By:
Oddworld

The 2D platform is the genre that won't die. Created in the mind of Shigeru Miyamoto, the genre was born with the 1985 release of Super Mario Brothers for the NES and has been utilized in games by nearly every developer since. Although the genre has seen the most success in the console industry, PC's haven't been devoid of platform games either. Blizzard's Blackthorne, Crack Dot Com's Abuse and Delphine's Flashback all have contributed to the genre's legacy on the PC, and Abe's Exoddus intends to add to it.

Abe's Exoddus continues where Abe's Odyssee left off. After shutting down Rupture Farms, a meat processing plant that had been slaughtering Abe's own species, the Mudokon, for food, Abe unknowingly created a bigger problem. The Glukkon use Mudokon bones for SoulStorm Brew, an extremely popular drink, and the destruction of Rupture Farms created a shortage of Mudokon bones. Adhering to Adam Smith's economic laws, the SoulStorm Brewery actively increased its enslavement of Mudokon for "processing" in order to compensate for the decrease in the bone supply. Abe now has to shut down SoulStorm Brewery before they wipe out his entire race.

Abe's Exoddus's gameplay is very similar to Out of this World. Abe will need to interact with all of his surroundings to survive, and will be able to climb, duck, crawl, walk, jump, ride animals and even flatulate (fart, cut the cheese, rip a nasty one, etc). The game's environments are beautifully rendered 2D scrollable backdrops and the characters are all highly animated. Like Out of this World, Abe's Exoddus requires a lot of puzzle solving while maintaining a certain level of dexterity necessity. Don't be fooled though, Abe's Exoddus won't settle with mediocrity. The game features aspects never utilized in this genre before. One such aspect is A.L.I.V.E., which makes for some very convincing Artificial Intelligence. Creatures will change colors to reflect their mood depending on your actions and other environmental variables. These moods will affect whether or not Abe will be able to recruit other Mudokon for the cause, pack animals' attitudes and enemy awareness.

Abe's Exoddus is the second in a proposed five part cross-platform series. The game doesn't utilize 3D acceleration, yet is a beauty to behold nonetheless. Exoddus should be available this November. On with the screenshots.