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Many would assume going blind means putting down the controller for good, but one 23-year old Oddworld fan has proven all it takes is a keen ear and the patience of a monk to keep the game alive.
Rendered completely blindby the age of 10, Colorado Springs student Terry Garrett recently caught the attention of the team at Oddworld Inhabitants after submitting a videothat showed him completing a near-perfect run of PS1 hit Abe's Exoddus, relying on the game's sound design and a small amount of guidance from his brother.
Understandably stunned, Oddworld featured Garrett in a front page interview on its website, accompanied with a video version postedbelow for your viewing (and listening) amazement:
According to Garrett, the feat took a month to perfect and involved documenting every last sound effect and audio cue, from the slap of Abe's feet to the subtle shuffles of on-screen Sligs. In his interview with Oddworld, he explains, “I have a great sense of the minds eye. Once I know what is in an area and how they are laid out, I can make a real time picture of what is going on in front of me just through sound. even in 3D. If this is hard to picture I know, I can't explain it better than that.”
Garrett's expertise doesn't end with Abe. Asked what other games he prefers to play, he added: “A game where I shoot you before you shoot me doesn't interest me at all. It has to have a time line, and some hard actual puzzles to solve (require some actual intelligence to pass). Such games other than Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus that fall into this category are such games as Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Metal Gear Solid, and the Mario series, however, not all these games contain the sound design that enable me to play.”
You can read the complete (and completely fascinating) interview atOddworld.com
Feb 22, 2011
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Matt Bradford wrote news and features here at GamesRadar+ until 2016. Since then he's gone on to work with the Guinness World Records, acting as writer and researcher for the annual Gamer's Edition series of books, and has worked as an editor, technical writer, and voice actor. Matt is now a freelance journalist and editor, generating copy across a multitude of industries.
