Vanillaware

The Blunted Blade

HIGH Gloriously detailed artwork.

LOW Repetitive, simplistic combat.

WTF To access the hot springs, just ask a bath monkey.

Do games need to be easier to attract a wider audience? Or are games too easy as it is? Where did all the hard games go? What role does culture play? Will "Autoplay" features reduce frustration or just make gamers lazier than ever? With your help, we attack these questions from all directions. Also: quick hits on Scribblenauts and Muramasa: The Demon Blade. With Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, and Tim "If You Lose at Candy Land You're Banished to the Woods" Spaeth.

Download: Right click here and select "Save Target As..."
Subscribe: iTunes | RSS
Read: Transcript

Topic and Game References:

• Gamasutra: Are Games Too Much Like Work? by Lew Pulsipher
• Scribblenauts
• Muramasa: The Demon Blade
• Sorcerian
  

Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.

Not nearly as sharp as it looks

HIGH The hand-drawn artwork is incredible eye-candy.

LOW Feels empty and barren; a rough sketch of a bigger game.

WTF Did the developers honestly think that style trumps substance?

Game Description: In Odin Sphere, players enact the story of their world's end. A great kingdom named Valentine was brought apart by natural disaster and internal strife. As war broke out, the once-great nation became a wasteland. As a demon lord named Odin schemes to conquer it, a far-off sorceror plans to use ancient magic that will bring an apocalypse. As the nations struggle for control, the world steadily slips unknowingly toward its demise, ancient prophecies are ready to be fulfilled—unless a young princess named Gwendolyn can stop the bloody feud between nations and fight for unity.

The artwork is simply gorgeous, and this is one of the best looking pieces of 2D gaming goodness that I have seen on the PlayStation 2. But looks aren't everything.

This weekend was Vanillaware weekend for me, and you know what? These guys rock the 2D art, but wow... They don't craft the kind of gameplay I want to spend time with.

It saddens me that Odin Sphere didn't turn out to be a better experience. I want to see more games that go against the 3D grain by using high-quality 2D artwork. I want to see more games with unconventional narrative structures. But with its subpar gameplay and technical flaws dragging it down, I fear that Odin Sphere will do a poor job of furthering the cause.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol