Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath (2005)

I played this over 10 years ago and it takes place in the Oddworld universe which I knew nothing about then and not much more now

In the game, you play a bad ass bounty hunter who pursues and captures outlaws dead or alive (more money if you can keep them alive). You're not just about law and order. You are trying to earn enough money for some kind of life saving surgery

One of the most interesting aspects of the game is that you use live ammunition. "Live" as in actual living creatures. All sorts of fictional insects and mammals inhabit the game and you use them as your ammunition. Each has a different use and affect on enemies

For you animal lovers out there, the creatures are portrayed in a way that you never feel any kind of guilt for using them in this way. Most of them are humorous and sometimes cuddly and they don't seem to mind at all. No animal cruelty worries

The game uses both third and first person perspectives

You can move extremely fast around the terrain, climb ropes, platform jump and even get into melee combat. You can face enemies head on, or lure them to you

Your weapon of choice is a crossbow and the "live" ammunition can be found around the terrain or purchased at stores.

There are some roleplaying elements as you can stock up on armor enhancements, better crossbows, brass knuckles and binoculars so you can scope out an area before heading in

I absolutely loved the gameplay here and I really do need to play some of the other games in the Oddworld universe

If you only concentrate on the main tasks, you could probably finish the game in about 10 hours. If you explore the world, it'll take you about 25

Loads of fun and extremely underrated

Taking a gamble on a completely different playstyle, the Oddworld series attempts and nearly succeeds in making a great game to follow up the disappointment of Munch's Oddyssee.

Starring an endangered animal who disguises himself as a bounty hunter, you switch between third and first person as you pick up small animals that you use as ammo to kill (mostly capture) your enemies. There's a mechanic to stun enemies and take them alive for more of a reward, which is where most of the bullet mechanics come in. Luring, stunning, electrifying, web wrapping - most of the arsenal is built around slowly but surely taking on a few enemies.

This backfires upon itself a lot during the latter part of the game where the hunter must get in touch with his ancient side and the game morphs less into capturing targets as a bounty hunter and more fighting waves of enemies like a regular first person shooter. Even with bullet upgrades, you'll find that the game grossly underuses ammo that you can regularly kill with.

The save system is gracious, but the control system isn't the smoothest. Given that I was working with iOS I gave my own movement the benefit of the doubt, but the hunter's movement did feel less mobile and more like I had to sit where I was and shoot.

Other than that, the game is quite good looking for its time. The story is interesting, a western with Oddworld's weird eco-narrative stitched in that works well. Combine the recipe for a great game with unbalanced ammo mechanics, interesting gameplay, and some unforgivably frustrating segments near the end of the game and you have something that definitely tries more than the previous Munch game preceding it and almost succeeds.