Omega Five and Tron hit XBLA
by Richard Mitchell 
{ Jan 9th 2008 at 12:00PM }
It's hard to get used to the now consistent barrage of bite-sized games offered on Xbox Live Arcade. This week brings the ever delectable combo of both a retro title and an original title. Lest you don't know which is which, Tron is an arcade game circa 1982. You may recall an awesome movie of the same name. The game features both original and improved graphics, online and offline multiplayer gameplay, and kick ass light cycles. As is the case with most retro titles, the only question you really have to ask yourself is if you enjoyed the original enough to plunk down the 400 MS Point entry fee. Of course, you can always give the trial version a go.
Omega Five is an omni-directional side-scrolling shooter. In other words, you move with the left stick and shoot with the right stick, just like many other shooters on XBLA. Unlike many other shooters on the service though, Omega Five pays tribute to the Japanese shoot 'em ups that littered both arcades and consoles in the late eighties and early nineties. Pick a character, move to the right, and shoot everything that moves. Honestly, except for the addition of a few more directional options, game design hasn't changed that much, has it? Alas, Omega Five's multiplayer is restricted to local co-op. Still, if blasting is your thing, you may want to give it a try. If it tickles your fancy, the whole enchilada can be had for 800 MS Points.
Gallery: Tron (XBLA)
Gallery: Omega Five (XBLA)
Read -- Tron - Game Detail Page
Read -- Omega Five - Game Detail Page
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tony @ Jan 9th 2008 12:06PM
I liked what I played of Omega Five. It reminded me a bit of R-Type, in particular. I was surprised by the voice work though... the characters are all in Japanese and the narrator guy speaks in total Engrish. It almost seems like they did it on purpose.
I can't even imagine paying anything for TRON, though.
pandlcg @ Jan 9th 2008 12:13PM
I'm not a big fan of shmups, but the Omega Five demo was fun as hell this morning. Like really really fun. I guess the only thing holding me back is the lack of online co-op, but i might get it anyway.
pandlcg @ Jan 9th 2008 12:14PM
You ate my last comment:
Anyway, all i said was that Omega Five was much better than i thought it would be, and i don't even like shmups.
Sucks to the lack of online co-op though
pandlcg @ Jan 9th 2008 12:14PM
You ate my last comment:
Anyway, all i said was that Omega Five was much better than i thought it would be, and i don't even like shmups.
Sucks to the lack of online co-op though
pandlcg @ Jan 9th 2008 12:15PM
WTF? Sorry about the post spam
George Arauz @ Jan 9th 2008 12:18PM
Looks pretty good.
Deezul @ Jan 9th 2008 12:44PM
You LIKE post spam?
xFenixKnightx @ Jan 9th 2008 12:53PM
Gonna get this right after work =)
ZenGaijin @ Jan 9th 2008 12:56PM
Omega Five is probably the best XBLA title I've played in a while. Now if only I could trade in previous XBLA titles so I could get Omega5.
ccc @ Jan 9th 2008 1:06PM
Omega5 is a great game for the Arcade. A bit too short though and no online hamper it.
Still it gets a 8.5 from me despite these flaws and hopes for an expansion to legnthen it up and an update to play online.
Tron is sweet as ever but I dislike the company Digital Eclipse due to the fact that when they mess something up they blame it on someone else and never fix it.(Smash TV Game Master cheevo).
Something interesting I noticed with todays two offerings, Both Omega5 and Tron come in at 47 meg.
This is a fine example of poor memory compression on digital eclipse's part. Tron compressed properly should only be around 20 meg if that.
Homer 918 @ Jan 9th 2008 1:12PM
I can definitely see why people would like Omega 5 but I just can't get into those types of games.
On a side note I just discovered that the people who made this Tron port are like a 5 minute drive from where I live. I knew they were working on some high profile stuff but I didn't realize they were doing stuff with the 360 that's pretty cool.
saylorsgang @ Jan 9th 2008 4:02PM
Am I the only one that thinks Omega 5 and Tron sucked ass, I have not seen a XBLA title worth buying in months....maybe Undertow and Sensible Soccer.
Deezul @ Jan 10th 2008 6:53AM
I'm just happy to see some more 400 point games. There was a period of about 2 months when all games were 800. Then again, these 400 point games a re-treads and "classics."
Shane Monroe @ Jan 10th 2008 10:30AM
As a die hard classic gamer, I found the TRON port to be completely half assed. The sound is simply HORRIBLE. And who QAed those controls?
Anyway, I started a petition hopefully to get them to fix these issues. If interested;
http://www.petitiononline.com/alan1/petition.html