3RRDC Omikron

Remember that little known game called "Shenmue". Yeah, that
massive adventure where you traveled around the city and got clues
to the mystery of your father. Well rewind in time. Go back before
Shenmue was released. Before the hype of a huge 3D world with
hundreds of inhabitants. Because before Shenmue there was this little
game called "Omikron". It was released originally on the PC, but
eventually ported to Dreamcast. It featured relatively, the same
concept. Explore and live in a huge 3D world, walk around town, go to
various shops, and somehow get to the bottom of a mystery. But was
Omikron any good? Read on and find out.

I won't lie to you. Omikron has many flaws. But story line is not one of
them. The story is that you (yes you) have been playing the new game
"Omikron". Your soul was then sucked into the game and now it rests
in the body of one cop named Kayl. But you have no memory of who
Kayl is, nor have you ever played this game before. So you decide you
need out, but for some reason you're stuck in the game world. An
interesting concept, but it only gets better. Eventually you will learn
the entire backstory of the world of Omikron, and discover how much
grave danger you are actually in. So in a sense it is a mystery.

But it gets better still! You are the nomad soul. This means that your
soul can change bodies. Not just from yours to Kayl's. But from Kayl's
to many others, thus you will control them. Very cool. And to top it all
off, the legendary David Bowie is one of the main characters, and
provides most of the soundtrack. Now I'm a rather big fan of Bowie so
to see him in the game was most excellent (Hmm actually he plays two
characters in the game). So story wise, this game shines. It keeps you
interested. Although, there are a lot of documents on the backstory of
Omikron. Some may find this interesting while others may find it boring
(do you like history?).

As I said earlier, the game plays out a lot like Shenmue. You walk
around the huge 3D world, and converse with people, go to shops, find
items, and solve puzzles, just like in Shenmue. Also like Shenmue, there
are fight sequences where you go fist to fist with other characters.
There are also swimming and first-person shooting sequences. So
variety wise, this game is fresh. In concept this all sounds great. But
then there is reality. Controls are sticky and sometimes problematic.
Characters sometimes walk after you've pressed the button, and are a
little clunky to control. You can run and jump, and call you sneak,
which basically stores items and calls taxis and such. Now then add
this to the insane amount of bugs and glitches in the game, and this
can get a little blah. It loads in the next area when you walk near
doors, so the game seems to kinda temporarily freeze while it loads in.

But there are so many nice touches to this game. You can call taxis to
transport you places (for free), some apartments have little TVs you
can watch (sometimes funny), and conversation is much better then
Shenmue's. When you talk to people you are usually given a few
choices on what to say. This makes the game seem more personal and
you don't hate the main character for saying stupid things. Early on in
the game it is kind of naughty. The game is rated "T" with "Mature
Sexual themes" a descriptor usually held for "M" rated games. Weird.
There are strip clubs, and sex shops (which you can buy an erotic
poster from). Also when Kayl meets his wife at the beginning of the
game, you can watch a scene where she is only in her bra and panties
and she gets on top of Kayl and well it cuts out from there but you get
the picture. So a little perverted but hey that's ok.

Speaking of questionable things, let's talk about the graphics. Ohh so
ugly. Blocky and boring can best describe most of it. Locations and
scenery are cool, from the futuristic slums of the first city, to more
exotic and Eastern settings in later cities. But characters look bad.
Although design wise, they are varied. Well besides Bowie, he turned
out good. And most of the sinister villains also turned out cool. Each
town's people have their own style of dress and such, so again they
pay attention to detail which is important. The end result though is a
little blocky.

But then we reach one of the bright spots, that's right the music. Bless
David Bowie and his beautiful voice and image. For we get 8 great
Bowie songs that were all new at the time. Now you can find them all
on the album "Hours". Stand outs include the great "Thursday's Child"
and "Something in the air." But the developers (Quantic Dream) did
more then just put in some great music. They put in a few hidden David
Bowie concerts to attend. I wish there was more (one for each song
would be nice!) but the inclusion of the ones they have are nice. A very
cool touch. Great to see a 3D Bowie and band strut their stuff in
futuristic bars. Also you can purchase cassettes tapes of the songs,
and play them in certain hotels in the game. Thank you. The other
tracks that you hear during the majority of the game are varied
musically, and for the most part give a good sense of atmosphere. So
music wise this is nice. But if you're not a Bowie fan. Hmm, perhaps
you won't care as much. Most characters speak and talk by the way.

So are there any secrets in this vast world? Well besides buying the
cassettes, there are over 20 people you can hack in to (hmm kinda like
Maken X). And some have their own apartment in the city, which you
can find, and in their they keep various items. Also each person has
their own unique attributes. Everyone has stats in fighting and health
and such. But you can get power ups to raise those stats. But you
gotta find most of these people. So I could definitely see myself going
back and playing again as different characters.

So as you can see, this game is really like Shenmue. Although it
doesn't feature the passage of time or good graphics. Also this game
can get incredibly and unbearably hard. I had to consult a walkthrough
many, many times. Puzzles aren't always clear, and sometimes you just
don't know where to go. But I kept on playing in order to see what was
in store in the music and story departments. There are also really
annoying texts that are very hard to read because of the style (of
trying to look ancient). This was a wee bit annoying, but I understand
why it was done. Saving can also be a pain. You need magic rings to
save, but you gotta find those. Run out and no save for you. You can
also buy advice with these rings at the save points, but I would
conserve them and just look at tips online.

The game features a lot of interesting elements in it. But it just isn't
polished. Those who enjoyed Shenmue, and the kinda slow pace of
Shenmue, will like this if they can look past graphics and glitches (
c'mon I know you have it in ya!). Once this is done, you enter a massive
world where you never know what will happen next. Is this better then
Shenmue? (Thinks for awhile). No, I do prefer Shenmue. But I really
respect this game for all of the cool ideas it presented. A more mature,
dark, and futuristic (and perverted) Shenmue experience. If that
sounds like your kind of game run to the store and pick this up. Note: If
you are not a Bowie fan subtract 10 from Story, Sound, and overall.

Review by: Orochi Sonic