Omega Boost (PS1) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
261A playthrough of Sony Interactive Entertainment's 1999 rail shooter for the Sony PlayStation, Omega Boost.
Played through on the normal difficulty level.
Omega Boost was a late-generation release for the original PlayStation, and it really shows. Developed by the team that would eventually be called Polyphony Digital (primarily known as the team behind the Gran Turismo games) and featuring robot designs by Macross artist Shouji Kawanori, Omega Boost had some impressive talent behind it.
It's a rail shooter, similar in style to Star Fox and Rez, wherein you pilot a mech through a series of space battles through time to save the human race. Most stages feature several waves of enemy fighters that approach from all directions before an encounter with a mini-boss, and it is all typically capped off with a boss fight against some giant capital ship. Some take place in outer space, while others happen in more cramped environments where navigation becomes a focus rather than an afterthought, but no matter where you're fighting, the action is always happening at a breakneck, somewhat hypnotic pace.
The controls are excellent. They are far more intuitive than you might expect considering the freedom you have to move about (remember- the scan button is your best friend!), with lock-ons, boosts, and multiple firing modes all easily accessible without any finger gymnastics. A dual-analog controller really is a must for the full effect, though. The difficulty curve is smooth and fair, but by the end. expect your skills to be fully tested. Things get frenetic by the end, and if you aren't careful it's easy to become disoriented. It is super-smooth though, and the flight controls make it an absolute joy to play.
The graphics and sound are just as good as the mechanics. It's clear that Polyphony took the lessons learned in the development of Gran Turismo and applied them here. The game runs on a tweaked version of the Gran Turismo engine. and it looks fantastic. Everything moves along at a good clip (often hitting 60fps!), the texture quality and lighting effects are absolutely outstanding considering the hardware the game runs on, and the art direction keeps everything cohesive and unified in feel. The FMVs, though corny, are well produced with their mixture of high quality CGI work and live actors, and the electronica soundtrack screams 90s in the best way possible.
(Side note - I replaced a couple of the licensed tracks with other music from the game to avoid copyright flags.)
Omega Boost derives clear inspiration from many rail shooters of the 90s, but it pushes the genre in ways rarely seen outside of Star Fox 64, and carves out it's own unique identity among quite a crowded field thanks to its stellar production values and attention to mechanics. All told, it's a true classic of the PS1 library, and it was a technical showcase that was rarely matched in its time.
Great stuff!
_
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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