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One of my favorite genres growing up was the classic side scrolling shooter, and what appealed most to me was that these titles weren’t for everyone. The difficulty standards in the genre were usually too high, and most of my friends couldn’t hack the frantic pacing of things coming at them from all sides. Games like Gradius, Axelay, and R-Type were the nature of this beast, and were only matched in current generation titles such as Ikaruga. We flash forward to 2008 where a new year brings us something old in context, while sporting incredible new visuals. Omega Five by Natsume, creators of some classic shooters, show that they haven’t lost their touch in this 3D world and next generation visual showiness. Omega Five is every bit as tough as any classic shooter, but still manages to look pretty thanks to the power of the Xbox 360. At shockingly under 50 megs, you have to wonder what Natsume could bring if they pushed the XBLA boundaries to the max 150 meg level. Omega Five is easily one of the best looking XBLA games, even with its prehistoric premise. You have great textures, lighting, and tons of things not only coming at you from in front and behind you, but you will have enemies making their approach from the backdrop itself and moving into the forefront and attacking as well. The level, enemy, and weapon designs are all unique and created with such loving detail that gamers will forget that the game is 2D in sprit as it seems every bit as 3D imaginable.
While Omega Five runs at a more deliberate or slower pace than some frantic shooters, that doesn’t mean for a second this game won’t kick your ass in short order. While many hardcore fans will have this conquered in a few passes, casual gamers need not apply. Omega Five, while only 4 levels long, requires level memorization, fast reflexes, and strategic planning on routes and weapon choices. You only have a couple of continues and a single life per continue to complete this beast, so expect to start over quite a few times to get really good at this game. Using the analog sticks as your firing mechanism isn’t new (see Geometry Wars) it is very useful here and frees up other buttons for bombs, shields, and special attacks. You will get a chance to earn health replenishment and power up your weapons with strategically placed icons, but it makes sense to learn what these icons mean as you don’t want to power up to a weapon choice you aren’t happy with as this game requires as few mistakes possible. At only 10 bucks, Omega Five is a great shooter that any hardcore fan will eat up like candy. If you haven’t been in the game for a while, you may want to run the free trial to see if you have the right stuff to tackle this short, but challenging shooter. If you have the stones, on the other hand, this is a must buy for classic shooter buffs.
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