I've just arrived at Feeco Depot for the first time, and so far I couldn't say which one I like better. It's been fun making paramites communicate with each other, having scrabs take care of those dang fleeches, and having to deal with other mudokon's feelings before ordering them around. Flying sligs are a hoot -- it cracks me up when they yell "Gotcha!"
The "blow-up-your-own-farts" deal is a bit over-the-top as far as potty humor goes, but AO wasn't completely immune from that; Abe did have to fart his way through large expanses of AO. Belching fleeches are a bit much, too. But hey, these aren't literary masterpieces -- they're games.
For me, AO's one real flaw was the way you were forced to play parts that you had completely mastered over and over and over to get to some jump with a scrab hot on your heels maybe a minute down the road from the point you had to restart after dying. As much as I loved AO, it's difficult to imagine how much better my perception of it might have been if some of the play wasn't so darn frustrating. Don't get me wrong, AO is one of the most enjoyable games I've ever played, and turned me into an Oddworld fan, but there were times I wanted to hunt down whoever decided on fixed save points and wring his or her neck. AE has its challenging parts, too, but being able to focus in on the tough parts without replaying parts you've mastered is a big positive. On the other hand, even apart from Quiksave, my vague sense is that the puzzles in AO were a bit more challenging and gave one a bigger sense of accomplishment.
Thematically, they seem awfully similar to me. Maybe I'm simple, but I fail to see how AO is a parody of corporate greed but AE is not. Maybe AO did a better job with it. It's also tough topping the original -- AO will always be in a class by itself. The bottom line, though, is that I'm liking AE plenty -- more Oddworld, more Abe, more cracking up about the myriad ways I buy the farm, more great gameplay. By the time I'm finished with AE, I'm going to be psyched to play AO again.