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Explore My Game Room

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Games Played 07/17/2009

Ikaruga - X-Box 360
Rhythm Heaven - NDS
Street Fighter IV - PC
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix - X-Box 360
Universe at War: Earth Assault - PC


RANDOM GAME OF THE DAY:


Odin Sphere (2007)
Developer: Vanillaware Ltd.
Platform: PlayStation 2
Purchase Date: 05/25/2007


The gorgeous main menu features a little girl and her black cat.

If you think that polygons can forever replace the beauty of 2D sprites, this game will make you think otherwise. Odin Sphere is the most beautiful 2D game ever made - until Vanillaware's own Murasama: The Demon Blade is released this September on the Nintendo Wii that is. The characters are large and brilliantly animated and the gorgeous scrolling foreground/background parallax will make you forget the need for polygons in video games. The game is a side scrolling action role playing game with an item creation system. Fighting the regular enemies are fun but the monstrous bosses are truly a sight to behold - especially the fact that there is no pixelation in sight no matter how big things get on the screen. The game is loosely based on the Norse mythology and is filled with many compelling plot elements. There are 5 characters that you get to control and they are all unique in their play style. The game is very challenging and requires a lot of stats grinding to get yourself ahead. I don't particularly like the item creation part of the gameplay because it really slows things down but unfortunately, the player must invest a lot of time on it to be successful in the game. In an age where almost all game visuals are in 3D, Odin Sphere is a strong reminder that the art of 2D graphics has also evolved tremedously through the generations. Vanillaware has certainly found the fountain of youth for video game graphics - this game will stay beautiful forever. It's too bad that other developers are too scared to follow suit.

LIBRARY STATUS: 5 out of 5

1 comment:

Will44 said...

Oh man, Odin Sphere it really is such an underrated game. It's a shame that it wasn't released earlier in the PS2's lifetime. No douubt the game would have been an even bigger hit than it already is.

~WillingGamers