Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
| Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath | |
|---|---|
| File:Strangerswrathbox.jpg | |
| Developer(s) | Oddworld Inhabitants |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Designer(s) | Lorne Lanning (director) |
| Series | Oddworld series |
| Platform(s) | Xbox |
| Release |
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| Genre(s) | FPS/Action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath is a first-person shooter developed by Oddworld Inhabitants and published by Electronic Arts for the Microsoft Xbox. It was released in January 25, 2005. A version for the PlayStation 2 was planned, but cancelled. It is said this will be the last Oddworld game release. Oddworld Inhabitants have indicated that they will release the other chapters of Oddworld as movies, as they supposedly originally intended.
The game details the adventures of Stranger, a fearsome bounty hunter. Throughout the game, Stranger pursues and captures outlaws in order to collect bounties. The apparent goal is to ultimately earn enough moolah (in-game money) to pay for a mysterious life-saving operation. You start the game just having captured a filthy outlaw. You must then continue to capture more bandits using live ammo, which is literally ammunition made of living creatures, and collect their bounties in various towns throughout the land.
Story
Fierce is the spirit of her waters
It creates us
Binds us-flows in us
The fool who dare enslave her
Beware
She wash his life away
—Native Grubb Proverb
The game begins in the Mongo river valley, which has been barren and dry for years now, with only a small area of river left. The local Grubb people can barely maintain their way of life, as it is nearly impossible to grow anything, and the river has barely any fish left.
The stories hero, a Bounty Hunter known only as The Stranger, (his real name is never given) is seen gathering Fuzzles and Bolamites to set up traps. Suddenly, the outlaw Blisterz Booty appears, and begins to chase Stranger until he steps into a Fuzzle land mine, and is trapped by Bolamites. After the tutorial, Stranger heads back to the western themed town of Gizzard Gulch, which is populated by the chicken-like Clakkerz. It is revealed that Stranger collects bounties so he can pay for a mysterious operation from a Vykker named Doc. The Surgery bid comes out to twenty thousand moohla, and Stranger needs a lot more then that to get his operation. (It is impossible to actually get the operation in gameplay, as you can earn much more the twenty thousand moohla before talking to doc by bounties, harassing townsfolk, or cheat codes, and the cutscene will play out the same way). Stranger's condition is made even more mysterious by the fact that no one knows what he is, and his strange manner of loping after running too long. After collecting a few bounties, Blisterz brother, Boilz Booty destroys the town, forcing Stranger to proceed to the next one. As Stranger travels the Mongo valley, the player learns more of the area's history. In the "Eugene Eus" mission, the player learns of a "Demon" that has tormented the Grubbs for years, and had been forced off by the guardian Steef, a nearly extinct species. We later learn of Sekto, the owner of the Sekto springs dam, which is the reason the river is dry. Sekto is offering a large bounty for the head of a Steef. It is revealed that the reason they are nearly extinct is due to the fact that Sekto is killing them all for his trophy collection.
Stranger curiously never takes his offer, and a suspicious Sekto hires D. Caste Raider to track down Stranger and find the location of the Steef, which they believe he knows. As Stranger approaches Doc's main office, he sees it overrun by outlaws, and D. Caste Raider captures him and brings him to his hideout to try and extract the Steef's location out of him.
In a major plot twist, Stranger's surgery bid falls out from his pocket, and is picked up and read by the outlaws. The contents are gruesome, detailing a procedure that would turn a Quadruped into a bipedal creature. Raider orders his men to remove Stranger's boots, revealing that they were hiding two pairs of hooves. Stranger was in fact a Steef all along.
From out of nowhere, burning arrows fly into the compound, cutting the rope that bind Stranger. He defeats the outlaws and escapes town, causing panic as most people view Steef as wild dangerous animals instead of intelligent species. After passing out behind a rock, Stranger follows a path to the Grubb village, where they greet him as their savior. It is revealed that Sekto is the demon of Grubb legend, and the previous Elder Steef has disappeared, leaving Sekto free to drain the valley. The Grubb's give Stranger new armor and an improved crossbow, and send him to defend the village and raid the dam. It is in this point that the game drops its western theme for the traditional Nature vs. Industry theme from previous Oddworld games. These sequences are more like war than bounty hunting, with Stranger defeating Wolvarks and escaping the compound as it begins to self destruct.
In the final battle between Stranger and Sekto, Stranger causes Sekto's Shield reactors to malfunction, destroying the dam, and allowing water to flow into the valley again, presumably flooding the unnamed Clakker city Stranger visited after his escape of D. Caste Raider's hideout. As Stranger and the Grubb rebels stand over the fallen Sekto, Stranger notices one of his shoes has come loose, revealing two tell-tale hooves. Sekto was in reality the Elder Steef, who acts as if he has just awoken from a long sleep. As he dies, he asks in a gasping voice "Is the water...free?" revealing he had not been acting of his own accord. As the game ends, Sekto's head, finally revealed to be an octopus-like parasite, swims down the Mongo river.
Live Ammo
Unlike most other shooter games, Stranger only has one weapon, a double-barreled, semi-automatic, high-tension crossbow with an optional sniper/snooper scope. Instead of arrows, the crossbow fires rather unconventional ammunition: live animals. Eight different types of critters are used: Zapflies, Chippunks, Stingbees, Fuzzles, Stunkz, Boombats, Thudslugs, Bolamites, and Wasps. A unique aspect of the game makes Stranger find and harness creatures for ammunition, as opposed to just picking up bullets in a regular FPS.
- Bolamites resemble four-legged spiders with huge, swollen abdomens. Filled to the brim with sticky webbing, these arachnids can temporarily entangle enemies.
- Boombats resemble a pudgy bat's head with tiny wings for ears. Their unusual chemical-based diet renders them highly explosive. Any rough handling (such as being fired from a bow) makes them detonate after a short time, effectively turning these creatures into longer-range grenade weapons.
- Chippunks are a race of tiny mammals possessed of seemingly high intelligence. They essentially fulfill the same niche as chipmunks on Earth, but differ in their ability to speak coherently in a squeaky, high-pitched voice. The Stranger uses these rodents as decoys; the Chippunk hurls insults in all directions, luring enemies into more vulnerable spots.
- Fuzzles are a tiny race of furry creatures, seen before as the test specimens of Vykkers in Munch's Oddysee. Fuzzles naturally resemble a little glob of fur topped by a pair of watery eyes, with a fang-filled mouth that is not seen until it gets angry and attacks a foe. Their appearance is often brutally altered, however, by the experiments performed on them by the Vykkers. Stranger can fire them onto surfaces as mines or shoot them directly onto an enemy.
- Stingbees are essentially larger versions of Earth's hornets, albeit with four legs instead of six. These insects act as living machine-gun rounds in Stranger's crossbow.
- Stunkz resemble a cross between a Chippunk and an Earth skunk, and these striped fur balls are capable of spraying an overpowering stench. When used as ammunition in the Stranger's crossbow, Stunkz render Outlaws helpless by acting as an olfactory ipecac, causing the helpless outlaws to vomit (becoming distracted and possible to capture) for a short time.
- Thudslugs are reminiscent of a huge woodlouse, rolling into a ball and leaving its enemies faced with its thick shell. Stranger uses these insects as projectiles, able to knock the wind out of almost any foe.
- Wasps are tiny insects possessed of a long, needle-like beak. Used in Stranger's crossbow, these bugs function as crude sniper bullets.
- Zapflies are large insects that produce a significant electric charge, enough to shock even large creatures into unconsciousness. Stranger has an infinite supply of them in his crossbow.
Ally Races
- Clakkerz are a chicken-like race of hillbilly people, clustered along the Mongo River in Old West style desert towns. They have little sympathy for the native Grubbs, and are only concerned with themselves, the latest gossip, and Moolah. They are the settlers of West Mudos, and appear to be the middle class consumers in Oddworld's Industrial society. Clakkerz are extreme cowards, and enlist the help of bounty hunters to rid their towns of Outlaws.
- Grubbs are a salamander-like race that inhabits western Mudos, and have made their settlements along the Mongo River. Their culture is a spiritual one that lives in harmony with the land, carving massive temples and statues from the living rock. However, due to the arrival of Sekto and his Wolvark thugs, they have been forced away from the river and hence their water supply. Grubbs once relied on the protection provided by the Steef, but due to the Steef's apparent extinction, the Grubbs are now fair game for anyone who wants to give them a hard time. Yet, they still show signs of bravery, fighting their oppressors when finding the inspiration of a long-gone protector.
- Steef are a legendary breed of centaur-like creatures with the lower body of a horse, the upper body of a gorilla, head of a lion and the horns of a ram. Once the protectors of the meek Grubbs, wild ones are now a rare sight. These mighty beasts have become a favored game animal for hunters from Oddworld's industrial races, and they are thought to be extinct in the present time. However, they are still prized, and a Steef head can still fetch thousand-moolah rewards.
Enemy Races
- Gloktigi are massive, squid-like creatures that form the largest species in the Glukkon family tree. Their body is similar to a large cuttlefish, with a bulbous head and tentacles projecting from the mouth, but these creatures walk upright on a pair of limbs. These walking arms end in a tripod of talons, the deadly claws of which are equal in length to the rest of the limb. Despite their huge heads, Gloktigi appear no more intelligent than a guard dog, and fulfill just such a niche in Industrial complexes. A Gloktigi's deadliest weapon is its "webbing", a sticky green substance that is used to entangle victims. It is possible the "Gloktigi" encountered in the game are not in there entirely natural form - there body's have several inorganic components - blades, claws, mechanically enhanced limbs, an ability to teleport and unlimited stamina.(This could also explain their ability to walk and breathe on land) It is most likely that Sekto captured Gloktigi specimens from the wild and cybernetically augmented them to make them far more effective at their role as guards.
- Oktigi are head-sized, octopus-like creatures that are in the same species lineage as the Glukkons. They appear to be naturally aquatic, but can breathe air and survive on land with the aid of a host body. Oktigi are parasites: they attach themselves to their victim's head (essentially replacing it) and use the victim's body as their own (similar to the head crabs from Half-Life). They seem to prefer obtaining the strongest host body possible. Like their cousins the Glukkons, the Oktigi are driven by self-interest and corporate greed, and have a preference for fine business suits, expensive cigars, and exploiting the environment to the highest degree.
- Outlaws are a race of outsiders, who don't fit comfortably into the native or industrialist lifestyles. They loot, plunder, and steal for a living, and use intimidation to get away with it. The Outlaw species actually includes several sub-species, ranging from small hunch-backed lackeys to big jowl-faced bruisers. Regardless of their varied appearance, however, the Outlaws are united by their shared life of crime. These deep-voiced brutes usually tough it out in the wild, building crude shantytowns as their hideouts, or simply hijack facilities from the Clakkerz.
- Slegs, related to Slogs in earlier games, are Oddworld's dogs, serving as trackers and security for Industrial and Outlaw facilities. While these creatures use the same barks and whines as their Earth counterparts, all physical similarity ends there. A Sleg resembles an eyeless, fang-filled mouth, supported on a pair of theropod-like legs. Slegs are dark colored and have a beak-like nose, as well as several ears or antennae. Wolvarks and Outlaws train Slegs to guard their facilities and hideouts. There is also a sizeable wild Sleg population on the banks of the Mongo River. Unlike Slogs, regular slegs seem to die after inflicting a lunging bite.
- Vykkers are tall, purple beings with huge heads and small, atrophied bodies. Their seven limbs consist of two forelegs and one hind leg (their lower half resembling a grisly tripod) and four spindly, sharp-clawed arms; by comparison, the torso is short and bulbous, supporting a massive, wrinkled, bald head with small, beady eyes. The Vykkers are hermaphrodites and are uncomfortably androgynous, exemplified by their high-pitched voices and effeminate gesturing. These creatures act as the scientists and surgeons of Oddworld; unfortunately, their genius also comes with a penchant for sadism and a love of inflicting pain. Their experiments are always punctuated by unnecessary torture of their subjects, while the Vykkers themselves are constantly the victims of their own surgical "self-improvements". Most Vykkers are at the call of the Glukkons, and spend their time in their homes (Vykkers Labs, a huge flying saucer) experimenting with Fuzzles and engineering consumer products (usually with grisly side effects).
- Wolvarks serve the Sekto Springs Bottled Water Company by running factories and doubling as security for those facilities. They often bully the Grubbs, and continue to force them off of what little land they have. Wolvarks are pear-shaped and ungainly, their ill-bred face dominated by a toothy underbite and upside-down ears. Several Outlaws (include D. Caste Raider) are quite similar in appearance to Wolvarks, but whether this is coincidence or a result of cross-breeding is unknown. However, unlike the Outlaws, they have more of a Southern rather than Western accent.
Locations in Stranger's Wrath
- Gizzard Gulch — A desert region containing a dusty Clakker town.
- Buzzarton — Another Clakker outpost, plagued by sandstorms, but with an impressive sewer system.
- New Yolk City — The capital city of the Clakkerz, complete with black market and barge service.
- Mongo River — Its waters are the lifeblood of the Mongo River Valley.
- Dusky Hollow — Where the native Grubbs cling to the scraps of their civilization.
- Wolvark Docks — The shipping piers for Sekto's corporation. Heavily guarded by the Wolvarks.
- Last Legs — The Grubb's capital city, standing sentinel upon an icy Northern shore.
- Sekto Springs Dam — The fortress-like headquarters of Sekto's bottled water company.