More Articles on Yoot Saito's Odama
Yoot Saito's Odama - Hands OnOdama Bongo Enabled???Odama RevealedLatest Mini Previews
Tom Clancy's EndWar - Ears OnMidnight Club: LA - MultiplayerFar Cry 2 - MultiplayerGears of War 2 - Hands OnNeed For Speed UndercoverUser Reviews
There are currently 0 User Reviews for Yoot Saito's OdamaWrite your own review for this game today and you will receive 100 Gamer Points.
Click here to register
Yoot Saito's Odama - Hands On Mini Preview
Chris Leyton
15/06/2005
Believe us, Odama is as crazy as it sounds
When TVG first laid its eyes upon Odama back in 2004 the combination of a pinball simulator with RTS aspects seemed about as appealing as custard on your cornflakes; however E3ā05 presented us with a good chance to go Hands-On with the game, and once again Nintendo has left us dumbfounded in its sole pursuit of creativity.
For those that may have missed out on previous coverage, Odama refuses to be pigeonholed into a genre, instead billing itself as a āmilitary pinball simulatorā. Even slightly odder then the game itself is the fact that somebody has actually come up with a storyline behind the game; witnessing a legendary generalās plans to avenge his fatherās death through the invention of āthe most ingenious weapons to ever hit the medieval battlefieldā ā“ the Odama, essentially a gigantic ball that is powerful enough to destroy whatever it strikes, be it friend or foe.
Essentially players have to propel the Odama throughout the battlefield using giant flippers in an identical fashion to playing pinball, however rather then activating flashing LEDās and annoying sound samples, youāve got to pulverise enemy installations and wipe out soldiers while narrowly avoiding your own. The RTS like aspects come from how you instruct your troops, with commands such as āchargeā, āretreatā, ādefend positionā and many more issued by using the GameCube Mic. The overall goal of each stage is to advance throughout the stage, destroy the enemy gates with the Odama and direct a group of soldiers carrying a giant bell to pass through the opened gates ā“ however itās not entirely that simple and isnāt helped by a 7-minute timer counting ominously down.
Odama is a devilishly tricky experience, but one that keeps you coming back for more and refuses to frustrate simply because itās a lack of skill on behalf of the player rather then the system being cumbersome or complex. The E3 demonstration featured three different maps, each posing a varying degree of difficulty, although itās fair to say that even the āeasiestā of these posed a challenge for even the most hardened gamer. The beginning stage introduces the player to new voice commands as progress is made throughout the stage, with later advanced options including the ability to send in reinforcements that are replenished by taking out enemy units with the Odama. Directing the units on the battlefield while keeping a constant look on those carrying the bell is the key to success; soldiers engage in mighty skirmishes while the playerās troops advance up the field and the opponents attempt to work their way down to the flippers in the hope of clogging them up and thus making them impossible to use. Other noteworthy examples given the crazy nature of the game include the ability to collect a giant hamburger, which when used attracts the attention of enemy soldiers and allows the player to carry on unimpeded for a short duration.
Surprisingly the Mic does an excellent job of instantly recognising speech commands; as you'd expect Nintendoās E3 stand was hardly the quietest on display, and despite the huge range of different people playing, we never once came across a situation where the game couldnāt recognise what was being said.
Despite gaining a good understanding of what Odama is all about, itās fair to say that thereās a lot we didnāt get the chance to sample in terms of power-upās and various other features/aspects of the game ā“ certainly the game is much more then what the initially dubious concept alludes towards.
Given that Odama comes from the same people who gave us the whacked out Dreamcast half-fish/half-man simulator, SeaMan, itās perhaps understandable that the game was easily the craziest on display at E3ā05. The surprising fact however is that what initially sounds like one of the worst combinations of genres actually resulted in one of the most addictive games at the show; we only managed to check out the game on the last day, but kept coming back for more...
In true Nintendo fashion, Odama dares to be different and is even more enticing because of that fact alone...
