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No Direction Home: Lost Odyssey Stumbles On The 360 (page 2 of 3)

• By Cameron Lewis
• February 12, 2008 15:35 PM PST
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Battles are filled with cool special effects, like this shadowy figure's star-burst pimp-slap.

Rings of Power

Once you've been accosted by whatever cabal of beasts wants a piece of you, actions are bound to an instantly familiar collection of turn-based combat options, except for the real-time ability to release the right trigger to coincide with the payoff of your melee strikes. You can collect and combine monster parts to create a huge list of rings that define the effects of your good timing, but the results are as restrained as Kaim's mood.

Similarly, it's hard to get excited about a simple damage mitigating revamp of the same old formation system, magic spells that provide a break from the same endlessly repeated charge-and-slash sequence, and opponents rendered in exquisite effects-landed detail, when nagging balance problems crop up everywhere. You'll know when you're almost done with an area because the experience you earn from each overly long rumble suddenly falls off a cliff, from huge payouts to a trickle in the space of a few battles, even as you continue to take ludicrous damage from all manner of scrubs no matter what you do.

Release the right trigger at the right moment, and you'll nail your melee delivery for additional damage and ring effects.

This is symptomatic of the number one problem crippling the game: pacing. Lost Odyssey can't figure out if it wants to be a mildly interactive film, a collection of short stories, or a tradition-bound console RPG, and it doesn't mix the three with any skill or clarity. Sometimes you'll unlock three short stories in the space of a few screens of real estate, or sit through half an hour of tedious exposition or more before finally getting to actually play again. A few odd design decisions underscore this lack of balance and momentum, like the fact that save points don't restore your health and mana unless you manually quit and reload your game, which you will often do, unless you enjoy grinding endlessly for the gold required to buy huge numbers of support potions.

Fill in the Blanks

Ultimately, whether or not Lost Odyssey is worth your time and money comes down to how absorbed in the broad strokes of this world you'll let your own imagination become, and whether you're willing to make the emotional investment asked of you. Ordinary suspension of disbelief simply won't cut it in the face of such overt melodrama and strained gameplay, especially when the optional moments that lie outside of the plodding main narrative deliver the lion's share of impact with words in place of pyrotechnics.

Enjoying this epic takes actual work, and that's bound to turn many otherwise devoted fans of the genre off. If you find yourself bristling any time a game casts you in the role of passive observer for extended periods of time, and yearn for an adventure that gives you rich freedom and control, you'll be sorely disappointed by the broad but shallow possibilities in Lost Odyssey. On the other hand, if you're willing to throw yourself into Kaim's world, sponging up every last detail of his past, present, and future, you'll come away with some haunting memories as well as the sensation that you just experienced something that was as satisfying as it was frustrating.

Occasionally the view splits into multiple viewpoints so you never miss a moment of angst.

Every hit point of damage you lose in the front row subtracts from the simple defensive shield your presence provides for the back row.

Memory stories can be unlocked by hitting milestones in the main story, or by stumbling across the right innocent bystander.

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