Odin Sphere

I have to admit, I’m kind of addicted to the opening sequence for Odin Sphere. Ghostly, beautiful music, circling stars followed by a bright forest with fantastic rich colors, five fairytale characters with forlorn, distant looks, each clearly seeking their destiny… it is moments like this that make me think that video games can be art. I often let the sequence run before I step into the game… okay, so I’m kind of strange. But I do like to savor those moments.



First Impressionsby Tanx
Video Game Reviews by a Very Busy Math Teacher

Played For: about 22 hours



The game itself is not half bad, although it is far from a perfect gaming experience (yes, they do exist… see Okami.) A two-dimensional side-scrolling action game, Odin Sphere has neat overlapping stories between five characters, addictive gameplay and lovely graphics. But these advantages do tend to highlight some of the problems of the game, most notably, the massive slowdowns.

Almost every time you encounter one of the big bosses, the action slows to a Matrix-like crawl. Bodies go silently pirouetting through the air as fireballs and knives move at turtle pace towards your non-responding character. At first I was okay with this, as it gave me plenty of time to decide on my strategy in a fight… but just as often the slowdown would break your momentum, mess up your move and cause a premature ending to your poor character’s saga… and since this game is a retro 2D title, it is hard to understand why it has such a big problem in this area.

A second issue involves food. You see, every character you play looks like a healthy, athletic individual, but they are all in fact secret binge-eaters. I mean, these guys and gals are incorrigible… throughout the game you are constantly picking up and eating anything you can find on the ground. Every time you find a seed, you plant it and wait for it to produce fruit so you can stuff it into your greedy mouth and gain hit points. In order to have enough HP to finish each story, the characters have to be literally chowing down non-stop, on every level, and with anything that moves. My favorite meal is the “sheep plant” that sprouts a pair of wooly victims for your voracious appetite (the critters even try to run away before you pound them into edible form.)

If that wasn’t enough, the game also features a restaurant and a café that you frequent between battles. You can just picture the little fairy as she finishes stuffing her face with sheep, berries and carrots, only to go running as fast as her pudgy little legs will take her to devour eggs on toast or seafood salad or whatever else.

This could be fun, but unfortunately these restaurants are like the super-expensive impossible places you might find in New York City. First of all, the wait to get in is nearly unendurable… I have no idea why the loading time for the restaurant is so lengthy… I mean, it is a single room with one occupant, what the heck could your playstation is taking two full minutes to think about?! Once in, you sit down only to find out you have to supply your own recipes, or the cook won’t make you anything. Oh, and you better have brought your own ingredients as well. If that wasn’t enough, they only allow you to pay with certain rare “special” coins… your damn commoner money ‘aint worth a damn in this fine society establishment. Talk about elitism!

Aside from these issues, the game is well-crafted and a lot of fun to play. You can save anytime, easily return to previous levels, and perform each character’s special moves with ease. The system to mix potions from various ingredients is easy to master, and there is a good variety of environments and enemies to fight. The characters are likable, and the story has an operatic feel that makes me want to look up Wagner’s Nibelungen to see how much of an influence it was.