CGC Bonus Round I - Astro Boy: Omega Factor (GBA) [Console]

[PistolsAtDawn]

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Game info

Astro Boy: Omega Factor is a beat 'em up video game developed by Treasure and Hitmaker, and published by Sega (THQ in Europe). The game was released for the Game Boy Advance on December 18, 2003 in Japan; August 18, 2004 in North America; and February 18, 2005 in Europe. The game is based on Osamu Tezuka's manga and anime franchise Astro Boy. However, it also features characters and plotlines from the artist's entire canon of work.

While Astro Boy had been well known for decades in Japan, the North American release was delayed to coincide with the premiere of the Astro Boy TV series in 2004. During this delay, Treasure made some game improvements to the North American version of the game. The game received positive reviews from critics, with strong praise focused on the game's visuals, and limited criticism on level design. In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.

The first CGC Bonus Round is open for play!

Play however you'd like! The point is to enjoy and have fun, but if you would like to compete on high scores, please let us all know how you played (as in, with a arcade control panel, gamepad, etc.). We're on the honor system here for reporting high scores, so if you used cheats, fess up!

Please share with us your thoughts, jokes, frustrations or anything else related to this game that you may discover (i.e. if you discover the game itself was featured or visible in some other form of entertainment like a movie or TV show).

[Hetzen]

Instructions for this game can be found here...
https://archive.org/details/astro-boy-o ... l/mode/2up

[PistolsAtDawn]

I really want to like this game. It's part beat 'em up, Mega Man and Darius. So right out of the gate, I should like it since all three of those game types are favorites of mine - but there's a lack of pacing and power progression that I don't love and I can't get past. For the best experience, I recommend everyone set the GBA core to turbo to avoid the slowdowns present in this title when too much is going on at once.

The sprite work is really good! They're large and detailed, which on the one hand is nice to look at. On the other hand, it takes up more screen real estate than most games. Because of this some of the boss fights have a decided lack of freedom of movement, making dodging a chore. And since dying once has such a high penalty, this is not the most welcome design decision.

Even if I skip every cut scene in this game by spamming the Start button being forced to do it again every time I die and have to continue is obnoxious. These cut scenes are so numerous in my opinion that they interrupt the flow of the pretty decent gameplay, and I'm not a good enough player that I can maintain focus because of this.

I cheated my way past the third or fourth level, I forget which. Even with every attribute maxed out, I don't think the game feels enough like you're actually more powerful as you go. I think this keeps the action slow, and then the bosses just absorb damage like sponges.

And this is leaving aside the story which was a bit kid-focused, I believe. No, this game is just simply not for me. It's a pretty good game for a handheld though.