Last week, we were invited to check out Omega Strikers from developer Odyssey Interactive. We were promised that it would be the next big thing in competitive gaming, and right now they’re off to an interesting start. Omega Strikers is a 3v3 competitive game that is a little bit of air hockey mixed with a lot a bit of Windjammers (SNK). Sprinkle in a tad bit of Disc of TRON on top and you have one fascinating and competitive gaming experience.
Let’s get right into this preview.
Disc tossing with some violent tendencies
Omega Strikers features 3v3 action or a smaller version of what I would consider soccer/futbol. You have a goalie and two forwards on your team. Each does their own job or is supposed to do their job, to achieve victory. The forwards work in the field getting the floating disc, that randomly positions itself during each round, into enemy territory as much as possible. Getting a goal and resetting gameplay is the name of the game here with OS, and I’m sure most players will dive into either position before going defensive. If you enjoy offense, then you’ll be at home with those forwards. Having said that, do understand that you must consider strategy when using both. Should one character go after the disc and head towards the enemy’s goal, the other should be sitting back disrupting gameplay or at the very least protecting their side of the field. When you first dive into this game, you’ll see the chaos it can create when there is no non-verbal plan intact. Always have a plan when you go into a 3v3 match in any game.
Outside of the aggressive offensive options, you also have a defensive player as a goalie. In my opinion, and in my limited time with the game, when the above positions go wonky, the goalie has a very complicated job of defending the goal. This is by far the hardest position in the trio. You will find a lot of enemies grouping together and trying to bounce the disc off the wall and when they’re all on your end of the field, it’s nearly impossible to handle. I was thankful and grateful that other players wanted that role, as it was too much responsibility for me. It’s a helluva position. I can see it being a mastered position for some, if not downright prideful.
Positions aside, the gameplay for Omega Strikers is interesting as it is simple. The goal of the gameplay is simply getting your disc in your opponent’s goal before they do it to you. This is where the previously mentioned air hockey comment comes into play. The first team that reaches five goals wins the match. This is the ground floor of gameplay design for OS, and it can get intense at times. Fun as hell, but intense. Depending on how the enemy team strategizes itself in the match, this can either go smoothly or very badly. Rarely was there ever somewhere in between. That’s what happens when a bunch of noobs (myself included) is trying to learn the best way to play a new competitive game. At the beginning of this process, there was a lot of back and forth, and at times it felt like we were all running through mud due to our inexperience. Thankfully, after about 3-6 matches, that feeling goes away and is replaced by best practices from previous experience.
Once you get the ground-level gameplay down, the game sprinkles in some complications to the process. Omega Strikers features an elimination aspect, where you can stun an enemy player, or you can straight up push them off the gaming board to excuse them from the round of play. This is the most hockey I have seen in a soccer/futbol game, and it adds such a new layer of strategy to the competitive process. This is an aspect of gameplay not seen before in Windjammers and the aspect adds an element of complication and complexity to the gaming strategy. The ranked players in this game know how to use this well and recognize the advantage of knocking a competitor off the map. Knocking a player off the level almost guarantees a winning goal in Omega Strikers. Therefore, avoiding that and causing that is truly a priority when you’re going up against the competition. Watch those edges.
To add even more intrigue to the gameplay, the game also features shifting and moving bumpers, like what you would find in pinball. These allow the discs to violently bounce off the walls and make returning the disc inaccurate. It is yet another bit of strategy in the competitive process. To complicate this, even more, each player is given a special move that creates momentum for the disc to fire hard at your opponent’s goal. Just like in Windjammers. The moves reset over a small amount of time, kind of what you’re used to seeing with special moves in any MMO game, and they can be used against other players. If you want to break out the ultraviolence towards players with these moves, then have at it. It’s another way you can go when you’re trying to be successful. Just don’t miss it because those controls can be very fidgety at times.
Other aspects of this game include unlocking new characters, meeting mission goals, and slowly but surely customizing your character to how you want them. There are some bonus pieces to this pie, but the majority of what you want to focus on is above this small paragraph. It’s what you will be dealing with in the gameplay, and it works. All the gameplay works.
I can see this type of gameplay infiltrating the Esports scene sometime soon. Will it replace LoL or Rocket League, not immediately, but its simplicity and competitiveness probably guarantee it a place in the competitive gaming scene for a while. I can see students really enjoying this game, even in its demo form.
A little slow
If I had only one complaint during the demo, it is that the game is just a little bit slow. I think speeding up the characters a tad bit more would make this game so much better, but possibly too fast when it comes to making the matches last. I know that is a balance, but speeding characters up and getting the game going a bit quicker would make it feel a bit more streamlined. Right now, it does feel slow, and I just want to slam some sort of L3 or R3 to speed my character up. It isn’t quite there yet, but I’m confident this small complaint will be considered. Totally confident. Maybe 50% confident. Nah, it will probably be ignored. Anyway, the game is still fun, and it is in closed beta, so it isn’t quite finished yet.
Can’t wait to see a finished version of it.
On that note, let’s get to the conclusion.
Conclusion
Omega Strikers looks to have a long future. This first look was damn impressive. There are other features I can’t talk about right now but will when we review it once it is out of beta. As it stands, it’s an impressive competitive game that combines the best of air hockey, Windjammers, and Disc of TRON, as well as a heavy amount of strategy.
We will be keeping an eye on this game in the coming months.
