Nice building… Bad roof… Great parking… Hm.

I’ve officially given up on Summer Games 2005. Instead, I’ve decided to go with my gut and play through Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath again.

Anyone here with an Xbox needs to play this game, period. In my opinion, it’s right up there with Halo as a great FPS, but the uniqueness and emotional depth of Stranger put it above Halo in my book. It sticks with you long after you’re finished. You care about Stranger and his quest. Who here gave two shits about Master Chief? He’s just a cocky, one dimensional Jerry Bruckheimer hero.

This is one of those games that needs to be experienced by connoisseurs of video games, especially those of you who enjoy FPS games. The music, acting, and graphics are great and the cutscenes are the best I’ve seen yet on Xbox. The gameplay and live ammo are so refreshing. It’s fun simply hunting the ammo and Stranger lets you choose whether you want to play stealthy and capture your enemies alive, or go in guns blazing and blow everybody up. Playing through the second time has been a blast so far. Knowing the great secret of the game makes it more fun to revisit it for reasons I cannot divulge; though the Boss battles have been a lot easier this time through.

Speaking of the Boss Battles, a lot of critics have complained about how difficult it is to capture them alive. I’m here to tell you it’s not very hard at all after you figure out how to do it. The key is to find weapon combos that reduce the Boss’s stamina more than their health. That way you knock them unconscious without killing them. Most of the time it’s as simple as hitting them with a thudslug, zapping them with your zappfly while the next thudslug is loading and repeat.

Thudslugs

My favorite weapon (though I haven’t gotten it yet the second time through) is the upgraded Stunks. Their odor is so powerful that it sucks the enemy towards it. You can shoot one at a hazard like a fan and it’ll suck multiple enemies into the blades. This in my opinion is just as cool as the gravity gun from HL2.

Can I get some love for the Stunks?

Most of this I said before when I posted the first time through. I’m saying it again because this game has gone criminally unnoticed for the most part. EA Games seriously dropped the ball in my opinion. How can a great FPS that gets 90% or 9 out of 10 in nearly every review not be a huge seller?

The game can now be bought new for $30 and used for next to nothing. Get it and play it now.

Jeff, if I beat this a second time before you even get to the halfway point, I’ll be very disappointed…