I completely agree!
I mentioned this in my review:
http://www.oddworldforums.net/showthread.php?t=21902
It seems like it was changed to free movement for the sake of feeling "next-gen" compared to the original, but I really think the tile movement makes predicting when to jump, when to roll under things and where you can and can't stand make much more sense to the player.
I've played plenty of modern games with similar movement, so I don't think it'd be weird or dated to include it in New 'n' Tasty.