Odin Sphere (PS2): Brings New Life to 2D Games

Odin Sphere brings new life to 2D games, side-scrolling beat'em-ups, and your once thought dead Playstation 2. This game from developer, Vanillaware, is a spiritual sequel to their similar game, Princess Crown, for the Sega Saturn. With beautiful artwork, compelling story, and excellently balanced gameplay, this is one game RPG fans can't afford to miss.

Graphics and Audio (25/25)
This game is hands down, the best looking 2D game ever created. Everything, from the characters to the animations is a sight to behold. The sprites used are very detailed, colorful, and lush, proving that 2D games can be just as beautiful looking (if not more so) as 3D games are. There aren't enough adjectives to describe how good this game looks. One truly has to see the game in person to fully appreciate and know what I mean.

The musical score is also brilliantly executed, and it's a great compliment to the visuals. The orchestral sounds composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto (known for his score for Final Fantasy Tactics), add depth to any environment in the game, from the title screen, to the final boss battle.

Gameplay (22/25)
Odin Sphere plays a lot like an old-school 2D side-scrolling beat'em-up with a RPG outer skin. You take control of one of five protagonists (at first you only have access to one). Each of them has their own unique role in the game's intertwining plot, as well as a different magical weapon called a psypher. Your characters will travel along a looping path in each "stage" in order to defeat every enemy that stands in your way. While the gameplay seems simple at first as with any beat'em-up, the system is surprisingly deep and fresh.

Each of the five characters control drastically different from one another. They each have their own style, animations, strengths, and weaknesses. For Example, Mercedes has very powerful attacks at a long range to boot! However, she is the slowest moving and has the lowest HP out of all the characters. These elements force the player to learn and master each character's style, adding freshness and depth.

The game also incorporates a massive inventory system that involves food, an alchemy system, and cultivating plants. The game offers little inventory space for the amount of items you will be provided from treasure drops from enemies. While this could be viewed as a weakness, it actually forces the player to use the unique alchemy system (which is there to help you).

Creating different potions using alchemy is simple and can benefit you significantly. It also creates another layer of strategy.

The gameplay has extraordinary balance. The battle system prevents a player from senseless hacking and slashing through a power meter. If you let the meter deplete, your character will be stunned for a short time. Also, the player must take time to plant things, mix potions, and eat things in battle in order to be successful. While sometimes these elements take away from the action, for the most part, all of them work together well within the game.

With all the gigantic detailed sprites are on the screen, the game suffers from quite a bit of slowdown at times. While it only happens with certain bosses or moments within the game, the action is slowed down to a crawl. While this is a problem, it doesn't take away from the rest of what make this game great.

The game is also very difficult, but it never gets to the point of controller throwing, since the game doesn't penalize you for dying. Also, if the action gets too rough, you can always go back and level up.

Creativity (24/25)
While the story is clearly based on Norse Mythology, the game has a unique take on Odin and his many enemies. The story turns out to be very enthralling, and it is told in very unique way. Through each of the five protagonists' eyes, parts of story are unfolded little by little.

Each character plays their own role, so the story is never told to the fullest extent through just one character. Only after you have played through all the character's stories will the plot come to a spectacular conclusion with everything coming together.

The way your characters level up another unique feature in this game. You never receive experience directly from defeating enemies. Your character must absorb "phozons" from enemies after they are defeated. That's just to level up your characters weapon; there's another way that your characters' HP is leveled up.

As I said earlier, you have to take time to eat things. This is actually how your characters' max HP is increased. Each food item that is consumed has a different EXP value, which goes toward leveling up your characters' max HP. This system adds yet another layer of brilliance to the gameplay.

Fun (23/25)
This game has great action, but even if it was just an average game, it would be noteworthy simply because of the awesome visuals. I had fun just admiring the detail of the massive bosses and the subtle animations that the Vanillaware added in.

This game provided plenty of underlings to destroy in a multitude of satisfying ways. Although each of the five characters battle through the same locales and battling the same baddies, each character's style is different enough that it never gets boring.

The story was superb and brilliantly told through fully voiced cut-scenes. Vanillaware also added in features that made the story even more enjoyable. You have the option of choosing between English or Japanese audio, an option missing from many Japanese RPGs that make it to the States. Also, to keep track of the interweaving story, you can go back and look at any cut-scene you want.

Overall (94/100)

Closing Comments
This game a rare combination of brilliant presentation with deep gameplay. I loved every second of the 40+ hours I put into it my first play-through. It was great to see the return of 2D and beat'em-ups wrapped in such a awesome package. The shortcomings this game does have are minor and never take away from the experience too much. Grab a copy before their all gone.