I finished Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee today. The final level was tough, but the experience I got playing the rest of the game helped a lot. Abe got pulped by the meat saws many, many times, but in the end, I prevailed.
It’s been a great game, if a bit infuriating due to its save policy. On the other hand, if it did include a save system à la Max Payne, it would have no challenge at all. It would have to be redesigned from scratch to accomodate this design decision. Perhaps some areas were a bit too tough, but my biggest culprits were in general a couple of areas with a secret in them, so that if you died, you had to replay them and replay the secret area. Of course, since this was not actually required, I can’t complain much. And I did manage to pass them, albeit with a few expletives too many.
All in all, a great game with gorgeous graphics, delicious handling and almost the right difficulty, verging on the hard. I’m proud to have played it.