"Let me get this straight," a buddy of mine was telling me as he wolfed down a number of his steak fries during a visit to the local bowling alley snack bar. "A strategic military...pinball game?"

I nodded and munched on a few fries myself. "Crazy, ain't it?"

"Crazy? Putting a game like Military Madness together is one thing, but trying to put Pin-Bot on the battlefield? That's something of utter insanity. I mean, lock into a straitjacket and put into a padded room-crazy, you know?"

And he's got a point. The concept of military strategy/pinball doesn't sound like the most competent mixture in the world. But, hey, that's Vivarium for you. This is the same development company that, years ago, produced the quirky pet simulator Seaman for the Sega Dreamcast, turning heads with its reactions and comments, making it stand out from anything Tamagotchi could every produce. Only a company like them could get away with making something like Odama, the pinball/strategy item in question.

We've already got a lot of talk building behind the game, but the question is, is it up to ask? Could we be looking at one of the kick-ass sleeper hits of 2006? Believe it or not, yes. We managed to get a fine whiff of what Vivarium's got going on with this game, and you'd be surprised to find what's under the hood.

Of course, the basic controls of pinball apply. You've got a number of playfields that are laid out like areas in a village, and as the game progresses, war ensues with soldiers on each battlefield as the ball (nicknamed Odama- I guess Henry was a poor choice...?) rolls along its silvery fate, knocking over allies and enemies alike. The main difference here, however, is the fact that you can control the entire world this ball rolls in. Sure, you can't entirely stop it from coming out of play between the flippers, but the fact you can shift around the playfields to try and keep it from harming certain sections is a nice touch.

Odama looked like a nice build at the first E3 event it was shown at, with graphics that showed you each battlefield in decent (if not splendid) detail and constant action to keep the fights from growing stale. But since that time, Nintendo's added some new stuff to the final product that will make it that much more intriguing.

How about microphone support? No, this isn't a gimmick where you can chew out the Odama as you would your Seaman (and believe me, it probably wouldn't give a damn for your psychobabble anyway- what are you gonna tell it, "Roll like the dickens?"). You instead command the men on your field to move in a certain direction to avoid the Odama's wrath, in case your shifting of the playfield isn't enough to save them. The commands are responsive and easy to give off with the mic peripheral, so that shouldn't be a worry.

Also, Vivarium has given you two options to call in additional soldiers just in case you're overwhelmed by the opponents at hand or the clumsiness of the Odama. You can either tap the Z button to get more soldiers on the move, or call them in with a voice command.

Yes, Odama could be a big sleeper hit. It has the ability to hook gamers with its catchy gameplay and keep them there with the elements of war. If Advance Wars wasn't really your thing, I'll tell you, maybe a big, silvery ball of destiny is.

Hey, my friend at the bowling alley? Couldn't bowl that well at all that night. After the game, I looked at him and asked, "Guess that Odama's not looking so crazy now, huh?"

He nodded back at me. "Well, it could've damn well bowled better than a 116."