Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee

Plot

Taking place after the events of Abe's Exoddus, the story begins with a froglike Gabbit named Munch, whose species has been commercially fished to near-extinction by Oddworld's industrious species; their eggs harvested for a delicacy known as "Gabbiar" and their lungs used as replacements for those of the chain-smoking Glukkons. While calling for fellow Gabbits in song, Munch is allured into captivity by an animal trap when it mimics an answering call. Munch is then taken to his captors' hovering fortress, Vykkers Labs, where the chief operator implants an electronic device in Munch's head. Using the device's electrical properties, Munch breaks free and escapes the Labs with the help of the small, ferocious 'Fuzzles', on whom the Vykkers customarily perform experiments. The Mudokon hero Abe is apprized by an oracular 'Almighty Raisin' of Munch's plight, who commands him to rescue the Gabbit. The two find each other when Munch falls from the Labs, and the Raisin informs them that the last can of Gabbiar will soon be auctioned at Vykkers Labs, and that large stockpiles of Mudokon eggs are also stored there. To obtain both, Abe and Munch must help a Glukkon named Lulu by forcing various wealthy Glukkons to donate their fortunes to a front organization titled "Lulu's Fund", in the hope of buying the Gabbiar with the money thus obtained. Lulu, under their control, becomes a multi-millionaire; and when he travels to Vykkers Labs to join the auction, Abe and Munch infiltrate the fortress to rescue the Mudokon eggs. What happens next depends on the actions of the player throughout the game.

Endings

The game has good and bad endings according to how many Fuzzles, Mudokon Scrubs, and eggs Abe and Munch rescue throughout the game. When these creatures are rescued the player receives "Good Quarma", of which 50% is required to access the game's final two levels.

Gameplay

Munch's Oddysee was the first game in the Oddworld series in 3D, unlike the 2D Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus.

Abe's chant possession ability (enabling the player to control NPCs) was also changed: in Munch's Oddysee, it appears as a small ball of energy which the player controls, and must be earned by the collection of the spherical 'spooceshrubs', which may also be used for opening some locked doors. Other new features include Abe's ability to pick up objects and people, and different vending machines, which supply new abilities for a brief moment. The most significant new feature is the ability to switch control between Abe and Munch. Munch has his own abilities, such as using his sonar to control the Snoozers from the control panel, as well as pick up grabbers. He can also swim in water, while Abe can not. In the game's booklet, it warns that Abe can only possess Industrialists, but in gameplay, the player can possess all the creatures permitted in Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, and, for the first time, Slogs (the reptilian hounds kept by the industrialists as guards), though the options for controlling non-Industrialists are very limited, and usually result in the victim's destruction.

Development

Oddworld Inhabitants’ Lorne Lanning's original vision was to create a series of five videogames, the Oddworld Quintology, with each game introducing a new hero who would join the existing band of revolutionaries on their journey to put an end to the exploitation of cultures, people and the natural world by profiteering capitalists. Munch’s Oddysee is the true second Quintology title. In 1998 after the release of Abe's Exoddus (not technically part of the Quintology but a bonus title adding to the Oddworld mythos), work started on Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee in earnest. The gameplay moved from 2D to 3D, the platform from PlayStation 2 to Xbox, the publisher from GT Interactive (taken over by Infogrames) to Microsoft. Microsoft wanted to market the game to casual game players and proposed that the game be called Abe & Munch's Fun Adventures.

Game Boy Advance version

Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee was ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2003. It was developed by Art Co., Ltd and published by THQ. It is a top-down Platformer and the third Oddworld game made for a handheld console.

HD remake

An upgraded port of Munch's Oddysee was announced in April 2011 for release on PlayStation 3, developed by the team at Just Add Water. The game was released on the PlayStation Network and include enhanced 720p visuals, more detailed character models, re-mastered dialogue, bonus material. Just Add Water later confirmed that both Oddworld Munch's Oddysee and Stranger's Wrath would be released on the PlayStation Vita. On November 30, 2011, a LittleBigPlanet 2 costume of Munch was released on the PlayStation Store. The game was released on December 19, 2012 in Europe, and on December 24 in North America.

Refreshed Port

On February 25th 2016, Oddworld Inhabitants announced a public beta for a re-working port for the PC version of Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee. The port made by Square One has already released on OS X, iOS and Android. This is for the Steam version for Microsoft Windows. The new port will clear up all bugs that the original version had.

Reception

Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee received fair reviews from critics. More critical of the title, GameSpot gave the game a 7.9 stating "Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee is a very smart game with great puzzles, yet there's not enough variety in those puzzles to keep it completely entertaining throughout.". IGN gave the game a 7.4 saying "The final product comes off as anything but polished, and suffers from a lack of variety, and an overabundance of repetition that keeps this game from truly shining like I wished it would. As much as I like the characters and the design of the new Munch game, I'm still hoping for the true spiritual sequel to my good old Abe."