For its part, “Soulstorm” has a decent setup. The story starts in media res (partway through) with a good hook that raises a fair number of questions, then jumps back several in-game days where Abe’s newest adventure really kicks off. The cinematics look stellar, the voice acting is, well, what you’d expect from “Oddworld,” and it piqued my interest pretty thoroughly.
Things went downhill really fast once I was put in control of the action, though — and only started climbing out of that ditch roughly three or so levels in.
I can appreciate wanting to start the game with a somewhat bombastic setpiece moment, especially in today’s market where the default tends to be “look at the explosions!” Problem is, it doesn’t suit “Soulstorm.” I don’t think it’s an out-of-place concept for an “Oddworld” story, but the game itself just can’t quite handle what I think Oddworld Inhabitants wanted to accomplish.
Sure you could argue that it’s because “this game is too much for the Switch” or whatever, but I’m not talking about lower-resolution textures or video stuttering (though “Soulstorm” does have those). I’m talking about still animations, floaty platforming controls, and… to be honest, the introductory level kind of feels tacked on. It’s an awkward, stilted, not very well-paced tutorial that’s far more frustrating than fun. And it’s the very beginning of the game. And unfortunately, things don’t improve much once you finish learning the ropes.
We really need to talk about the level design…
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