Universal Truths:

Although the puzzle-solving techniques throughout Abe's Oddysee vary, there are two things you should always keep in mind. First, perfect (and I mean perfect) timing is required in many instances; if you're so much as a hair too late with some moves, you can kiss your butt goodbye. The second thing to remember is that many of the puzzles involve memorization; you'll hear a string of tunes and then you'll have to repeat them to exit a level or you'll hear someone make a whole string of noises and you'll have to duplicate them. In cases like these, it's always best to just A) memorize what sound each of your "gamespeak" buttons makes and B) have a pad handy onto which you can write the sounds you need to mimic.

Rupture Farms:

Your first rescue attempts in Abe's Oddysee are, as you'd expect, of the simple variety. Here's an example of how complex it gets: You have to possess one guard to shoot another. Once you've done that, you can relinquish control over the hapless moron and gather your kinsmen together for a quick escape.

Stockyard Escape:

The road out of Ruptured Farms, while potentially lethal, is also loaded with some very helpful advice about how to use Abe's abilities most effectively. Furthermore, you also get to practice some of the game's more "twitchy" requirements. Here's a perfect example: After you see the sign that says "Hide in the Shadows," you'll immediately have to evade two baddies. After you've eluded them, drop down a level and you'll see a deactivated bomb. Here's where it gets a little tricky: First, activate the bomb. Next, run into the room on the left, catch the baddies' attention, then run back toward the bomb. You'll make a running jump onto the ledge above the bomb while the hapless baddies will run right into the bomb. Simple, yet elegant.

Scrabania:

As you pay a visit to the home of the much-maligned Scrab, you'll have to be on the very top of your game. These Scrabs are out for your blood and man, are they quick.

Perhaps the most perplexing part of this level is right at the very beginning, when you're trying to gain access to an Elum. The whole problem revolves around trying to ring the bell that summons it. Here's the best way around this potentially hair-graying situation:

First, go to the screen with the air stream in it that will take you up to the bell; you've probably taken the air stream up already and been killed. What you need to do first is to activate the bomb next to that patrolling baddie. To do so, you must hang on the ledge he's patrolling and then wait for him to turn his back to you. Now, quickly pull yourself up and sneak over (don't just walk) to the bomb and activate it; you should be in crouching position now, so simply roll away from the bomb and off the ledge. The baddie will come after you and be blown to bits.

Next, jump into the air stream on the ground and take it all the way up. Very quickly, ring the bell and then run back off the ledge to the right; if your timing is good, you should land back down in the air stream again. When it throws you back up on the ledge, sneak over to the right and climb down. You'll land on the ledge you just cleared before. The Elum should now be waiting for you below.

Scrabanian Temple:

This temple is loaded with several of the most challenging puzzles this strategist has ever seen in a game (although I do think that some of them are a little cheesy…maybe even very cheesy). Of all the puzzles here, I found the toughest one to be behind the right-hand door on the third floor.

At first, this doesn't seem like a biggie; you go to the left, grab the music you need to leave, then go to the right and - BLAM! - you get slapped back. Again and again and again, but I digress. (Can you tell I had a little trouble with this level?) From my many hours with this puzzle, I've come up with the following step-by-step that should get you through in one piece.

1. Grab the music
2. Keep going right until you come to the room guarded by a Scrab.
3. You need to walk just past the elevator platform and start chanting (to keep the Scrab at bay since he's invariably dropped down and is trying to attack you).
4. After you have him at bay, jump straight up and climb on the platform above.
5. Take the air stream all the way up.
6. Go to the right and pull the handle to light the flintliock. (Make sure the Scrab below you is to your right.)
7. When you drop down, run to the left; you'll need to tap the X button to ball up near the end.
8. The elevator platform is just below you now, so wait until the Scrab guarding it gets to the far end of the screen, then make a jump for it. If he gets too close, use a chant to keep him at bay.
9. Once at the top, chant again to unlock the door.

Paramonia:

Perhaps the most confusing part of Paramonia occurs just after you sic the bees on your Elum. You go through a short pre-rendered scene, then see your Elum and yourself in the shadows on the right side of the screen. Beneath you and on the other side of the room are platforms onto which you can jump; it appears as if you want to go down, but that's not the case. Here's what you really want to do:

First, jump straight across from your starting point onto the platform on the other side. Next, dismount the Elum and look carefully around you; you should see the little dripping (yecch!) that lets you know you can climb up. Do so (you'l be back for the Elum later) and you'll see a lever in the ground surrounded by two bombs; leave it for now and continue climbing up until you reach an air stream. Take the air stream up and then possess the baddie near where you land. Now take the baddie off the ledge to the left and kill the other baddies you run into. When you come upon the aforementioned lever, exterminate the baddie by dropping him on the bomb to the left.

Now, you need to come down: DO NOT just walk off the right edge of the platform you're on or you'll drop to your death. Make a standing jump to the left: once you've landed, you can then simply fall off to the left onto the next platform. When you find the lever, pull it and an elevator will come down. Hop onto it and take it down to grab your Elum. When you've got him (it?) take the elevator all the way back up and then move to the left for the remainder of this level

Paramonia Temple:

The toughest puzzle found in the Paramonian Temple is behind the door all the way to the right on the second floor. If you're anything like me - and if you are, I'm sorry - then you're probably about ready to throw your T.V. out the window because you keep dying when you get on the screen with the bats flying around and the spiked balls going in and out of the screen.

Here's how I got past it: First, when you reach the screen with the spiked balls, make sure that you don't try to jump directly onto the stone slabs between them; if you do, those darned bats will get you. (Are they not the most annoying things ever?) What you need to do is stand back a little bit and jump so that, when you land, you're hanging off the left side of the next stone. Then, when the coast is clear and it's safe, simply pull yourself straight up and make a standing jump toward the next rock. If you don't get hit by a bat, you should wind up hanging over there, too.

The only other major problem remaining - aside from returning through those spiked balls - is in pulling the lever in front of the sleeping dog-like miscreant. You need to A) face away from him when you hit the switch and B) just run like heck straight ahead; don't try jumping or anything at the end. If you go straight, you should just wind up hanging off of a ledge. Then you'll be free to finish the level.

Monsaic Awakened:

There's only one really cool thing to be found in this brief interlude (it's definitely more like an interlude than a level) and it's your newly-found powers of the Monsaic. These powers provide for some really satisfying eye candy.

Stockyard Return:

Nothing real tricky here: everything simply requuires a very slow hand. If you get yourself too worked up while trying to negotiate those motion detectors, you'll be here for a long time. The one thing that can be said that might save you some time is the following: When you get all the way over to the right, if you're trying to go up but the bats are blocking your progress, YOU CAN'T GO UP THAT WAY! Drop down to the next lower level and go into the shadows on the right. You'll see a ring of birds; chant to turn them into a portal.

Rupture Farms:

Area 1

The toughest puzzle here is the very first one you have to solve. Go past the area with the "Save us all" message on the wall and then pass through to the left. (If these rooms look familiar, they should; this is where you started the game.) When you reach the left-most room, you have to stock up on explosives, kill the floating mine, then go back into the room on the right. The really confusing part is that when you walk into the next room, a baddie is on a platform and you can't seem to get to him. Here's what you have to do: Stand directly underneath this platform (don't fry yourself on the electricity) and wait until he turns his back to you. Immediately push Up, hit the switch above and drop back down. It's very hairy, but not impossible.

Area 2

When you get to this part, you'll see the "three-door-choice" begin, kind of like the doors that were available at the temples. One of the puzzles I found to be a bit tricky was the core puzzle behind the door on the right. Just after you pass through the door, you'll see a compatriot cleaning the floor with a sleeping guard right next to him. Tiptoe past the two of them onto the next screen over. Now climp up and move over to the left; you should be making noise as yo walk over here because you want to wake up the guard. When the guard starts fluttering about, throw a bomb on the drop hatch in front of you and pull the lever. If your timing is right, he should be history. The only big challenge remaining on this level is getting your guy down off the second floor; tell him to follow you and then tell him to wait when he's standing on the drop hatch. Pull the lever and you're good to go.

Area 3

The puzzles behind the door in the upper-left corner are numerous, but the most important one is this: How do you find the flint lock? You can't go anywhere (no matter how many folks you save) without finding this. The secret to its location is deceptively simple. When you walk through the door and begin this level, the flint lock is literally underneath you. The problem lies in getting to it. Here's the step-by-step on how to get at it:

1. Walk up the chasm in front of you and make a standing jump across; you should wind up hanging.
2. Pull yourself up and then turn around; now, make a standing jump back the way you came (again, you should wind up hanging).
3. Drop down and you'll wind up right in front of the switch; just pull it and you'll be able to exit the room.

Just in case you're unclear on how to exit the room, here's the scoop: After hitting the switch, jump off to the ledge on the right. Now drop straight down. On the wall to your left is a switch that you can use to summon an elevator. As soon as you hit it, start chanting because it's bringing down a baddie. Once you've possessed and relinquished him, you're free to take the elevator up and exit if you wish.

Area 4

Unlike the previous two levels, which offer you three or four different quests to complete, this one only offers two (maybe three if you count getting between the two doors). Of these, the most difficult is the lower right door.

Specifically, the "Slog Pound," can drive you crazy.

To clarify something right off the bat, the bomb dispenser that you see in the actual slog pound is bogus. Yes, it dispenses bombs, but for some inexplicable reason, it doesn't let you pick them up. So every time you're about to run the slog pound, go back through the door and pick up a bomb from the previous area. If gets tiresome I know, but it's the only way you're going to beat this. Now, make the run down to the right, and when you reach the end, jump up with your two compatriots. As soon as you stand up straight, take one step forward, turn around, run off the platform and then climb up onto the other platform across from you. Now take two steps in, crouch and look toward the dogs, hold the O button to get the bomb ready, count to four and then let it fly! If you did everything correctly, you should have killed all the dogs.

Next, jump down and move over to the left to possess the baddie above you. Then take the baddie over to the left and have all guns blazing. If the possessed baddie does the job, then move him over and flip the flint lock switch. If not, then you need to climb up and take care of it yourself. All you have to do is jump over the slogs; since they travel in groups, you should be able to do it with no problem.

Once you've flipped the flint lock switch and rescued your mates, jump back down and head out.

Area 5

Like the last areas in both of the temples you just visited, successful completion of the Boardroom requires rote memorization. You have two minutes to deactivate bombs, avoid shredders and take care of the bosses. If you rescued more than 50 of your mates, then you'll be saved. If you didn't…well, let's just say you'll get some replay value out of the game.