My first thought of Astro Boy was “this guy is so lame, he’s just a Mega Man knock-off.” After playing this game, I can hardly believe my new impression on him. Despite his kiddy look, the story is quite adult and was obviously not directed towards kids. Astro Boy is apparently one of the first mangas/animes ever. He was created back in the 50s, so he’s been around forever and is quite well known. To explain the story of this game, Astro Boy: Omega Factor, without spoiling anything, it’s basically about the origin of Astro and him trying to create peace between humans and robots. The game play is surprisingly good and especially fun. Unlike Mega Man, which is more of a platform game, Astro Boy is focused more on action and combat. You have your basic punch/combo button. If you press down while pressing the action button, you’ll do a kick. And if you press up and do this, you’ll use a standard finger laser. You have a jump/jet button. Also you have your special attacks. Jump and Action both at once let you do a jet attack, and the shoulder buttons let you do a large laser and your butt machine gun. Your special meter increases very fast, so using your specials is a required part of combat in this game. And since you have so many attacks to use, boss fights are especially fun in this game. The graphics look amazing in this game. The animations are incredibly smooth. The colours are nice and bright. The sprites look detailed and attractive looking. The only complaints about the graphics are that many enemies are just blown up versions of smaller enemies. And instead of having redrawn sprites, they just have blown up sprites that look pixilated. But the graphics are so great, they look good either way. The sound is alright. Music to the stages is pretty good, but a few get very boring and don’t match the stages. A lot of the sound effects are constantly reused and get annoying as well. But over all, most the voices, sound effects, and music goes well with the game and sound good. The games biggest fault is the replay value. While the game play and story are great, the game is very short. But the game invites you to beat it a second time since things change the second time you play it. Not only that, but for every character you meet, you become stronger and can upgrade. So this gives you even more reason to go through the stages again just to find the characters that are related to the story. Overall, Astro Boy: Omega Factor is a very great game. Its combat system gives you so much to do that you can fight with style, and makes the game less repetitive. The great boss fights are very fun to play though. If you are a fan of action or beat’em up games, this is definitely a good recommendation for you. If you’re expecting platforming or adventuring, don’t. This game is all about beating up people, flying around/dodging, and blasting really huge lasers. The story is great and very enjoyable. If all this sounds interesting to you, then you should grab this title.
Other Helpful Reviews for Astro Boy: Tetsuwan Atom - Atom Heart no Himitsu
The Good: Offers a refreshing challenge that isn't insurmountable; great level design that encourages the player to use all of their abilities; seamlessly alternates between the gameplay of a beat-em-up and a shoot-em-up... Read Full Review
Astro Boy was created by Japanese manga artist Osamu Tezuka in 1963, and over forty years later, he's still going strong. Very strong, if the quality of the new Game Boy Advance game Astro Boy: Omega Factor is any indic... Read Full Review
