- Theme:
- Light
- Dark
 |
Sony PlayStation
Omikron
Platform: PlayStation
Publisher: Eidos
The Basics
This PlayStation action-adventure game from Eidos was being pared down at one point, perhaps when the company realized it was too ambitious for the PlayStation environment. When we first spoke with Eidos, we were told that the game was going to have something of everything - an excellent fighting engine, amazing puzzle-solving capabilities through a revolutionary new system called IAM, and tremendous shooting action. Well, when we went to Eidos and saw the game firsthand, things had changed significantly - gone was the claim of a Tekken-style fighting engine and the word IAM was never mentioned. The developer had finally realized that it had taken too much on and decided simply to make an action-adventure with a few RPG elements, a few puzzle elements, and a solid hand-to-hand combat system.
 Click to enlarge |  Click to enlarge |  Click to enlarge |  Click to enlarge |
Omikron was the name of the city you'd be roaming. You - playing actually as yourself - were to inhabit various bodies throughout the game. Each time one of them died, you'd hop into a new character (usually the first person who touched you, although you'd also have reincarnation spells to use). There would have been about 50 different characters available for inhabitation, but you wouldn't need to inhabit all of them to finish the game. You'd move through four separate chapters as you tried to evade the demons that wanted to take your (and just about everyone else's) soul.
 Click to enlarge |  Click to enlarge |  Click to enlarge |  Click to enlarge |
The game had a ton of dialogue, and you'd interact with numerous NPCs - like Kay'l's wife, for example (Kay'l being a cop and the first body you'd inhabit). The game had real-time facial motion capture, so the idea was that you'd feel more attached to - or least more interested in - many of the characters you came across because they'd seem more real. But Omikron was still going to be basically about action; the weapons inventory was large, but you would have had to fight some of the boss characters hand to hand. You'd have four essential combat moves - a high punch, a low punch, a high kick, and a low kick. Not exactly Tekken, but at one point the combat system looked relatively solid. You'd also do things like drive futuristic vehicles and solve puzzles.
WHAT HAPPENED?
There had originally been rumors floating around the Net saying that Omikron had been put on hold. Then Eidos made it official by telling GameSpot News that instead of being put on hold, the project had been cancelled. One Eidos source said, "Yes, it's true. It was mainly an issue of so much art and too much detail for the PlayStation to handle."
Omikron is now available on the Dreamcast.
| « Previous Page | Next: Show me more » |
