I haven't got my card in the post yet, but I have mixed feelings about what I can see. Firstly, I am incredibly grateful, as I know we all are, for OWI's and Alf's work in dispensing another card to the fans. What's more, it is a very beautiful image, very realistic, with very plausible patination.
Secondly, I believe the characters have improved - the salamanders and blobs (which actually look like shell-less turtles) are
much better, the picture actually makes me look forward to seeing them. I think it's because primarily they both now have emotion in their faces (the salamanders looking pathetic and pleading, the blobs sort of reverent and mystic - hard to describe), but also because they now have much more detail and intrigue. The former are much improved over the wiggling tubes we saw in the X-Factor video, so I have to congratulate OWI there. The first hunter still looks great, I'm not sure I like his jowels, but they make sense, and help give him an egotistic/megalomaniac undertone.
However, there are bad points, mostly related to the design, and I'm glad I'm not the only one to be airing such an opinion. The Hickens look terrible. They are big fat chickens with almost no artistic liscence or imaginative design that I can see. What the hell is that Mother Hen wearing? It's a dress stolen directly from an Earth Western, and I'm not happy about seeing it on Oddworld. I'd be even more devestated if I saw a Western swing door. That would totally suck. I like the central guy's tall hat, although he himself looks pathetic. Now excuse my language, but what the fuck is that in the top right hand corner? Have the Vykkers been pissing about again?
That's really all I think. It strikes me as being odd (no pun intended) that the salamanders look like Mudokons and the hunter looks like a Glukkon. It could be symbolic of the rivalry/competition between the two races that does indeed go back millennia and has followed several evolutionary routes. Or it could be that the original creatures were representative of their respective sides so much it's difficult to break away from those characters. I don't know. I'm not looking forward to the overall character design in the new game (although like I said I am pleased with a couple of aspects), and I'm not looking forward to the heavy drawing off of Western themes. I don't buy everyone's "they're taking a break" excuse. Yes, they're taking a break, and no there's nothing wrong with making a Western as long as it's an Oddworld Western, and not just a Western that happens to take place on Oddworld. I hope the distinction is clear.
Anyway, we'll see. Thanks again to OWI for this new and fresh peak into the next game, rest assured I am happier overall, because no
new disappointments have come about.
Did anyone notice the mountains in the background, the barbed wire frame, or that the Hickens and Hunter are now the umpteenth characters to have nostrils above and between their eyes? And does anyone know what a 'loogie' is? I can't see anything in dictionary.com nor by using Google. A species name, perhaps? I have got observations about the card which may provide spoilers and theories about what will be in the new game, but I've spoken enough.
EDIT: To hawk is to clear the throat of phlegm, and loogie is another word for phlegm. I'd say that their context doesn't make grammatical sense, but then neither does anything else in the text.
Steef Christmas card curtasy from OWI!
I wounder if OWI plans on putting in a lot of news for December? hmm. Here is what it says in the card.
