‘omicron’ Review
omicron. I quite like the name. It’s unique and rolls off the tongue well. Congratulations! But this can’t be said for the rest of the game.
Gameplay 1/10
Needless to say, the name is the best thing about omicron. The gameplay is virtually non-existent with whats left being repetitive, boring and frustrating. In the game, you are presented with a grid of coloured squares which randomly switch from one color to another. Your job is to hit a selected color before the block changes. If you do hit a block with the same color, that block is removed. The aim is to remove all blocks in the grid. Bored already? Well you should be. omicron gets faster as you progress which instead of making the game more challenging, becomes more frustrating. For starts, the responsiveness feels way off. Once you tap a block, it takes a few seconds for that block to be removed. This becomes more apparent on harder levels where you would hit the right block, but then be penalised because the game didn’t pick up your touch quick enough, and the block had changed colour.
Graphics 3/10
omicron’s graphics are of sub-standard. Very plain. Despite the supposed array of different colours, omicron still manages to exceed in dullness even though its whole emphasis is on multicolours.
Sound 7/10
After all its misgivings, there is one good point about omicron (apart from its name) that I like. The soundtrack. The music is quirky and helps me endure the horrible gameplay. The almost cute robot voice (with obvious inspiration Portal’s GLaDOS) also works well.
At the beginning of each level, the colour you have to hit is shown.
Controls 3/10
To select a block all you do is tap. This should work extremely well with the iPhone’s and iPod Touch’s screen, but in reality, as mentioned before, the game is very unresponsive which is key in a game such as this.
Menus 3/10
The menus are a lot on the simple side but the animations and transitions between menu screens is well done. However, the creativity is lost and makes for a reasonably dull menu system. Even though the game has bad responsiveness, the menu options are good enough and work well.
Longevity 1/10
omicron is a high-score game and with OpenFeint integration, it’s bound to have a little replay-value, right? But the extremely repetitive gameplay isn’t enough to push me to compete in high-scores. The 24 achievements do help a bit, but the chances are you are going to spend a few minutes on omicron, and then put it down.
Cost 2/10
I wouldn’t recommend this, even for its incredibly cheap price of $0.99/$0.59, especially when compared with other titles of the same price point.
Conclusion 20/70 – 1/5
Overall the game lends itself to a more retro style, and maybe mega-retro fans might enjoy omicron, but the chances are, they won’t, and neither will you. Avoid.
