by Nick - 02.18.05
[Now Playing| Astroboy - DS]
Recently I picked up Astro Boy: Omega Factor for the GBA. I have been hearing wonderful things about this game since its release, but everytime I had the cash to get it, I couldnt find it. Good thing I finally did:
This game rocks! Lets not mince words. This is one of the most enjoyable game experiences Ive had in awhile, portable or otherwise.
Astroboy is just such a great character. A metal pinnochio if you will. All of his moves and abilities are faithfully recreated for this game. Not only that, but this game has an interesting and fairly deep story.
The control is spot on. Every move can be pulled off easily and with enough practice you can almost be invicible. As for the audio is…well, it didnt annoy me, so it must be alright.
What about the graphics? They are amazing! Ive never seen so many great effects put to use on the GBA except maybe in Zero Mission. The sprites are big and beautiful and the environments are varied and teaming with life. Plus, everything is wonderfully animated with plenty of frames. No cutting corners on this game. Yes, there is some slow-down when lots of stuff is onscreen, but its not a big deal. To be honest, it almost feels like (but I know it wasnt) intentional. Kind of like bullet time for the big intense moments.
The game also has a lot of replay value. Not only are some new story elements opened up after you beat it, but there are also some other cool goodies that I wont spoil for you. Oh, and when this game lets you select ‘Easy’ ‘Medium’ or ‘Hard’ they mean it. On easy mode you can kill every boss with your laser in no time. On hard, every enemy can kill you in a second. This is a great thing, if you ask me.
Basically, if you enjoy action games like Contra, Metal Slug and Alien Hominid, this portable will fit right in. Games like these are the reason everyone loves Treasure. Plus, any game that can make me put Minish Cap on the back burner has to be good, right?
![[Astroboy Wallpaper]](http://www.4colorrebellion.com/media/pics/feb/astroboy_wp01.jpg){kind=link}
If you play it on XBox the audio will annoy you. I might need to pick this up… I made it to the level where those crazy ass Bouncing tires are. How far into the game did i make it?
Matt Luckett - 02.18.05 11:35 pm
yeah man… that is treasure for ya… they ROCK!
Mike Jungbluth - 02.19.05 12:16 am
One thing I found out, and another reason to love this game, is that the North American release version is actually more difficult than the Japanese version. Rather than Japan getting the hardcore version of a game and sending a watered down version to us (Remember Final Fantasy 4?), they ramped up the difficulty for us. The reports I read showed that the U.S. Easy mode is equivalent in difficulty to Japan’s Hard mode, the U.S. Hard mode is equivalent to Japan’s Advanced mode, and our Advanced mode has no equivalent.
This game is by far the best side scrolling game I’ve purchased for the GBA.
Mike - 02.22.05 1:25 pm
Yep, and they fixed up some bugs and some of the slowdown problems when they brought it over to the US. Sometimes its good to get games latter.
Other examples that come to mind are Wind Waker, Minish Capand the recent Wario Ware Touched! All were tweaked from their original release and we ended up with the best versions.
Nick Luckett - 02.22.05 1:37 pm
I just got it and love it. The story is great, one of the main things that keeps me playing, not that I need it to, as the game is fun enough with great replay value. I can’t find Black Jack, though…
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