Odin Sphere

This game is gorgeous. It might be the only game ever where the game play looks exactly like the box cover art. There are a lot of games that have a well developed esthetic. The high contrast black & white, moody shadows, and uncluttered visual field are all trademarks of film noir, which has a well developed esthetic, but nobody has ever accused it of being especially pretty.
This game has a bright, colorful, detailed, and engaging visual design. Imagine the prettiest 2D fighting game you ever played, but every level is a loop so if you move in either direction long enough you end up back where you started, also it has RPG elements. Its still a fighting game, but every time you beat someone you are leveling up.
Your character is an improbably attired worrior woman, but not in the traditional mostly naked but for an armored bikini kind. She looks less like a stripper and more like a show girl, a 1940's show girl. Really her only esposed skin is on her shoulders. She has a head dress made of bright azure feathers and a tutu skirt constructed of the same material. Or so it appears until you start learning her moves. She can glide along horizontally mid jump like Princess Peach in Super Mario Brothers 2, but when she does her tutu flares out to reveal it is actually two bright blue birds wings sprouting from her hips.
There are a variety of moves, one learns spells as they go along, and every time an enemy is vanquished you can gather the glowing orbs they drop to level up, or plant one of the seeds you have collected. All plants feast on the glow balls of fallen warriors, just like you, but will yeild different fruits.
The bosses are a monument to the forgotten tradition of the chunky sprite. Large segmented bodies taking up most of the screen and moving about menacingly. They are, like everything else in this game, a pleasure to look at.

Game play video

In a five star ranking system
I give this game 4.5