Odin Sphere

Odin Sphere is a surprisingly fun, 2D, side-scrolling, adventure/RPG game for the Playstation 2. The graphics are detailed and beautifully rendered while the game play is engaging with plenty of tactical choices to be made as you balance between growing plants, collecting phozons (a form of magic power), creating magical items, and fighting enemies.

My only complaint is that the levels are a tad repetitious. By the time you finish playing the third character, Mercedes, you will have realized that the world stages are being reused and so are the bosses unfortunately (not all but some). I definitely won’t miss fighting the same dragons for the umpteenth time when they should have been dead many times over. Despite this fact, the characters are a lot of fun to check out as each has a different style of game play as well as unique pyspher (weapon): spear, long sword, crossbow, short sword, and chains. It is also interesting to see how the stories are interwoven (all of which can be reviewed via the in-game timeline).

For more information, check out the reviews on IGN and Gamespot or watch this quick video review:

StarCraft II

Good news! Blizzard is planning to release StarCraft II!. Well, I suppose it is good news if you love Real-time Strategy (RTS) games that is. I seldom get to play anything these days but when I do it is always a Blizzard game.

In reading about the game and listening to some of IGN’s podcasts it sounds like Starcraft II is going to primarily be a graphical upgrade to the original StarCraft game with a few twists and turns. I was hoping it would be an evolution of the gaming engine used for Warcraft III (and it still might be). Instead, it sounds like they are going to keep the graphics rich and the gameplay balanced with a contuation of the original story line.

Make sure to check out gameplay and cinematic movies to get a feel of the game. It appears there are strong influences from StarWars I and War of the Worlds from what I have seen of the Protoss race.

In traditional Blizzard fashion, there is no word as to when the game will be released. It will be done when they say it is done. Gotta love a company that is dedicated to quality and they definitely have a track record to prove it.

Final Fantasy XII

If you have not heard about it already, you should check out the new Final Fantasy XII role-playing game released for the Sony Playstation 2. Hands down, it is the best game to be playing this holiday season. Even if you are not a gamer, you should still take a look at this game because, from a technological and artistic standpoint, it is outstanding what they can do with games today. It is money well spent and, besides, who needs to shell out large amounts of cash on the new console systems when there are high quality games with excellent content still being produced on the older systems. I could explain more but so many articles have been written already that you might as well check them out rather than listen to me:

• Gamespot
• IGN
• Slashdot
• RPG Gamer