OMEGA BOOST

When the PSX first came out, one feature that was soon capitalized on was its ability to handle live action FMV. Soon, however, live action sequences became a thing of the past. Fully CG cut scenes replaced their human counterparts.

OMEGA BOOST opens with a striking FMV sequence, which uses actual living breathing human beings. It is here that we see Tokyo and New York bombed from above, and the launch of humanity's last, best, and only hope.

For, you see, as we colonized space, we created life, incidentally. We knew not of our offspring's birth until it matured. Out there, on the void between stars, where computers were connected by invisible beams, a miraculous birth transpired. An entity came into being, far surpassing all of its components. A consciousness woke for the first time. This new child borne of electrons learned from our collective knowledge. We are to blame for its actions. It was nurtured at our common bosom. It learned how to conquer and how to hate from us.

When we finally realized that something existed out there AND in here, it was far too late. Machines turned against us. We were unable to stop it. Technology was our opponent.

The last of us began a new. They created a network to rival the corrupt ALPHA CORE... the thinking computer. This new system was dubbed OMEGA BOOST. It was our final crusade and our finest hour. For, OMEGA BOOST was more than anything created prior. OMEGA BOOST had the means to touch time. With this great machine, we could go back. We could kill our child before it was ever born.

Yet, ALPHA CORE learned of this new life. It merged with this closed system. ALPHA CORE was to use the OMEGA BOOST against us. ALPHA CORE was to travel back to the very first computer... to ENIAC. There, it would plant a seed. It would exist since before its birth. It would become more.

With the last grains of time slipping away, humanity's last pocket powered up the OMEGA BOOST drone, a mecha designed to interface and pilot the OMEGA BOOST time shaft.

For, if OMEGA BOOST kills ALPHA CORE before its birth, we will win...

That's OMEGA BOOST's premise. Yeah, that's the plot. Ain't it great?

The game is split up into nine zones or levels. Each zone is just about 5 minutes in length and concludes with various boss nasties. This free-roaming space shooter gives you the disposal of a vulcan rifle, Macross-esque missiles, and a special system-draining Viper Boost, the main guns on the Excalibur.

The graphics are suburb. After all, it is from Polyphonic, the company which made the visual bliss called Gran Turisimo. But, now, rather than driving a car, you're piloting a giant space-borne mecha.

With elements taken from Macross, Gundam, and Transformers, OMEGA BOOST is one of the top shooters out there. The mecha's design coupled with the missile logic really makes you feel that you're at the controls of a Valkyrie battloid... not a bad thing.

It is short. As I've said, it's only nine levels. You can beat the game in under an hour. This is a good thing. See, there is no internal save function in OMEGA BOOST. The manual tells you that you can save your ingame progress, but you can't. The only way to save is to exit the game and return to the main menu.

So, this short play time is an asset. It's a fun game. It's a very fun game. It's got a fire and a frenzy. You will be bombarded by 201 endo-atmospheric fighters and have to take them down. You will have to single-handedly destroy an armada of attacking vessels (which look very similar to Macross's Zentraedi).

The game ends with your final confrontation with ALPHA CORE. For, using all of its capabilities and the power in the central point of the time shaft, it has created organic life. With metal and wires wrapped around it, a pulsating sphere of green breathes at the time shaft's end. Life from where there was none. Breath from where there was none.

You must kill it. You must fight against the inner-most level of hell. You must destroy ALPHA CORE's most devastating edifices. For, ALPHA CORE is no longer the network. ALPHA CORE is a new life... an infant form.

With shatters steel around it, this shimmering new life breaks forth. ALPHA CORE takes the shape of its creator. ALPHA CORE becomes what is irreverently called the "jello angel". This iridescent green winged female form is the culmination of computer evolution. Student has surpassed master.

Now, you must fight this feathered entity. You must kill it to amend humanity's mistake.

You do.

And, when you do, it merges with OMEGA BOOST. In its final moment of life, it integrates itself with humanity's last hope.

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Peter Tatara
11.26.1999

http://www.klink.net/~tatara/DFFQI.html