"Odd game, but nice still the same"

Omega Race is a shooter game in the likes of no other game. You control a ship which flies around the screen (not all of the screen, as a large rectangle sits in the middle), blasting the enemy foes which either sit in a certain spot, or move around the box.

While it doesn't seem to say much, Omega Race is actually a fun game.

Omega Race was made by the same folks who made Solar Fox, so you will definitely see similarities, like ''racks'' to indicate stages. Even the manuals look alike!

The story of the game is actually good and quite ominous. The Omegan Race is superior to all others in terms of battle and so have become bored and wish to test themselves against other races by a battle in an arena. The first paragraph of this review describes the area in which you will face the Omegans. It will be you against the superior Omegan Race space technology.

This sounds quite promising, although the game would give you a different picture.

Let's give it the rundown:

Graphics: About as simple as you can get. The whole screen is black, and anything on it that you should see is drawn in a type of blue (your score is pink). You really won't pay attention to the simplicity of the graphics with the intensity of the action.

Story: Mentioned already. This is a nice high point of the game, although a game like this doesn't really need a story. It's still a nice touch, and Atari did a nice job in providing some filler material.

Controls: Interesting addition here in that Omega Race sports a special controller called a Booster Grip. It essentially is like most modern flight game controllers (trigger and thumb buttons) and fits over the normal 2600 joystick. You needed this because one button controlled your thrust while the other let you shoot. The control itself is pretty good.

Music: In Atari's day and age? No such equation. Omega Race had a ''beat.'' The beat increased in tempo the longer you took to finish the arena. And when those Deathships appeared, the music went wild.

Considering the dark tone of this game, the ''beat'' and all is a perfect combination. You really feel tense, especially when the tempo starts picking up because you know you are short on time before the Deathship appears.

Sound: There are only about 3 different sounds in the game. The sound of your shots being fired is just too ''cute'' for me. Of course, when you die, it's a WHOLE 'nother story. Yeah, you really don't want to die on this game, as it will shock you both in sound and sight (don't get used to that dark screen).

Difficulty: Never let it be said that ancient stuff was simple. Heck no! I could get about 4 stages into the game before getting wiped out. Sheesh.

Let's look at some specifics.

Dang, the Omegans must be superior. They only have three ship designs. How did they best folks like the Star Wars Alliance, Empire, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, and everyone else with only three types of ships? You'll find out in just a bit.

Omegan ships consist of three types: Command Ships, Droid Ships, and the ever-feared Deathships. Droid ships either sit still or move. Command ships move and shoot. Deathships move (boy, do they MOVE!), shoot, and BOUNCE all around the arena.

Your ship sits at the upper left corner of the arena. The Omegan ships sit at the lower right. The Command Ship is the only moving object right now.

While you have time, you take your ship, thrust out into the world, and do your best to blast each ship of the Omegans. Destroy all of them in this rack (stage), and you go to the next one.

Simple, right? And Stage 1 starts off that way. Of course, if you take too long, the tempo starts picking up and you get the real uneasy feeling that something bad is about to happen. Continue taking a while, and one of the Droid Ships (or Command Ship if no Droids are left) becomes the ever-menacing, ever-feared, super light speed horror known as a Deathship. While just too simple in design (it's an X), this thing is what the tension in Omega Race is all about. This thing careens around the screen, spouting shots randomly and leaving behind mines for you to run into. Trust me, when you encounter one of these things, you'll never sleep again.

Now that I've gotten your attention, let's really turn up the heat--stage 2. Ha, ha! You thought it was over? Now the Droid ships move around the arena also and become Command Ships much faster. Not only that, the tempo changes and gets really fast, meaning ''Oh no! Not already!'' Yep, Deathship time. And what's really bad about this? Oh, you didn't even get the chance to even start wiping out the Omegan ships, so that means TWO Deathships can show up (gasp!!!!!)

Now, when going through several racks of this, you can see that this game gets horribly repetitive with no other spice to it other than more Deathships appearing sooner. It's factors like this that give this game a 7. While not really bad, it just doesn't quite hold you all that much. It may have been more interesting if it was two-player simultaneous (two players must take turns here).

I can't really recommend Omega Race. It's not bad, so if you get it, don't feel you are getting ripped off. It's a testament to the surprising creativity of people with few resources. It's rather incredible that this game can keep you tense for so long just with simple things like a changing tempo indicating a nasty situation is about to come up. I would not say go out and buy this game, but if you do get it, you should like it--for a while anyway.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/17/00, Updated 12/17/00