253. Omega Boost (Polyphony Digital, Playstation, 1999)

I bought Omega Boost because it was the only game made by Sony's Polyphony Digital (of Gran Turismo fame) that wasn't a racing game, and I thought it would be interesting to see if any racing game sensibilities would make it into a mech action game. Omega Boost greets you with a painfully late-90s live action intro cutscene complete with some post-grunge rock courtesy of British indie band Feeder. It's not the worst thing I've ever seen, but it also doesn't do the actual game the service it deserves.

Omega Boost is a kind of hybrid between a rail shooter and a fully 3D mech game. It presents itself as fully 3D, as you are able to fly around and boost in any direction, but actually (in most levels) you are physically tethered to the enemy or group of enemies you are engaged with, and the game just whips you around like you're connected with a rubber band. The saving grace of this control scheme is that you have a scan button that makes your mech automatically face enemies, then targeting them is as easy as moving your reticle onto them. So the gameplay end up decently similar to Panzer Dragoon or Star Fox, where you hold to lock-on and release to fire, but the movement is faster and more unwieldy. 

Despite it looking visually unfriendly and downright disorienting, in practice the control scheme actually makes it easy to know where you are in relation to the things that can hurt you at any time, so Omega Boost is both intuitive and fun to play. There are some decent setpieces, but most of the enemy ships have a blobby, uninspired design. Fighting another mech one on one is a blast, though, and was easily the highlight of my short time with Omega Boost.

Like many early 3D games, Omega Boost has a very short draw distance, so enemies will often pop into the screen when they are not too far away, though with any smaller enemies, an anime twinkle effect is utilized to great success. Maybe it's just that horror games were largely born on the Playstation, but there is a level that takes place largely in the dark that almost feels like a horror game, or it would if I wasn't so focused on dodging and returning fire. That said, while the gameplay is fun for a few minutes, it doesn't get a whole lot deeper. Certain levels have you progressing down a tube instead of through a free roam area, but those just felt needlessly constructing and punishing compared to fluid freedom of the outdoor levels.

4/5, a fast, visceral rail shooter on a rubber band