Omega Five (Xbox Live Arcade) Preview
Posted by Ramon Aranda on 12.06.2007
New school shooter aims to kick you where it hurts.
This week, I visited Hudson Entertainment to check out a few upcoming titles. Onf of those titles was "Omega Five" for the Xbox Live Arcade.
"Omega Five" is a 2D shooter set in an 3D world with a side perspective. You begin your journey with two selectable characters, though 2 additional characters are available as unlocks later on. Unlike most shooters where you take flight in a spacecraft however, you actually control human characters. Each of the characters has distinct attacks as well as specific strengths and weaknesses. You'll use the left analog stick to move your character around the screen while the right analog stick is used for shooting ala Geometry Wars. As you defeat enemies, you can collect pink triangles that build up your power meter. Once the meter is full you can use the left trigger button to unleash hell and destroy everything on the screen. You'll also find useful powerups within the different stages.
There are a few modes available such as Arcade mode which allows you to play through the game while Challenge mode limits you to one stage but you try and survive as long as possible to build up a high score. As for multiplayer modes, you can do the same locally but there are no online matches. Once you have progressed far enough into the game, you can unlock the '++' (Plus) mode for both Challenge and Arcade games. The Plus mode will increase the difficulty two-fold. Speaking of difficulty, this is one game that will literally kick your ass. There have been a few shooters such as Ikagura that have made players cry out of frustration and this game is no different. Of course that just means you'll want to keep playing over and over again to improve your score or advance into the later stages.
At first glance, you'll realize how beautiful this game looks and it's clearly one of the sexiest XBLA games that I have seen. The game suffers from zero lag and runs beautifully in HD and widescreen. Though the game is already in a finished state, Hudson is simply waiting for Microsoft to give them the green light. "Omega Five" is slated for a Winter release; meaning any time now!
