what is now the deffinative version

    but if Bad09 is right and my PC version will auto update to this new whizz bang version then i'm proper happy !

  • irve77 #84 2 months ago

    @MENTAL1ST reviews are subjective it's why the meta critic score is 88 for the 2005 original ... i remember Edge loved it and honestly so did i .. completly disagreeing with the eurogamer review in a time when they gave predator concrete jungle 9/10