In Odium you command elite government soldiers on a fact finding mission to an abandoned Russian spy-training facility named Gorky 17. The press has leaked unsubstantiated reports of grisly abominations perpetrated by berserk hybrid creatures. These are completely unfounded claims that will be swiftly disproved as you command your men to root out the source of this campaign of misinformation.

The hero in Odium is Cole Sullivan, a fascinatingly complex character. Play for a while and you’ll feel yourself taking on his traits and sharing his emotions, above all his very personal feelings towards the other characters and their environment. How did the developers achieve this? Simple ... by combining the pure excitement of battle with the element of surprise and exploration found in adventures.

In addition to fighting turn-based battles against realistic monsters, you can also shoot off locks, pick up newspapers, converse with other characters and even solve some tricky puzzles! This, in a nutshell, is the concept behind Odium – combine the best of the genres to create the best game possible. Here’s a little nibble ... you’re engaged in a heavy battle against a deformed hybrid. He’s getting the upper hand, but is down to his last shot. Suddenly he starts begging for his life, pleading with you to show mercy. He offers to reveal the location of a rebel ammunition dump down in the sewers – he even gives you the key! You agree and follow him. But ... it’s a trap! Suddenly four giant monsters attack from all sides. Tricky eh?














Odium doesn’t just play different – it even looks and feels different. The publishers moved beyond the old "Euro/US" approach to RPG (you know, pseudo non-linearity, lots of stats and random, repetitive encounters with monsters), and into the far more interesting Japanese realm. This approach is only partially linear, has simplified stats, a more intuitive user interface and offers a treasure trove of subtle touches and small details. Graphic excellence, a movie-like plot and better use of fantasy/s-f features (not just rehashes of the typical skeletons, demons and radioactive mutants) round out this unique experience. But don’t worry, they haven’t gone too far out on the fantasy limb - Odium is a "Western" game with realistic characters and settings, a horror/s-f story and some of the best gameplay mechanisms anywhere.

In short, the developers took the best aspects of each genre and mixed them into one heck of a brew. From adventure games they took exploration and tight character-environment interaction, which not only puts you into an active role, but even lets you influence the way the story unfolds. From RPGs they implemented the character development factor and simplified the statistics. They don’t clutter the screen with numbers. Only the important data is shown – concise and clearly visible during play. The character attributes (like accuracy) are easy to understand. The strategy aspect kicks in during the battles, which will really force you to do some thinking just to stay alive (to say nothing of moving up!). Finally, they added dozens of 3D characters and some truly amazing monsters created with detailed textures and a "skeletal animation" system. Add in state-of-the-art rendered graphics and cut-scenes, real-time 3D special effects, plus the perfect soundtrack and there you have it, Odium.

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