On the eighth day of Christmas, A Gamer Forever Voyaging gave to me... eight types of ammo...?

Bit on the cryptic side, this one. There's not really any way you could guess what game features eight types of ammo. Or rather, there are probably loads that do, and it could be any of them. But come on, it's really hard to tie things into this!

Anyway, the game I'm thinking of in this instance is... Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath.

Yes, you can win the slightly strange Western-themed FPS classic! And not only that, because I'm nice, I'm actually giving away the Oddboxx - all the Oddworld games in one handy package (well, it's not really a package, it's a series of downloads on Steam). What a great collection of games!


It's an odd sort of place, this.

The first Oddworld game is Abe's Oddysee, which I distinctly remember playing on the Playstation. It's a side-scrolling platform game in which you, as Abe, must free enslaved creatures before they can be turned into food products at the factory where you work. It has to be said, one of the main reasons I was ever drawn to the game was its bizarre and somewhat dark storyline! Always did have a liking for the slightly twisted...

It's a lot of fun, with plenty of humour to lighten proceedings. This is welcome, because there are moments of frustration in the game. Still, it's well worth sticking it out till the end.


A bolt of lightning!

With Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee being so successful, a sequel was inevitable. Indeed, the path of Oddworld had been mapped out to include five games, right from the off. However, in a move that would cash in on Oddysee, a spin-off sequel was released that was not a part of the main storyline. That spin-off was called Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus.

Exoddus continues at the exact point where the first game finishes. This could be said about every aspect of the game... there's not a lot new there. It's a bit less frustrating, due to a newly-implemented save system, but other than that it's the same bizarre, tripped-out platforming goodness that the first game was full of. It's cracking old-school action.


Like a mouse on a wheel!

Not exactly hot on the heels of these two came the next Oddworld game... Munch's Oddysee. As you might have guessed, this introduced a new Oddworld character. It also introduced the 3D viewpoint that is the norm in most platformers nowadays (and was thenadays, too!). I haven't played this entry in the series, so I don't know what it's like. Critics weren't as keen on it, though, although it still managed to do reasonably well, scores-wise.

And so, finally, we come to the centrepiece of the collection - Stranger's Wrath. Which I haven't played yet. I really ought to... I know several people that highly rate it, with one fella rating it as his game of the year for 2005 (2005? Was it really as long ago as that?).


A man's got to know his limitations.

It's a hybrid of a game, featuring first-person shooting action and third-person platforming bits. It brings new meaning to the term "live ammunition"... the things you fire at enemies are actually living creatures! Any game that allows you to shoot wasps at things has to be worth playing.

There you go, then. Four classic games, one classic series. Yours for the taking. You probably know the drill by now, but if you don't... go and plug this post somewhere relevant, and then come back here and post a comment telling me where you've put it. That'll put you in the draw... go for it!