Omega Five is a side scrolling shoot em up which features a team of weird and wonderful characters tasked with destroying an onslaught of mechanical enemies across 4 levels. It's colourful, it's fast paced, but is it worth your time and money. It's available now on the XBLA for 800 points.

Gameplay:

In Omega Five you begin by choosing one of two characters (more can be unlocked as you complete the arcade mode) to do battle. There's Ruby, a laser wielding temptress wearing suspenders and an attitude. There is Tempest, a four armed maniac well suited for shooting up galactic unpleasantness. The other characters are just as wacky, but I won't spoil the surprise for you. Your main task is to basically shoot all manner of enemies the game presents, which can range from weird robotic craft that fly in formations, to gun turrets and other monstrosities including a giant worm type creature. Armed with a weapon that shoots in all directions (controlled by using the right thumbstick) you'll find that the majority of enemies are pretty easy to destroy. What's more, by keeping your eyes peeled, you might come across a powerup which enables you to change your weapon type (from a choice of three - colour coded Red, Blue and Green). If you choose the same colour as the weapon you already have equipped then its power increases further (up to level 3).

Things can get rather hairy as the screen becomes awash with weapons fire and an over abundance of cannon fodder, but it's all good fun. Each character has special moves they can perform in the heat of battle, and this is part of where a slight tactical element comes into play. By collecting pink triangles from the defeated, you can build up your super attack which effectively will clear the screen of enemies - useful against bosses or if you are in a tight jam. What is more, if you keep collecting, then you can store up to three of these special attack moves, very handy indeed. Each character also has an evasive move at their disposal and a special homing attack which can be fired independently of the main weapon, but then auto focuses fire on the enemy it attaches itself to. This can be useful for taking down some of the larger opponents; although if you let it hover around you, it does absorb some of the many incoming projectiles that you might miss in the heat of battle.

Graphics:

There are four stages in Omega Five and whilst they don't last that long, they feel just right for a quick burst here and there, and are themed differently from each other. The design of the levels and the characters/enemies is actually of a high standard and is certainly one of the better looking XBLA games as far as I can tell. There's some really neat looking weapons effects which have to be seen to be believed. I encountered some minor moments of slowdown, but generally everything runs pretty smoothly (the slowdown not really affecting the gameplay at all to be a problem).

Sound:

There's an interesting soundtrack and obvious sound effects here, the kind of thing you'd expect from a shooter of this type. Turn up the sound and enjoy the ride, although I must say, there's a high pitched frequency sound effect to the weapons which might begin to make you twitch after a while.

Longevity:

Omega Five can be beaten quite quickly if you have the immediate skills, but I'm sure most gamers are going to have to play a little before they beat the game proper. Luckily, the more you play the easier it gets, as the game awards you with more credits. Whilst the overall game is short, there are additional modes to unlock and of course leaderboards where you can show off your high scores, and in some cases watch replay data of others. There's the option for offline two players but sadly no online support. Omega Five seems like a good game to dip in and out of when you get an urge to kill things without needing to engage too much brain power.

Overall:

Omega Five is a decent shooter, that's not overly hard but not too easy either. It's colourful, full of character, but will probably be overlooked by a lot of gamers who are scared by these old school types of games. Omega Five is the kind of game that if you stick with, will reward you with some sense of accomplishment when you take down a boss or just get better as you replay levels. I'd say compared to some other games on the XBLA, Omega Five is well worth the 800 points price of entry.