Gamecube: Odama

[Otagiri Tatsuzou]

Gamecube: Odama

3 out of four stars

Price: $49.99

Players: 1

Web site: odama.nintendo.com/final/ Format: GameCube

Category: Pinball-strategy

Rating: E 10+ (Everyone 10 and older)

[Otagiri Tatsuzou]

JIM SCHAEFER: Squash the samurai
It's the one thing every battlefield commander needs: a giant, merciless pinball.

I know that doesn't sound right. But what if I told you the pinball could be controlled to roll around and smash enemies like pancakes, dam up rivers and knock down fortresses?

In "Odama" for the GameCube, we have a pinball game built for war. And while it isn't perfect, this game is one of the most intriguing and difficult styles of pinball you've ever played.

It's 1539. Warring factions have torn Asia asunder. The emperor's throne is overturned in a brutal betrayal, and armies wage a terrible war of vengeance.

Your job is to lead an army through numerous battles among the plains, rivers and towns. Each skirmish begins with you getting a limited number of troops and at least one Odama, a giant ball that rolls over the land, propelled destructively by giant flippers that sit at the bottom of your TV screen.

You can knock down enemy towers with the big ball, open and close floodgates, roll over barrels that contain power-ups and, of course, mash the enemy like ants. Careful though, for the Odama is also lethal to your troops.

But this is more than simple flipper mashing. "Odama" insists that you use the ball wisely to advance your troops. You can't just knock the ball all over the place and win. Your goal in each battle is to dispatch the right number of troops, who migrate across enemy turf carrying a large bell. When the bell makes it safely across enemy lines, you win.

The big ball helps your tiny men overcome obstacles beyond just the onslaught of enemy soldiers. For instance, you must ford rivers (close the floodgates with the ball) and climb hills (use the ball to knock free ladders). Power-ups can help you turn the ball green, which means any enemy troops it smashes are conscripted to your side.

The battlefield graphics are fairly average, as are the production values of this game, but the sight of the big ball whirling through with such destructive force gives you quite a kick.

"Odama" has a heavy Asian influence beyond the settings. The narrator speaks in a foreign tongue (subtitles translate for you) and the tale is the stuff of Samurais. The cannon that fires your Odama also occasionally shoots a rice ball -- food you can use to divert hungry enemies.

The game comes with an accessory microphone that allows you to issue commands to your troops. So while you're watching where the Odama will go next, you also have to tell your soldiers to "Rally!" or "March right!

I found all these activities really hard to manage. The scads of troops on the ground scream and shout back through pop-up text balloons, saying things like "Ow!" and "The men have no faith in you!"

My biggest nit with "Odama" is that it is very difficult to win. But you can keep trying. And victory will sometime be yours. The other guys don't even have a giant ball on their side.
www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060430/ENT06/604300319/1044/ENT

[Saionji Shonagon]

Why does one get the feeling someone is on the road again?

[Otagiri Tatsuzou]

DING! DING! DING! DING!
Your's is the 10000th post!

[Saionji Shonagon]

[Yvarg]

I was going to say something about this game on here, but I never got around to it. Looks interesting, Japanese warfare combined with pinball, hmmm . . .