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  1. Games
  2. Strategy

Odama review

The ancient Japanese art of battle pinball. Wait, what?

Reviews
By Christian_Nutt
Published 12 April 2006

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Reasons to buy

  • +

    A unique blend of two game types

  • +

    Plenty to do

  • +

    given your limited input

  • +

    Always a challenge

Reasons to avoid

  • -

    The difficulty is unfair

  • -

    Bad luck = you lose

  • -

    When the timer runs out. Argh

Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

Ikaruga. Know what it means? We'll give you a moment. If you're still stumped, then you probably don't care about Odama. The very definition of a niche title, Ikaruga is a game that few non-hardcore gamers know about, a top-down, GameCube shooter that's as challenging as it is beautiful -and it's very beautiful. The point is, if you didn't track down Ikaruga and then spend hours mastering each and every level of that punishing but polished game, then you probably aren't going to want to spend the time and effort it takes to deal with Odama's bizarre mixture of pinball and strategy either. It's in the same class.

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