Filthy Hands Floyd Walkthrough (Pt. 1)

The first really tricky bounty in the genre-busting new Oddworld adventure, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath™, is that varmint Filthy Hands Floyd. He's no fan of hygiene, but he is worth plenty of moolah at the Bounty Store.

He's worth more alive than dead.

Once you accept the bounty on Floyd, you need to figure out where he's hiding. That's simple enough—Floyd is one of many outlaws that are making life hard for the local chicken-people, the Clakkerz. Ask around, and you learn he's to be found out at Dead Hen's Pass. Look for the sign that points you in the right direction. Normally, you'd also want to stock up on supplies, upgrades, and ammo at the General Store (every town's got one), but since Floyd and his boys are blocking the shipments, there's nothing for sale yet.

The Clakkerz have info on Floyd. Chat them up.

Here's the point where one of the game's subtler innovations comes in handy. Where is Dead Hen's Pass, anyway? Hit X while you're not targeting anything, and Stranger himself tells you: "Better get to the North Gate", or words to that effect. You've got your marching (and galloping) orders; time to head out!

Signposts point you in the right direction.

Once you reach the North Gate—walk out of the Bounty Store, turn right, then take the left immediately after the General Store—a cut scene launches that opens the gate for you.

The North Gate—look for the sign.

Congratulations, you're finally on the hunt! The first thing you need to track down isn't outlaws—it's ammo for your double-barreled (so to speak) crossbow.

Load up the Zappflies in your ammo hunt.

Once you've loaded up on the always-handy Chippunks cavorting all over the place, you've got another barrier straight ahead. This one you have to open yourself. Look for a bright blue gem, and shoot it with a Zappfly. Voila!

Shoot the blue gem with a Zappfly to advance.

You step through the gate into an empty train tunnel that's the only way forward. Go ahead, get in a little four-legged galloping here, for practice. Remember, you can stun that first enemy with a head-on charge if you're ever ambushed.

Stranger is a weapon when he's on all fours.

Follow the road out of the tunnel and through a small village of Clakkerz until you reach a bridge that's been washed out (or from the looks of it, maybe blown up by Floyd and his gang). How to get past? Remember, this is a first-person shooter/platformer—and, as in any good platformer, there's a set of steps you can jump up and over to traverse the open ravine.

Look right to find the way past the ravine.

Use double-jumps to get up and over.

Now that you're past the ravine, you can gallop down the road. There's a blue activation gem attached to a crane of sorts. Shoot it. It doesn't open a gate, but the crane drops a big ol' rock on some outlaws waiting to ambush you. Head left at the crane to collect the cash they drop when they croak.

Next up—blast another lock.

Turn left at the crane and gallop down a road that veers right. You soon come across a nest or three of Bolomites, those oh-so-handy spiders that you can shoot from your crossbow to literally tie up an enemy, at least for a few seconds. And that's usually long enough to bounty 'em (in game terms, it's called "bountying," but to me it looks like he's sucking them up into the Oddworld equivalent of a Dirt Devil). Stock up on the 'mites, you're gonna need them.

This area is rife with web-spinning Bolomites.

The Bolomite nest is in a nearby abandoned warehouse structure that's also got some hidden loot. Gather up some Bolomites from the ground (look for their spider-webby nest in the corner), then hop onto the rope and climb up to the loft, where you find some crate-hidden money (smash crates with a melee attack—go into third-person view and pull either trigger, or hit X in first-person mode). Check the other buildings in the area for more crates.

Stranger's amazing rope trick.

Once you've collected all the Bolomites and cash bags you can, it's time to move on. You haven't even killed any outlaws yet, unless you count that rock. Blast the blue gem at the next gate to leave this area. Just past this gate, ahead and on the right, you see your first enemy. Blast him with a Zappfly, rush him, and then hit and hold X to bounty him. This is how you handle most of the henchmen on this mission, but they get a lot tougher after the first few, so don't count on one shot always taking the bad guy out.

Your first enemy is just past the gate.

Now that's money in the bank!

The next enemy is a lot more trigger happy, so load up a Chippunk if you don't want to eat a faceful of lead, and leave the Bolomites loaded, too. Fire the Chippunk at the ground, and then conceal yourself in the tall grass. When the enemy rushes out to squish the Chippunk, ambush him from your hiding place with a Bolomite and then go vacuum him up. Use this method on the next few blind corners to take out a few more guards watching the canyon path.

A web-bound enemy won't stay tied forever.

Continue to the next page.

By Ben Barker