I’m a veteran gamer, starting all the way back at the beginning of arcade gaming, and then into Commodore, Atari, Neo Geo, Turbografix 16, Nintendo, Genesis, Playstation, and every console since, all the way up until the latest PS4 Pro and XBox One. This title for the iOS platform is by FAR the best out there, and even competes with other systems / classic games of the past, all the way to the latest consoles. The idea behind this style of gaming is perfecting your timing and they programmed this to excel. As the progression of the game continues on, it goes from learning to mastering, and the replay value of each level is excellent too, being that you will most likely have to replay the later levels to achieve the bonuses received after beating set time goals. On top of that, the graphics are top-notch, the music is excellent, the sound effects are on point and the story is original, including the narration on the cut scenes, which also hold their own. I don’t spend even a handful of dollars unless it’s worth it, and I do my research prior to making any purchase. Oddmar has literally satisfied every aspect I look for in a quality game, and while other titles have been completed and then deleted, this one while stand the test of the time. Don’t even hesitate - and you can thank me later.

Oddmar places more emphasis on its story than you’d expect. It’s most certainly not a visual novel, but it does have gorgeous cutscenes that are an absolute joy to watch, all narrated by a charming narrator who describes what’s going on and voices every character. Unfortunately, Oddmar’s story is its weakest aspect (in my completely subjective opinion). I won’t be getting into spoilers, but I can tell you that it promises a lot at the beginning but doesn’t quite deliver, leaving several plot elements unexplained or not quite fleshing them out to my satisfaction.You might be wondering why I’m choosing to focus on a platformer’s story instead of its gameplay. That’s because I couldn’t think of much of anything else to criticize—the rest of the game is almost flawless. It’s one of the best platformers available on iOS. It’s fluidly animated, it’s as tough as nails in later levels but completely fair (its difficulty curve is executed very well in my opinion), and most importantly, it’s as fun as heck.I suppose my only other complaint is with the controls, but this complaint is a minor one. You see, the default controls have you swiping the left and right sides of the screen to control Oddmar. I hated this setup, but I dug around in the options menu and found the game had an alternate control scheme, one with onscreen buttons. This secondary control scheme works like a dream, and I’d recommend switching to it the first chance you get.If you like platformers, get this game. You won’t regret it.

This is a great title: good story line, awesome adventures, superb graphics and fairly intuitive finger controls. However..... while the left/right thumb controls are adequate for movements, attacks and actions in the early stages of game play, by the time you reach the second level boss (the Kraken) the fine level control necessary for required action sequences is inadequate. This less-than-nuanced fine control became even more limiting in the next level when timed and action sequences are necessary. What needs to be done to succeed becomes obvious but the control provided by two thumb maneuvering is not up to the task IMO. Several walk-through also cite lack of fine control as a bit frustrating at higher levels and in boss battles but herald the fact that the game in iOS supports the use of wireless controllers. I wish I knew in advance how limiting fine control quickly becomes before laying out the price for this on my iPad. Nevertheless, the positives outweigh even this limitation - at least if the external controller compensates. Time will tell. It’s a title worth taking a risk on.

Oddmar is a fresh take on the classic platformer. It borrows some of the the fundamental mechanics that made platformers of the past great (such as wall jump, 2 lives, coin collecting) and adds a few new layers which give it depth and optional layers of difficulty without increasing the complexity. The gameplay is smooth and the controls are snappy. As for the art, this is one of the few games that I regret having an iPhone and not an iPad because there is just too much lovely detail in everything. The animations are filled with character and the backgrounds are simply stunning. BUT! The designers didn’t sacrifice style for clarity, enemies and intractables POP out of the background. I have only 1 complaint, I really wish oddmar’s random quirky animations while jumping were slightly more frequent. But that is such a small nit-pick on this masterpiece.