Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty

New for Xbox One

LOVINGLY remade for a new generation, the game that launched the Oddworld series has returned to consoles 18 years later.

You can tell this was a passion project for UK team, Just Add Water, because 'New 'n' Tasty' is as well crafted as it is visually stunning.

It is a 'ground up' re-imagining of 'Abe's Oddysee' which originally came out for the PlayStation in 1997 and the differences are instantly noticeable.

The appearance of Oddworld's strange protagonist Abe and the texture, light and shadow of the world around him look incredible.

As far as the original game goes, it also provides a good grounding for the remake because the puzzles, platform and stealth elements of the 2D experience have aged well.

As charming as it is bizarre, the game lives up to its Oddworld title

You play a slave in the brilliantly-named Rupture Farms meat processing factory.

But when sales slump your sinister bosses and their minions, the Sligs, decide to put you and your fellow 'Mudokons' through the slaughterhouse to create a new and exciting meat.

And so your adventure starts to free yourself and the others.

Abe has no weapons as such and so the gameplay mostly requires sneaking past, distracting or dispatching Sligs using the likes of trapdoors.

You can also create portals to liberate slaves and possess Sligs which always makes for chaotic fun.

It is not perfect though. New 'n' Tasty's difficulty often verges on frustration – just wait until you have to deactivate mines or hit them with perfectly aimed rocks.

The new control system is also annoyingly twitchy which will try your patience when you plummet to your death countless times.

DAVID MORGAN