Like my high-school girlfriend,
Omega Five is real pretty; you like to look at it, its fun to play around
with, but really not much behind the pretty facade and dazzling good looks.
Yes, I know, none of what I just said is true; I never had a high-school
girlfriend, but the words just started flowing out of me and I couldn’t stop
because they seemed so fitting. Omega 5 is a very pretty game and has lots of
dazzling things to admire about it, but may not be right for you, let’s talk
about that.
In Omega Five, you play as one of
two (in the beginning) arbitrarily different characters. One is the
quintessential hot heroine chick, complete with rapid-fire laser shots (or
other electrically charged weaponry) and a nifty launch hook that locks onto
foes and pumps ’em full of electricity so they explode. The second is some
weirdo four-armed alien ninja who has these weapons that fire thick wet shot
that looks like really pretty water or mercury (depending on which weapon you
pick) and pumps out an EMP style explosion that helps take all enemies on the
screen out of the equation. Both characters are some sort of unknown super
hero in the sense that they fly/float through the game dodging weapon fire,
massive robots and kamikaze drones all while plastering any and everything
that moves. The background on the game is pretty much non-existent; bad guys
show up and you mow through them. This is a throw back to those 80’s style
side-scrolling games that were so popular and immediately had me thinking of
the classic R-type.
"Holy moly!" "It’s my 10th grade algebra
teacher!"
The controls in the game are laid
out fairly easily: move with the left stick and, instead of wearing down your
thumbs pushing a button to fire, you move the right thumbstick in the
direction you want to shoot. Having a steady stream of weapon fire is a must
in this game as you can imagine, tons and tons of things are trying to kill
you. Hitting the trigger buttons allows your special weapons to fire and the
movement of the heroes is really smooth. The game has a very polished feel to
it and everything does what it should flawlessly. I don’t normally put so much
praise on an XBOX Live title, but this game has got the snaps when it comes to
the controls.
Graphically as well, you couldn’t
ask for a much prettier Live title. Omega Five is a game that got plenty of
bit mapping and textures. In fact, the game is really polished and looks
almost too pretty to be a game that is downloaded to Xbox Live, and yet here
it is. With incredibly detailed backgrounds and even ginormous monsters that
are walking towards you from the distant horizon, makes you believe that for a
2D game, there is some nice 3D elements going on. What else is going on is
some bright clean lighting effects and lots and lots of movement with no
slowdown. This includes the multiplayer co-op mode with two heroes blazing
arounds the screen together.
"A single girl can’t even walk down the
street without being pestered anymore!"
Now for some unintentional
chuckles – listen to the announcer say "Omega Five" or any of the other voice
work announcing the beginning of the stage. The heavy accent makes you wonder
who exactly decided this guy should be speaking. It may be totally on purpose,
but whatever it is, it is funny. Now the in-game sound effects aren’t funny
because they only seem to illicit a minimum amount of action sound and
spectacle. The constant music loop didn’t seem to faze me either way, but some
of my friends didn’t seem to appreciate it. To each their own I guess.
Interestingly enough the
multiplayer aspect of the game is only with the person sitting next to you on
the couch, there is no online co-op going on here and that really is a bummer.
What else is a bummer is the fact that a second hero battling along side you
does not equate to additional enemies. This may or may not be good but the
multiplayer function of this game is not a really strong selling point for
this game.
Furthermore, while the game does
have some strong assets, there are some parts that kind of made me a little
bummed while playing. For one, the game is not very long – only four stages.
Sure the end boss battles are tough, but while playing the game you can
upgrade your weapons, but when you die, those upgrades vanish and more often
than not you are left trying to duke it out with some massive boss with only
the basic attack cannon. Next, the game has some sections where you are
essentially floating down a narrow corridor with no room for movement. While
this is more of a level design choice, it really takes away from the whole
retro feel; bad enough there are only four levels, but now you have
little-to-no elbow room in some sections. Lastly, the save system –
it’s simple and easy to beat, by racking up extra credits you can ensure an
easy trek though the entire game.
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Gameplay: 8.2
It’s a dialed-in, responsive game that features power ups for the
weapons, and additional health spread throughout the game. I like how massive
baddies show up and try to do you in with weirdo, off-the-wall attacks; this
is a fun game to play.
Graphics: 8.0
Again, the game has the spit and
polish many full retail games don’t have. The eye candy is really clear and
clean looking; throw in some additional weather effects and the well-placed
flying dragon and this is a game that has absolutely no sort of storyline, but
sure looks pretty.
Sound: 6.0
The "bad" voice work, average
looping music and underscored sound effects is a blight on a really
well-developed game.
Difficulty: Medium
It is an average game as far as
challenge goes.
Concept: 7.4
It may be one of the first game
genres made, but the fancy graphics and all-out action coupled with some easy
to get downloadable content, and the side-scrolling shooter is slick again.
Multiplayer: 6.0
A disappointment for those of you
scoring at home, the game should have been made available for online
multiplayer action and it simply was not.
Overall: 7.3
Like I said above, the game is
pretty and nice to look at, but ultimately shallow (I added that part) and
while a distraction for a week or so, the game is too short and not deep
enough to qualify for obsessiveness to get on the Live leaderboard.
