Omega Boost

by 989 Studios

Product Details

• ASIN: B000023VUP
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 5 inches ; 4.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,093 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Editorial Review

From the creators of the popular racing series Gran Turismo comes the space-action sci-fi shooter Omega Boost. This futuristic game pits you against a sinister computer virus named Alphacore. To conquer Alphacore, you must pilot an armed free-floating robot named Omega Boost through 19 diverse zones and, ultimately, travel back in time to stop Alphacore from changing history. Basically, the gameplay of Omega Boost is incredibly straightforward. Simply blow up each enemy that stands in your way. Enemies come in all shapes, sizes, and strengths. We were impressed with the amount of detail put into each enemy--in fact, we often paused the game so that we could better examine each enemy being blown to smithereens. Each zone has a collection of small enemies, a sub- boss, and a boss to conquer.

As you progress in the game, you can customize and upgrade your equipment. In champion mode, you will have to finish a level with a good enough destroy rate before you will be allowed to advance. This game also includes a replay mode, which will allow you to leisurely view highlights of your most intense battles.

While this game may be pretty to look at, the controls can be difficult to master. You'll definitely need to check out the training zones in order to properly learn how to navigate your hunk of junk metal. We became dizzy from the rotating 3-D and 360-degree environments, which can make your control seem more complicated during a busy barrage of enemy fire from all directions. --Carrie Bell

Pros:

• Interesting plot
• Detailed spaceships and explosions
• Full 3-D, 360-degree rotating action

Cons:

• Shooting action can get repetitious
• May cause dizziness

GameSpot Review

Thanks largely to 3D shooters such as Sega's Panzer Dragoon series, the shooter is officially back in style, after a long drought following the 16-bit era's market saturation. While initially more visceral than any similar game on the market, Omega Boost ultimately falls short in playability, style, and longevity.

As Japanese logic would dictate, you suit up in a large humanoid robot and fly through several missions to defeat an evil galactic empire bent on destroying humanity. As shooter logic dictates, you are humanity's only hope for survival. Omega Boost takes the formula established by Panzer Dragoon and, in the words of chef Emeril Legasse, kicks it up a notch. While your general movement is confined to the "rails" in each level, you have more freedom of movement than in any other game in this vein. The Omega Boost robot has two modes of movement: straight and scanning. Straight movement is like that of any other 3D shooter, always moving forward. Scanning movement lets you maneuver around an object in full 3D. Tapping the mode change button will turn you to face any imminent danger that may be approaching, an extremely useful tool for tackling enemies that will ultimately be attacking from above, below, and everywhere in between. Holding the mode change button will let you move along the outside of an invisible sphere, so you move around the huge bosses and deal damage from all sides with ease. In addition to the multiple modes of flight, you have a vulcan rifle with homing shots, lock-on homing lasers, a speed boost, and a few levels into the game, the viper boost, an uncontrollable series of ramming attacks. As in Panzer Dragoon Zwei, your mech is gradually upgraded depending on how well you do in each of the game's nine missions, earning you the viper boost and the ability to lock onto more enemies. In addition to the campaign mode, you can play in a number of customizable challenge levels, essentially ultradifficult versions of the original levels. Bam!

Unfortunately, Omega Boost is ultimately a vapid game - a quick adrenaline rush almost completely lacking depth. Each level consists of only a few waves of enemies and two or three quickly defeated bosses. Tackling the waves of enemies is never difficult; a quick tap of the mode change button locks onto them, while a tap of the attack button releases the homing lasers that will kill them. With a few exceptions, boss battles are equally predictable - lock on and fire, dash out of the way of enemy fire, turn to face the boss, repeat until dead. For any kind of challenge, you will have to wait until the final series of bosses. Omega Boost is a dismally short game; with the exception of the final level, each of the game's levels requires between two and five minutes to complete, resulting in a game that could very well offer nothing new after a few hours of ownership.

Omega Boost's aesthetics are hard to pin down - while technically brilliant, the game simply lacks the assets to really shine visually. Endowed with possibly the most amazing 3D engine to grace a shooter, the game fills the screen with beautiful effects and transparencies. In all but a few of the challenge levels, the engine still manages to keep a constant 60fps frame rate. Much of this gift is wasted, however, as the game is generally lacking in art assets. While the enemies and bosses are nicely constructed and textured, many levels use the void of space or a single texture as their only backdrop, resulting in a game that's lacking visually. Both human actors and CG are used in the expensive-looking FMV sequences that introduce the game and carry the "story" on, but the sequences are generally not too exciting or too short to really be appreciated. Omega Boost's sound is crisp and clear. Rock and techno tunes provide appropriate backdrop to the spastic action, although some of them have humorously corny lyrics for a space shooter.

With more levels and design variety, Omega Boost could've outclassed every other 3D shooter on the market. With so little of either, however, Omega Boost is only a decent game at best. --Peter Bartholow
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sick of the Critics, December 29, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Omega Boost (Video Game)

If you're taking the time to read this, then you're obviously interested in learning some things about the game before you buy, which is good. However, you may have already read some of the professional reviews of the game in various magazines or online. From a players perspective, the critics make the game seem to be ominously boring, point and shoot, blow stuff up, blah blah blah... They're dead wrong. This game is probably one of the best that I've seen on the playstation, if not for its visuals, but for its action, and pure adrenaline pumping, missle shooting, pulse cannon blasting rush. Amidst the action of the game, you just have to smile when in between Thirty something ships, and triple the missles flying at you, you can still manage to lock on, and launch a couple dozen of your own at multiple targets. Boom. (heh, heh) The critics are trying to nitpick. You wouln't even know that you're on rails in the game if the critics hadn't of told you. Your Omega Boost turns, burns, flips, and rolls in virutal freedom. The multiple views that you can change add to the game. The bosses, while succeptable to the simple strategy of shoot, fly around, and shoot some more, are huge, interesting and fun to destroy. But hey, whats the point of a shooter anyway? You're suppossed to blow stuff up, not find a strategy! The secret to the fun lays in the very simplicity of the game that the critics are whining about. Enough of the thinking games already. We never thought about a strategy playing missle command on the old Atari systems. Its just about blowing stuff up! The best part is, that this is a visual masterpiece of a game. Truly, I haven't played anything like it to this point. None of what they say becomes apparent while you're caught up in the explosions and cannon fire. For pure action, explosions, and mindless space havoc, Get this game, let a few missles fly, and smile.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great blastathon action title!, December 7, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Omega Boost (Video Game)

From the makers of Gran Turismo, Polyphony Digital has created a great game. You pilot a time-travelling robot, Omega Boost, through time and space. It's a brainless, blow-up-anything-that-moves, classic shooter done in true 3d environments. On the same scale as Colony Wars but much more intense. The "tube" missions are a challenge! Great graphics, no slowdown, and an easy learning curve, it's a great game to just pick up and play. You can even practice previously accomplished levels to better your score. With hidden levels, you'll have fun with this game for a long time.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Highly playable shooter balancing looks and mechanics., January 26, 2001

By 

D. Mok (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Omega Boost (Video Game)

One of those rare cases where a game developer doesn't compromise gameplay in favour of graphics. Omega Boost gets the best of both worlds. Though the 360-degree environment can make you dizzy, the addition of the "face forward" button drastically improves ease of controls. And the backgrounds and characters look sharp but remain responsive, which makes for a great fast-paced shooter.

If anything, I might have wished there would be a little more diversity in terms of weapons, levels, missions and some kind of a story. Imagine the customizeability of Armored Core coupled with the furious action and beautiful graphics of this game! However, that didn't seem to be the intention of the designers. As an old-fashioned "blow-everything-up" shooter, Omega Boost ranks among the best there is to offer.