Oddworld is IGN's #36 Best Game World

[Crashpunk]

This is kinda random but I felt like sharing anyway. IGN have made a list of the Top 50 Video Game Worlds (according to them) A number of really awesome games have got recognition for there amazing game worlds and...

Oddworld is number 36!

The weirdo inhabitants of Oddworld are as disgusting as they are adorable as they are awesome. Their demented, clever world is different in each entry, as is the themes, atmosphere, and characters you encounter, which is what makes each game so memorable. The spaghetti western vibes of Stranger's open world are totally disimilar to the oppressive workforce foundry of Abe's Oddysee. There's something a little gross about everything that isn't beautiful here, people and places alike. Everything about Oddworld has the imaginative qualities of a child's wonder fused with the strange maturity of a not-quite-right adult. The result is a world we'll always remember.

[Dynamithix]

That's nice. And yay, Lordran is #20. Can't really agree with the #1 though. And where the hell is Mirror's Edge?

[Varrok]

It's pretty random list. Beyond Good & Evil better than Grim Fandango, which is better than Metal Gear series? Hah, no way. Mass Effect series on the 2nd place? You've clearly have got to be kidding me. . .

[Crashpunk]

They also left out Rayman's world...

[Varrok]

And Crash Bandicoot games.

[Dynamithix]

Then again, it's IGN.

[MeechMunchie]

And WH40K. And Forgotten Realms. And Arcanum.

[Varrok]

Then again, it's IGN.

Till now I thought they were better than that.

[OANST]

That's nice. And yay, Lordran is #20. Can't really agree with the #1 though. And where the hell is Mirror's Edge?

I should negrep you for saying that Mirror's Edge had an awesome game world. I should negrep you about thirteen times.

[MeechMunchie]

Maybe Dyna really likes white roofs.

[DarkHoodness]

Isn't the Mirrors Edge world deliberately ambiguous 'cause the game developers were too lazy to add much of backstory or something?

[OANST]

It's very bland and uninteresting. As to why it's that way I can't really say.

[STM]

Good to see Fez got in there. The Oddworld description was so much bullshit though. What a crap reason for #36, it was basically a stream of non-sequiturs.

[Jordan]

They left out the Angry Birds world, how disappointing

Nice to see Oddworld on there among some other, more well-known games.

[Phylum]

They also left out Rayman's world...

That's because there's no consistent world between games.

[DarkHoodness]

They left out the Angry Birds world, how disappointing

Angry birds has a world?

As much as I love Valve and Half-Life, it's still weird why they'd chose that as the #1 best computer game world ever over other, more interesting game worlds... Oddworld being one of them. I mean the Half-Life universe is pretty much a copy of the real world, but set in the future in a dystopia. It's brilliantly executed as a game world, but there are so many others that they've mentioned which deserve being #1 a lot better I think.

[Mr. Bungle]

For me, #1 is either Azeroth or Nirn. (Warcraft or Elder Scrolls)

Great list, though. For the most part. Needs more...nothing, actually. Maybe Crash.

[Jordan]

As much as I love Valve and Half-Life, it's still weird why they'd chose that as the #1 best computer game world ever over other, more interesting game worlds... Oddworld being one of them. I mean the Half-Life universe is pretty much a copy of the real world, but set in the future in a dystopia. It's brilliantly executed as a game world, but there are so many others that they've mentioned which deserve being #1 a lot better I think.

I agree. I love the setting and the atmosphere that the Half-Life universe brought, but I wouldn't call it the best video game world because it doesn't stretch itself like other games do. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm aware the game is set on Earth and there are limits.

[Glitch]

Agreed. I would give Valve one or all of my vital organs if they started accepting them as tender on Steam, but I wouldn't say the Half-Life world was that amazing.

It's bleak, but not particularly well detached from reality, and that's what you need from a truly amazing game world. The perfect game world has to look like its designers poured their twisted brains onto page and signed it in blood.

[Dynamithix]

I thought Mirror's Edge was great and the world was really colourful which I like. I don't care if you guys thought it was bad or dull, I thought the levels were really well done and the colours were like themes you were going through the game.

[enchilado]

I'd have made Oddworld number ONE because it's the BEST and it's why I'm not on the HALF-LIFE forums.

[OANST]

Agreed. I would give Valve one or all of my vital organs if they started accepting them as tender on Steam, but I wouldn't say the Half-Life world was that amazing.

It's bleak, but not particularly well detached from reality, and that's what you need from a truly amazing game world. The perfect game world has to look like its designers poured their twisted brains onto page and signed it in blood.

I don't think that being removed from reality is the qualifier for having poured yourself into your work, and I'm confused as to why you would say that. Can you honestly say that you've played a game that has a more distinct voice, or gives off the same feeling of a living world the way the Half Life games do? I think it's really silly that you are equating "weird" with "good". Weird can be very good, but that's not what it takes to be good.

[Connell]

I thought Mirror's Edge was great and the world was really colourful which I like. I don't care if you guys thought it was bad or dull, I thought the levels were really well done and the colours were like themes you were going through the game.

Okay so it had some pretty colours. That doesn't mean the world is great.. as has been said there was barely any backstory.. the characters were grim and there just wasn't enough going on!

When I think of the Oddworld universe I think of vast swarms of ugly yet at the same time beautiful creatures in vast ugly yet at the same time beautiful environments. When I think of Mirror's Edge I think of jumping from monotonous building to monotonous building with bland characters and not really advancing anywhere in the game.

[Crashpunk]

Yeah I can't really see how the 'Valve' world is the best game world ever. It really isn't.

Maybe they chose it to get Valve's attention to show us something about HL3.

[Bullet Magnet]

I think they may have confused the world itself with the excellence of its presentation. It does a great job of making you feel you are there, so it sticks in your mind as a game world. I find that I play them for the immersion before the gameplay.

[MeechMunchie]

Welcome to City 17 is very well executed indeed. You can tell how much effort went into that sequence. It feels just like the opening scenes of a movie, yet they didn't constrain you to rails like most modern games.

[Nepsotic]

But... Wheres Aperture Science? IGN sucks.
Also, there's nothing special about themario world. Nothing whatsoever. It wasn't even unique at the time.

[enchilado]

The Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Centre is in the Half-Life world.

[Nepsotic]

Yes, but it looks completely different. And I mean the Enrichment Centre itself, I don't mean the entire world. I thought thats what the article meant. Hmm, misleading. Should of been called top 50 game universes, rather than playable worlds.

[Jordan]

But... Wheres Aperture Science? IGN sucks.
Also, there's nothing special about themario world. Nothing whatsoever. It wasn't even unique at the time.

Not to be a Super Mario fanboy or anything, but it's probably one of the most iconic video game worlds out there. Not that it stands out in terms of immersion among other titles, but it has a charm that you can't overlook, and it's managed to retain that charm for a long time.