Astro Boy: Omega Factor Review

Among the rules of anime — such as the tear drop on the back of the head and the wind blowing whenever nobody is talking — any show that runs for more than one season will most likely (and eventually) be turned into a video game. Considering how long Astro Boy has been around (he’s had TV iterations from the 60′s, 80′s, and now the 00′s), it seems only fair a game would be on the way. This is usually cue for fans to groan, but with 2D mastermind Treasure behind development, this creation is worth whooping over.

Astro Boy is an action game. Whether you’re brawling it out on the streets or flying through the sky old-school style, Astro Boy delivers a unique action blend of Metal Slug, Ikaruga, and Final Fight. This means there is plenty of kicking, punching, and laser-shooting, all of which can be strung together to create nasty and satisfying combos. These functions are very slick and create a genuine feel of playing the Astro Boy character. Astro Boy also comes with limited jet power. With this, you can dart past enemies or flip up into the sky to evade attacks. It’s both effective and very cool.

The “Omega Factor” in the game’s name comes from… well… the Omega Factor grid that basically builds Astro Boy. The slots on the grid are filled when Astro Boy meets new characters. For each character met, you can increase one of Astro Boy’s powers by one point. These include life, punch, laser, and jet power, among others. The grid becomes a fun way to see the progression of the story and gives the player control over how Astro Boy upgrades. However, the game comes to a standstill near the end and requires a lot of “plot fetching” before it can continue. This means tracking down characters in a specific order and reading lots of dialogue. While the anime-influenced story is actually very good, bogging down an action game with plot fetching is a serious mistake.

The anime influence is everywhere in the game. Cutscenes are handled by cleanly drawn still frame conversations, and the actual action has a very rigid cartoon facade. The sprites are not always so crisp, though. Many enemies reappear in bigger sizes, but they look like a .gif file that has been resized in some cheap paint program. Astro Boy’s framerate also lends the game one of its greatest drawbacks. Excessive slowdown becomes a recurring problem. I still managed to play the game without much loss of fun, but the choppy framerate was hard to look over.

It is obvious the company Treasure had a hand in this game, because a lot of the music is similar to the soundtrack of the Nintendo 64′s Mischief Makers. Again, the music upholds the anime roots with action oriented (and somewhat kooky) mixes. The sound effects are more subtle, which is a great feature, because I never had to stop and think about if what I was hearing was annoying.

The game only contains eight stages. While that sounds ridiculously low, each stage is actually cut into several other levels. Finishing the game is no simple task, either, and will take about ten hours. You’re forced to replay a lot of levels, though, so the desire to keep on playing after the end is low. Once you’ve completed stages one through seven, you are “reborn” and must do all seven stages again to play out the story. It’s a fun and challenging game, so I didn’t mind replaying these levels, but it’s also a cheap trick to enhance the longevity.

Final Comments

I really liked Astro Boy: Omega Factor. It was a mix of all the genres I’ve always tried to enjoy, but could never get past the demanding difficulty. Astro Boy is still challenging, but the great control and character/power grid really personalize the experience. Though the game is stilted by flaws that really could — and should — have been erased, the action is still strong enough to keep this one on the recommended list.