Omega Syndrome (ver. 1.92)

I just finished Omega Syndrome. If you are looking for a turned-based, ¾ isometric view, near future setting game then Omega Syndrome will fill that dent of a craving to play a non-fantasy RPG game.

Character creation starts with adjusting strength, perception, endurance, intelligence, agility, and luck. You can Tag four skills: guns, laser weapons, melee, throwing weapons. Not only can you target the bad guys, you can be poisoned, radiated, and receive damage to left and right arms and legs. Your armor class improves when you buy leather jackets or opt for Kevlar armor. The higher you level or improve your specific skills, the higher your critical chance to hit. You can also equip yourself with gas masks, drink health or poison concoctions to become resistant/repair health, poison, radiation, gas inhalation, gas contact and electrified damage. Melee weapons include a bat, crowbar and of course fists. Projectile weapons include a 9mm (WP, FMJ) handgun, 7.62 rifle, crossbow, and laser pistol. This is clearly not a game for grandma and grandpa to play while sitting in their lift chairs.

I was able to recruit four other NPCs. Turn-based combat is similar to Jagged Alliance where each player takes their turn attacking. All members of the party have the ability for targeting eyes head, torso, either right or left arm/legs, and groan. A hit to the eyes can cause enemy blindness, henceforth, the enemy fire wildly, unable to target you again. The 800 by 600 graphics fall between Jagged Alliance 1 and Fallout. There is only a single interface for both exploring and combat, yet it contains all necessary information. Trading in stores or with people you meet is also possible and necessary to complete your objectives. Money and ammo are scarce so use melee weapons to begin with; you can always heal your team, merely by resting between battles.

One feature of interest was how the story is pushed with story frames. Cut-away screens show dialog, where you have the ability to choose dialog. For the most part, dialog is sparse and somewhat linear, including the six quests I accepted.

What not to expect from Omega Syndrome. Clearly Omega Syndrome has been in the works for a while and goes through revisions as the coder(s) finds time to add features or clean up the rough edges. Replay ability is somewhat limited. A single map is easily explored and the final mission completed in roughly 8-12 hours. In addition, though your characters can equip for gloves, helmets, boots, and rings, these items were not found in the game; so it is expected that latter revisions will contain these items. Omega Syndrome is a very satisfying game to play. If you are looking for a non-fantasy RPG, then Omega Syndrome really fills that desire of being able to play something new.

You can find the game's website here

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