In addition to deciding what order you want to tackle certain stages in, you’ll have to put quite a bit of thought into managing your inventory. Just an hour into this 40-hour epic, your bags will likely be full of gear and food. Combined with the fact that money is hard to come by, the game’s inventory system forces you to use your seeds to grow food at opportune moments and use your Alchemy skills to make new items. Some gamers might become immediately frustrated by the inability to grab every single thing they come across, but Odin Sphere’s inventory hurdles make you pay extra care to how you fight, heal, and collect. How does that work? Here’s an example: Say I’ve got a Mulberry Seed, a Rosemile, no food, I could use some health, and my Psypher is in dire need of a recharge. Did I mention I’m right before a boss? Well, what you can do is toss the Mulberry Seed in the ground, which requires 5 Phozons to grow 2 berries. Rosemile is a seed that doesn’t require any Phozons to grow, and in fact releases 12 Phozons when planted. I’ll plant that as well, and wait as 5 Phozons are released to the Mulberry Seed. While that’s growing, I’ll snag the other 7 Phozons, then devour the 2 berries that just grew. Now I’ve got full health, a charged Psypher, and I picked up some experience from the whole process. If it sounds too complicated, it’s really not that bad. But it’s worth noting that Odin Sphere has a lot more depth than one might expect from what appears to be just a beat-‘em-up at first glance.

Oooooh Pretty!

I have no hesitation saying that Odin Sphere is one of the best looking games I’ve ever seen. The game is entirely 2D, and contains some of the best artwork and animation you’ll find this side of a quality fighting game. All of the character art is amazingly detailed and has plenty of subtle animations to draw you in. The game’s color palette is rich and vibrant, and the creative character designs will continually surprise you. Unfortunately this heavy saturation of art leads to occasional frame rate hiccups, and some serious slowdown issues during a boss fight. These technical issues don’t distract from the presentation too much, and the game is still perfectly playable. I honestly don’t think Vanillaware could have done much to improve performance without sacrificing some of Odin Sphere’s unique presentation.

Odin Sphere’s audio doesn’t fair as well as the visuals, but it’s no slouch either. The voice acting is fairly well delivered, but much of the dialogue just sounds unnatural and flat. While the translation is technically perfect, there’s a distinct lack of style and energy in a lot of the dialogue. Import fans will be happy to hear that both Japanese and English voice tracks are available, but in the end it’s the same cheesy lines regardless of the language. Odin Sphere’s music is particularly impressive, and is written by Hitoshi Sakimoto of Final Fantasy XII fame. The score never quite steals the show from the graphics, but it does well to complement the presentation on screen.

Last Must-Buy Game for PS2?

The Playstation 2 has had a heck of a 7 year run, and at the end we’re still seeing amazing titles released for it. Many gamers might ignore Odin Sphere just based on its J-RPG roots and cutesy art style. To do so would be a huge mistake. Vanillaware and Atlus have teamed up to make one of the most enjoyable, unique, and visually appealing titles the veteran PS2 has ever seen. With a brawler foundation and borrowing from several other gameplay styles, Odin Sphere should appeal to old-school gamers, RPG fans, and even button-mashers alike. Do yourself a favor and pick up Odin Sphere before it becomes the rare cult classic it’s destined to be.