Yumi's Odd Odyssey (Nintendo 3DS) Second Opinion Review

Yumi's Odd Odyssey, in many ways, feels like a blast from the past. On the surface it is a fairly simple platform game - the player must traverse obstacles to reach the door at the end of a level. Levels, once completed, give way to new stages, and so on. It's also decidedly retro in that it eschews presenting any kind of narrative to the player. Who is Yumi? Why is she here? Why do the fish have feet? The game offers no answers.

Yumi's Odd Odyssey also feels old school due to the more punishing than anticipated nature of the gameplay. One would be forgiven for expecting a title with a sprightly soundtrack, bizarre fish enemies and cutesy artwork to be a bit of a breeze, but this is not the case. Yumi's Odd Odyssey gleefully counts the player's death total on the lower screen. This total - tracked individually for each stage - will rise prodigiously, much to the chagrin of the gamer. It is advised that this title be played in a safe environment where hurled 3DS systems are unable to do mass damage.

Here is the real sticking point with this one, though - it will really depend on the player's taste on how a game implements difficulty. Yumi's Odd Odyssey isn't hard because the puzzle-like stages are devious or because the enemies are challenging, rather it's difficult because, well, it's just tough to be Yumi. Rather than the effortless way in which one can handle Mario in 2D platform titles, Yumi handles a lot like someone's grandfather - that is to say, she's sluggish and inexplicably has a fishing rod in her hands at all times.

The "hook" (pardon the pun) with Yumi's Odd Odyssey is that the titular character uses a fishing rod to assist with traversing the platforms. The player can use the pole to latch onto the environment and swing á la Indiana Jones. This opens up a lot of interesting ideas and really gives the game a great sense of verticality; rather than just going left to right, Yumi will find herself going in all directions with the help of the fishing rod. The rod mechanics really do allow this game to be one of the more unique platform experiences out there.

The problem is that the implementation via the controls is often frustrating. There is very little fluidness in the motion of gameplay; everything feels slow and flat-footed. It's not like many platform games that reach an almost ballet like gracefulness, and while the controls do work, it's frankly a pain to become good at them. To reach any level of proficiency takes too much effort. Given enough time, one will certainly get there, but it begs the question of whether or not it's worth it to put in that much energy.

The game does offer a handy tutorial early on to assist with the more inscrutable puzzles. If becoming lost as to what to do next, simply select "tutorial" from the menu to watch how it's supposed to be done - which is a little different from the Super Guide in recent Mario games that actually plays the level. Of course, this does little to alleviate the difficulty with the controls. Many times the player will know how to solve the problem but actually doing it is a different matter entirely. However, for those times when at a near complete loss, it is a rather nice thing to have.

The package as a whole is reasonably well put together. The music is nice and soothing - soothing is important after 30+ deaths on a single stage. Furthermore, there's a decent amount of value if taken by the style of play; 50 levels with branching paths should ensure a reasonable amount of entertainment, although at $20 the price does feel steep. In addition, the game provides online leader boards for those with impressive skills.

Visually speaking, however, Yumi's Odd Odyssey definitely comes up a bit short. The art style is not offensive by any means, yet it is rather bland. There really doesn't feel like there is a defined personality to the look of the game, and the backgrounds can feel bizarre and off-putting. In addition, the 3D effect is rather lacklustre and even feels like it degrades the picture quality.