Astro Boy: Omega Factor

"A Fun, Easy Game that's over in 2 Hours"

Let me start off this review by saying that I'm a huge fan of Treasure, and many of the games that they have made. I have, and have played through the following games many times: Gunstar Heroes, Bangai-O, Guardian Heroes, Radiant Silvergun, and Ikaruga. That being said, Treasure has really dropped the ball with Astro Boy. After hearing so many good things about this game, I was very excited to play it, and couldn't wait to see what Treasure had in store for me this time.

Shortly after the brief tutorial, I was in the heat of the game, punching and kicking my way to gaming fun. Initially, I was very impressed. “Treasure has done it again” I was thinking to myself.

2 hours later, I was done with the first play through, and was getting thrown back into stage 1, much like the Ghouls N Ghosts games. However, playing through Astro Boy again did not seem as interesting to me. I started to play through it again, but realized that I had been here done that already. Finding new powerups and characters to add to my Omega Factor was interesting enough, but it got old quickly. It just didn't seem worth it to play through 4 of the same levels to make my finger laser orange instead of purple.

Here is more of a breakdown of what I thought of the game.

Graphics

The graphics for Astro Boy are pretty good. I really had no problem with them, aside from some slowdown while fighting the bosses. The transparencies on the lasers looked good, and the pixilated enemies even looked okay. You do have to keep an eye out for the graphics though, since there is usually a lot going on at one time on your little screen. Oh yeah, I might add that I played this on a DS.

Controls

The controls worked out pretty well. Astro has a wide range of moves to take out the enemies and most of them are very satisfying to use. A fast paced game like Astro Boy requires some easy to use, quick controls, and the controls worked out well.

Story

Yeah. I'm not even sure if I should comment on this, since the story is really stupid. There are some brief cutscenes between levels, which try to tell a story, but end up being screens you have to pass to get to the action. Seriously, you meet so many characters that none of them have any in depth relationships with Astro, and go onto your Omega Factor so you can never see them again. I think they would have been better off making the story like Bangai-O's. Just incredibly stupid and making no sense, so that you could at least laugh at it. Unfortunately, the story tries to make Astro Boy look like a bad dude, and it's hard to do that to a character that looks like a baby and fires a gun out of his butt.

Sounds

The sounds were pretty good. No voice acting to speak of, but the sound effects while playing fit the mood very well. Firing off your Arm Cannon will melt the enemies and sound cool in the process. The music was hardly noticeable compared to the sound effects.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Astro Boy is great, it's just a shame there was not more of it. A game that you can beat in 2 hours really leaves you thirsting for more, and it's quite a letdown when you see the credits rolling. You can play again for some added levels and powerups, but I saw little point, since I have already seen 80-90% of the game. Astro Boy is also incredibly easy. Being able to store up to 99 EX attacks really lets you trounce the bosses with little effort and again, leaves you wanting more. The flying stages are much like Air Zonk, and are a nice break in the “on foot” action, but there are only a few of them, and they are over very fast.

Game Length

I usually don't comment on this in my reviews, but I feel I have to for this game. You can beat the main game in 2 hours with little effort. You can go back through and re-play levels, but it just seems like a waste IMO.

So that's pretty much what I thought of Astro Boy. It's a good and fun game while it lasts, but it's probably the shortest game like this that I have ever played, and I would not suggest paying over $20 for this game or you will feel ripped off.

The graphics and sound are good, and on the surface, it's standard Treasure goodness, but with so many other great Treasure games you could play, I would suggest passing on this one.

My Astro Boy: Omega Factor Review Score

6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/13/07