Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
Encyclopedia
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee is the third game made by Oddworld Inhabitants
. Originally announced as a title in development for PlayStation 2
, it was instead released exclusively as one of the launch titles for Microsoft
Xbox
. It is the second chapter of the Oddworld
pentalogy, following Abe's Oddysee
and its sequel Abe's Exoddus
. While an "Oddboxx" containing all four games was originally intended for a holiday season 2009 release on Steam, the third and fourth games in the series were not released until December 20th, 2010 on Steam, over two years after the first two.
to call for fellow Gabbits, reminiscing about friendlier times before many of his friends were commercially fished to near-extinction in large nets. Unfortunately, owing to the delicacy of Gabbit eggs, known as "Gabbiar" (a parody of caviar
) and the suitability of Gabbit lungs to replace those of the chain-smoking, dominant-species Glukkons, he is the last of his kind. While looking on a lonely shore, he is caught by an animal trap (having mistaken its sonar sounds for his kind's own echolocation) and taken by two Vykkers, named Humphrey and Irwin, to their massive hovering base of operations, Vykkers Labs.
There, Humphrey implants a sparking sonar device in Munch's head, though Irwin is more interested in the value of the Gabbit's lungs. Humphrey then explains to Irwin his "flawless" plan to use Munch as a slave to gather trapped animals for them, allowing them more time for research and saving more Moolah as well. The plan backfires: when the two Vykkers leave, Munch discovers he can use the electrical properties of his new implant to free the furry-but-vicious lab specimens called Fuzzles, and enlist them into attacking the Vykkers and their cohorts. With his new army of Fuzzles, Munch manages to escape the dreaded facility.
Meanwhile, the Almighty Raisin tells the Mudokon hero Abe
of Munch's plight, and commands him to find and rescue the Gabbit. The two manage to find each other just as Munch is escaping Vykkers Labs. After they destroy two Sloghuts (areas where Mudokons are forced to tend and feed Slog guard dogs) and help natives fend off Slig attacks, they find their way back to the Almighty Raisin. He tells them to go back to Vykkers Labs (particularly appalling for Munch) to save their respective species. The last can of Gabbit eggs is being auctioned in a few days as the last delicacy of its kind, and there are large stockpiles of Mudokon eggs in the fortress, intended to be used to hatch slaves.
Through making a lowly, poor, dull-minded Glukkon named Lulu rich (filthy rich) by bankrupting several other Glukkons (A meep rancher and a chump who was trying to turn a windmill into a micro brewery) and several Industrial companies (Magog Motors, Splinterz and Flub Fuels) through possesing the Glukkons and forcing them to donate their Moolah to Lulu's Fund (this was the only way Lulu would rise to the status of "Glockstar"), they infiltrate Vykker's Labs, and eventually save the Mudokon eggs. What happens next depends on the actions of the player...
It is possible to earn Black Quarma, which will give the player another newspaper telling them that Abe and Munch are done for; the Glukkon queen gets new lungs, the last can of Gabbiar gets eaten and the Mudokon eggs have hatched. But to get this requires the player to kill every single Mudokon, Fuzzle and Egg Crate in the game (except the ones required to pass a level).
Munch's Oddysee was the first game in the Oddworld series to be in 3D
, unlike the 2D
Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus.
Abe's chant possession ability was also changed. In Munch's Oddysee it appears as a small ball of energy which the player controls. In order to possess an enemy, you need spooceshrubs, which are green and ball-shaped. They can also be used for opening some locked doors. Other new features include Abe's ability to pick up objects and people, and different vending machine
power-ups, such as Expresso, which increases speed for a limited time.
The most significant new feature is the ability to switch 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 Munch's Oddysee booklet, it warns that Abe can only possess Industrialists, but in gameplay, you can possess all the same creatures as you could in Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus
, and for the first time, you can possess Slogs, though the options for controlling non-Industrialists are very limited. There isn't a proper use for possessing non-Industrial creatures apart from using them to fight each other; however, the possessed creatures are usually the ones killed.
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's a 2D
Platformer
and the third Oddworld
game made for a handheld console.
Oddworld Inhabitants
Oddworld Inhabitants Inc. is an American video game developer founded in 1994 by special-effects and computer-animation veterans Sherry McKenna and Lorne Lanning. The company is primarily known for the Oddworld Quintology, a series of award-winning video games about the fictional planet of Oddworld...
. Originally announced as a title in development for PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, it was instead released exclusively as one of the launch titles for Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
. It is the second chapter of the Oddworld
Oddworld
Oddworld is a comprehensive fictional universe presented in video game form, created by game developers Oddworld Inhabitants under the direction of Lorne Lanning. Throughout games set in the Oddworld universe, Oddworld's peaceful nature is in danger of being consumed by the industrial ambition of...
pentalogy, following Abe's Oddysee
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee is a multi-award–winning platform video game developed by Oddworld Inhabitants and published by GT Interactive. It was released in 1997 for the PlayStation video game console, DOS and Microsoft Windows in North America, Australia and Europe...
and its sequel Abe's Exoddus
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus is a multi-award–winning platform video game developed by Oddworld Inhabitants and published by GT Interactive. It is a sequel to the video game Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. It is considered a bonus title in the Oddworld series, and not part of the main Oddworld Quintology...
. While an "Oddboxx" containing all four games was originally intended for a holiday season 2009 release on Steam, the third and fourth games in the series were not released until December 20th, 2010 on Steam, over two years after the first two.
Plot
Taking place after the events of Abe's Exoddus, the story begins with a froglike Gabbit named Munch, searching for others of his kind. Munch continually uses a form of echolocationAcoustic location
Acoustic location is the science of using sound to determine the distance and direction of something. Location can be done actively or passively, and can take place in gases , liquids , and in solids .* Active acoustic location involves the creation of sound in order to produce an echo, which is...
to call for fellow Gabbits, reminiscing about friendlier times before many of his friends were commercially fished to near-extinction in large nets. Unfortunately, owing to the delicacy of Gabbit eggs, known as "Gabbiar" (a parody of caviar
Caviar
Caviar, sometimes called black caviar, is a luxury delicacy, consisting of processed, salted, non-fertilized sturgeon roe. The roe can be "fresh" or pasteurized, the latter having much less culinary and economic value....
) and the suitability of Gabbit lungs to replace those of the chain-smoking, dominant-species Glukkons, he is the last of his kind. While looking on a lonely shore, he is caught by an animal trap (having mistaken its sonar sounds for his kind's own echolocation) and taken by two Vykkers, named Humphrey and Irwin, to their massive hovering base of operations, Vykkers Labs.
There, Humphrey implants a sparking sonar device in Munch's head, though Irwin is more interested in the value of the Gabbit's lungs. Humphrey then explains to Irwin his "flawless" plan to use Munch as a slave to gather trapped animals for them, allowing them more time for research and saving more Moolah as well. The plan backfires: when the two Vykkers leave, Munch discovers he can use the electrical properties of his new implant to free the furry-but-vicious lab specimens called Fuzzles, and enlist them into attacking the Vykkers and their cohorts. With his new army of Fuzzles, Munch manages to escape the dreaded facility.
Meanwhile, the Almighty Raisin tells the Mudokon hero Abe
Abe (Oddworld)
Abe is a fictional character and protagonist in the Oddworld video game series, created by Oddworld Inhabitants. Abe was introduced in the 1997 game Abe's Oddysee and his character has changed and developed throughout the subsequent games, Abe's Exoddus and Munch's Oddysee.Abe, a creature known as...
of Munch's plight, and commands him to find and rescue the Gabbit. The two manage to find each other just as Munch is escaping Vykkers Labs. After they destroy two Sloghuts (areas where Mudokons are forced to tend and feed Slog guard dogs) and help natives fend off Slig attacks, they find their way back to the Almighty Raisin. He tells them to go back to Vykkers Labs (particularly appalling for Munch) to save their respective species. The last can of Gabbit eggs is being auctioned in a few days as the last delicacy of its kind, and there are large stockpiles of Mudokon eggs in the fortress, intended to be used to hatch slaves.
Through making a lowly, poor, dull-minded Glukkon named Lulu rich (filthy rich) by bankrupting several other Glukkons (A meep rancher and a chump who was trying to turn a windmill into a micro brewery) and several Industrial companies (Magog Motors, Splinterz and Flub Fuels) through possesing the Glukkons and forcing them to donate their Moolah to Lulu's Fund (this was the only way Lulu would rise to the status of "Glockstar"), they infiltrate Vykker's Labs, and eventually save the Mudokon eggs. What happens next depends on the actions of the player...
Endings
There are two different endings to this game: the "Good Ending" and the "Bad Ending". This is determined by how much Quarma Abe and Munch have by the end of the Loading Dock level; if they have +50% Good Quarma they can proceed to two extra levels towards the Good Ending, if not the game ends there.- In the Good Ending, Abe manages to possess Lulu and then used him to win the can of Gabbiar in the auction, leaving Lulu bankrupt, after bidding his entire fortune of 3 million Moolah on it. Soon after Irwin and Humphrey return to the laboratory, finding a stack of explosives ready to blow. The ensuing explosion kills them both and causes heavy damage to the Vykkers Lab's hull and thus the entire floating facility plummets to the ground, revealing behind it a new moon with a Gabbit's foot engraved on its surface. The crash makes Vykkers Labs cease to exist.
- In the Bad Ending, Abe & Munch are attacked by Fuzzles for not saving them from the Vykkers who did experiments or tortured them and made the fuzzles suffer. Soon after, Abe's head is a trophy and the Vykkers are ready to take Munch's lungs for the Glukkon queen, Lady Margaret, killing Munch in the process.
Special Quarma
Angelic Quarma is a variation of good Quarma which shows a bonus newspaper after the ending movie saying how the economy has collapsed from the destruction of Vykkers Labs and Lulu being convicted for it (requires saving almost everything in the game and not allowing anyone to die.)It is possible to earn Black Quarma, which will give the player another newspaper telling them that Abe and Munch are done for; the Glukkon queen gets new lungs, the last can of Gabbiar gets eaten and the Mudokon eggs have hatched. But to get this requires the player to kill every single Mudokon, Fuzzle and Egg Crate in the game (except the ones required to pass a level).
Gameplay
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
, unlike the 2D
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus.
Abe's chant possession ability was also changed. In Munch's Oddysee it appears as a small ball of energy which the player controls. In order to possess an enemy, you need spooceshrubs, which are green and ball-shaped. They can also be used for opening some locked doors. Other new features include Abe's ability to pick up objects and people, and different vending machine
Vending machine
A vending machine is a machine which dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, consumer products and even gold and gems to customers automatically, after the customer inserts currency or credit into the machine....
power-ups, such as Expresso, which increases speed for a limited time.
The most significant new feature is the ability to switch 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 Munch's Oddysee booklet, it warns that Abe can only possess Industrialists, but in gameplay, you can possess all the same creatures as you could in Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus is a multi-award–winning platform video game developed by Oddworld Inhabitants and published by GT Interactive. It is a sequel to the video game Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. It is considered a bonus title in the Oddworld series, and not part of the main Oddworld Quintology...
, and for the first time, you can possess Slogs, though the options for controlling non-Industrialists are very limited. There isn't a proper use for possessing non-Industrial creatures apart from using them to fight each other; however, the possessed creatures are usually the ones killed.
Reception
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee received average reviews from Critics. 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 7.5 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."Game Boy Advance version
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
in 2003
2003 in video gaming
-Events:*February 27 — Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Yu Suzuki of Sega to the AIAS Hall of Fame....
. It was developed by Art Co., Ltd
Art Co., Ltd
is a Japanese video game developer.-Games developed:* Rugrats: Totally Angelica * Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase * Britney's Dance Beat * Disney Princess -...
and published by THQ
THQ
THQ Inc. is an American developer and publisher of video games. Founded in 1989 in the United States, the company develops products for video game consoles, handheld game systems, as well as for personal computers and wireless devices...
. It's a 2D
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
Platformer
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
and the third Oddworld
Oddworld
Oddworld is a comprehensive fictional universe presented in video game form, created by game developers Oddworld Inhabitants under the direction of Lorne Lanning. Throughout games set in the Oddworld universe, Oddworld's peaceful nature is in danger of being consumed by the industrial ambition of...
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 will be 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 30th 2011, a LittleBigPlanet 2 costume of Munch was released on the PSN.External links
- Official Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee website
- Pre-Munch's Oddysee videos
- Official website of Michael Bross - The music composer/sound designer for Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee