i'm so not feeling odin sphere. i want to like it; i really do! trouble is, the short-ass levels and the endless item wheel spinning are annoying the fuck out of me. as i said on gaf, the game is like an utterly beautiful but utterly mediocre sidescrolling beat-em-up with 100 1 minute levels as opposed to 10 10 minute ones. there's a lot to like outside of the art -- the enemy designs and attack patterns in particular are wonderfully old-school -- but i can't get past the lame inventory juggling and tiny-as-fuck levels. i think princess crown is loads better; in fact, i fired it up last night and was amazed how efficient it seems in comparison. i beat gwendolyn's story in 6-ish hours of play, and i think i'm gonna backburner it. honestly, i had way more fun with .hack GU2.
on the other hand, i just finished the tomb raider anniversary PC demo (see:
http://www.tombraiderchronicles.com for the download, 270ish MB), and it is AWESOMEZ. they did a GREAT job recapturing the feel of the original, and now with vastly better assets and controls. sure, the effects are all straight up DX7-era, thanks to the PS2 port, but the high-res textures look great and the game flows perfectly minus the occasional camera hiccup. i'm really pumped for this one, now. the pc version especially rocks because it automaps to the 360 USB controller.
