Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD

We're currently in the age of the HD video game remake, where developers look to dodge any potential risk by releasing souped-up versions of old classics that they know will involve minimal effort for a reliable return.

Not that we're complaining, of course. The Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for PS Vita was glorious, and we can't wait for the Final Fantasy X HD remake to pop up.

In the meantime, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath has received its own HD remake for Vita. It feels a tiny bit dated where controls are concerned, but in general it's just as unique an experience as it ever was.

Bountiful

You are "the Stranger", on a quest to take down wanted bandits for cash so that you can pay for a mysterious operation.

As you collect jobs from a series of towns throughout Oddworld, you can choose to hunt down the bandits and bring them in alive for serious moolah, or kill them dead and cash them in for half price.

Catching bandits is the core focus in Stranger's Wrath, and you have several different methods at your disposal, each of which revolves around your crossbow and the furry critters that live about the place.

Grab any of these creatures from the ground and you can then attach them to your crossbow and use them as ammo. They all have completely different characteristics, with some chasing after enemies and biting them and others wrapping them up in webbing.

It's this variety that really makes Stranger's Wrath shine. You can even switch between an adventure-style third-person camera and a first-person shooter angle, so that experimenting with your bounty-sprees is always solid fun.

Wrath of God this is fun

This HD remake looks the absolute business, and sounds it too. The visuals have been knocked up a notch or two, and the voice-acting is now far more crisp, making the hit-and-miss jokes skew far more towards hit.

The Vita controls are cleverly designed in places, too. For example, switching between the third-person and first-person cameras with a quick double-tap of the touchscreenis a breeze, while switching ammo is quick and easy, again thanks to the touchscreen.

Where Stranger's Wrath drops points is in the dated feel of its core controls, when it comes to both moving your character around and moving the camera.

Both are far too sensitive, and while you're able to mess around with the camera sensitivity (we moved the slider down from five to one before it felt right), there's no similar way to soften up movement.

The game's difficulty spikes are also worth mentioning. We found ourselves breezing through the majority of the game, but at certain points we'd suddenly be barraged with enemies, and die a dozen times in the space of a few minutes.

Even so, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD is a wonderful return for a slice of video game history, and well worth a gander.

Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD

Modern-day first-person shooters will feel weak after you give Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD a play, thanks to innovative gunplay that still holds its own today
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Mike Rose
Mike Rose
An expert in the indie games scene, Mike comes to Pocket Gamer as our handheld gaming correspondent. He is the author of 250 Indie Games You Must Play.