Astro Boy: Omega Factor

Wednesday, June 29, 2005 » gaming thought

I've always been a little creeped out by Osamu Tezuka's robot superhero Astro Boy. It's probably because he's a little anime kid wearing nothing but a black Speedo. Then, as I learned in my Arts of Japan class last quarter (really), his creator (in the manga) built him as a replacement for his son who died in a car accident. Knowing that just makes him even creepier.

Still, lately I've been playing through Astro Boy: Omega Factor for GBA. The prospect of a new, Treasure-developed shooter was enough to overcome the character's shroud of creepiness, and I'm thankful. The game plays a lot like old SNES (possibly even NES) game, with really tight controls, vibrant graphics, and enemies who tend to march around like zombies, but only long enough to cause you to drop your guard so they can punish you mercilessly. Just like those old games, though, there's a lot of dying and continuing as you figure out the best order in which to take on a swarm of enemies, or how to best counterattack the bosses' patterns. The biggest thing that makes the game feel so "old school" is that none of the bosses are unbeatable, but a lot of them sure seem that way at first. (One of the most humbling moments occurred when, after defeating a robot miniboss, four more of them dropped down from the ceiling, and, since I had already lost most of my health in the previous battle, killed me instantly.)

I guess there's actually a pretty well-developed plot, a lot of replay incentive, etc., etc., that Astro Boy has going for it, but I'd recommend trying it out solely because they just don't make games like this anymore. (I was thinking of putting in some line about being ashamed to play a game starring an anime robot with Disney eyelashes, but the last game I bought was Kirby: Canvas Curse. I think by now I'm way over that.)