Beamer Sep 18 2004, 08:14 AM Game: South Park: Omega Project Creator: Stanster & Think Tank Genre: Action Platformer Description: An Evil Wendy (who just so happens to be the ruler of a parralel universe) has kidnapped Stan, and sent members of the Omega cult out to search for the Wendy of our universe. By destroying Wendy, Evil Wendy can then "hook up" with Stan and become all powerful. However, our Wendy is on a quest of her own to find the portal for the parralel universe, bring down her evil counterpart and rescue her boyfriend. It's all just a matter of who will reach who first. Rating: 77% Review: Obviously set BEFORE Raisins, Stanster and Think Tank's "South Park: Omega Project" is a dark and somewhat strange action platformer, with a fairly interesting storyline. Playing as Wendy, it's your job to locate the portal to the parralel universe, all while making your way through some very stylish levels, shooting down members of the Omega cult, and battling it out with the occassional boss, who is usually an evil counterpart of one of the characters from the show. Gameplay-wise, this game's engine seems a lot like a modified engine of Commander Stan 2, only much more fast-paced. The gameplay itself pretty much just consists of making your way through levels, blowing the hell out of everything until you reach the end. For the most part, the gameplay is hardly endearing, or mentally challenging for that matter, but it's all very fun to play through. There's hardly a moment in the levels where you won't be enjoying this game, no matter how predictable the gameplay can get. The boss fights tend to vary a lot. Some bosses can be rather simple to beat, others require a bit more thought and strategy, and there are some bosses who require a superhuman amount of patience to bring down... still, no 2 bosses play the same, which is definately a good addition to this game. However, towards the end of South Park: Omega Project, you'll often find yourself waiting for the boss to die just so you can move on to the next level, which brings up an interesting point - the structure of this game. The order the levels and bosses go in seems very strange at times, and there's no real pattern or structure to it. You play through several stages, fight a boss. You play through a few more stages, you have 2 boss fights in a row, then one more level and then the final boss. As refreshing as it is to see a game that's not confined to simple level and boss patterns, you can't help but feel a little unfufilled when you realise you've reached the end of this game. It just seems like something was missing here. Another annoyance were the passwords - once you've reached Evil Bebe, there are no more passwords in the game, which means that if you die later on, you'll have to play through several levels again just to get to where you were. I'm not sure whether this was intentional, or if it was just the result of rushing. Yes, sadly, signs of rushing can be seen in this game - in fact, you can tell that the full version has been edited from an earlier demo, as there is some text in the Password entry screen that reads "This feature has been disabled in the demo version". Very unprofessional on the creator's behalf... Graphically, this is where South Park: Omega Project really shines. The character graphics are simply lucious - they're very professional and resemble the look of the show, and are animated well too. Even the simple repeated backgrounds look good, too. They manage to be detailed and interesting, yet still maintain the simplicity of South Park's usual style. Whoever is responsible for these amazing graphics should be applauded, without a doubt - the graphics alone make the download worth it. Sound-wise, South Park: Omega Project doesn't contain many surprises. A stabbing sound plays when you stab, a shooting sound plays when you shoot. However, the background music is wonderful. All of it is original music composed by Stanster, and every individual midi in South Park: Omega Project has its own special style that really suits the mood of the game. Yet another aspect of this game that really stands out, and definately won't make you want to turn your speakers off... although you might want to turn them down a notch, as some of the music can be quite loud. wink.gif Overall, South Park: Omega Project has both good and bad aspects. The gameplay is relatively simple, with only 2 weapons available and, for the most part, lacking strategy. However, what this game lacks in some aspects, it makes up for with the terrific original musical score and its simply orgasmic graphics. It might have been brought down a bit by some careless rushing, and it probably won't challenge you very much, but for all it's worth - South Park: Omega Project is a game that no South Park Gaming collection should be without. Junkman Dec 13 2004, 02:03 PM Game: South Park: Omega Project Creator: Stanster/Think Tank Games Genre: Platformer Description: Evil Wendy, from the parallel universe, has kidnapped Stan and he possess powers that could help Evil Wendy becoming an incredibly powerful entity. Help the real Wendy whoop Evil Wendy's butt in order to save the world... and Stan. Rating: 83% Review: After having seen the "Raisins" episode in South Park, it simply reminded me about the fact that even though it was released back in 2002, this is a game that I NEVER managed to complete. Seeing that there probably wouldn't be a game like this coming out anymore, I thought I'd finally complete my journey through it once for all. In South Park: Omega Project (which will be referred to as SP:OP in the rest of the review), you play as Wendy, who's trying to save herself as well as Stan from the hands of her evil self who's trying to rule over the world thanks to Stan. In order to stop Evil Wendy, you'll need to venture through many dimensions, killing cultists of many kinds with the help of your gun and knife. You'll also need to fight off the Evil Parallel Universe versions of most of Wendy's friends as well. The game's engine tend to recall Commander Stan 2, although it's nowhere near as buggy than it was in CS2. Long gone are the days of you falling through platforms or not jumping at all. Level design is a bit on the simplistic side now though, this game doesn't feature as wacky layouts such as the CS games, but we've got games of an entirely different caliber here though, so I'll stop referring to them now. You've got three different types of cultists to face through the game, and whilst it would have been nice to see more enemy types in the game, each one have enough variance to keep things interesting. You have the lesser cultists, which move around quite swiftly and attack you using a knife, brown-clothed cultists shooting you with their gun, and the dark, heavy servants packing a minigun which can easily decimate you in seconds (or should we say milliseconds, should you play at the hardest skill levels). Yeah, this game has skill levels, but unless you've got a morbid fascination with dying all the time (which I've got, but at least I'd like having an endless supply of lives though smile.gif), you're not gonna go any further than the two easiest skill levels, which still prove to be pretty hard considering how much damage the enemies deal at you. Boss-wise, this game do a fine job. All of the game's bosses difer from the others and help spicing up the gameplay. Awaiting you is Evil Stan, who has this habit of teleporting around and shooting you in the back when you least suspect it, Evil Kyle and his elevator of doom (mostly because he likes dying in it, I think biggrin.gif), Evil Bebe, who is able to stand bullets and blades and make your life a living hell, Evil Tweek and his minigun of doom and finally Evil Wendy herself. Most of the bosses offer a challenging fight, except Evil Tweek who manages to deliver an INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING fight. I've never seen a boss which was that frustrating in any game. The fight itself isn't that hard, but a single slight move is enough to terminate you plus there's a lot of opportunities for this to happen, seeing that Evil Tweek also has an insane amount of health. I've lost half of the lives the game allowed me on the boss battle on it's own. I just remember myself shouting huge amounts of profanity each time I died and whenever I was fighting him, which I won't mention for the sole intent of not offending anyone. smile.gif Graphically, this has got to be the best looking South Park game ever made. The graphics are all crisp and clear, the characters are all nicely drawn and animated and the backdrops look really good. The way the game is drawn out is really professional and pleasant for the eye. The music is also pretty fitting and is pleasant for the ear, most of it being highly appropriate for the game's mood and helps in giving a playful side to the game. Sound effects are the standard fare of gunshots, knife stabbing sounds, grunts and all the appropriate business. All okay. smile.gif SP:OP is a really fine looking game that is pretty fun, but also pretty frustrating as well. The gameplay might be a bit basic and some parts of it could be better, but in the end it still is a pretty solid game. If you've never ever heard of this game yet, you should try it out since it's definitely worth checking.