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The man who fell to mirth
David Bowie makes light of van Gogh's ear, Ziggy's future and sowing "creative wild oats" in a chat about Omikron.
By Janelle Brown
[11/24/99]

Swords, spells and Academy Awards?
Diablo II vies to be the first role-playing game to be sanctified by Hollywood.
By Jamais Cascio
[11/23/99]

Technology: View from the top
Tuned in to TV
Wink CEO and confessed TVaholic Maggie Wilderotter is not interested in interactive TV that pushes couch potatoes onto the Web.
By Janelle Brown
[11/22/99]

21st Challenge
21st Challenge No. 28 Results
Forward, march! Join the dance of the eternally circulating e-mail.
By Charlie Varon and Jim Rosenau
[11/20/99]

Word gamers
For some fans of text-based role playing, virtual reality is all in the mind.
By Etelka Lehoczky
[11/19/99]

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A soul-sucking parallel world
Will you free the residents of Omikron's totalitarian regime or lose your self in the beauty of this game's futuristic city?

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By Janelle Brown

Nov. 24, 1999 | The residents of Omikron have truly been given the short end of the stick. Not only are they living under a glass dome on an otherwise frozen planet, but they are victims of a totalitarian government that carefully moderates and whitewashes everything from the media to the weather to when they can get pregnant. To make matters worse, the totalitarian government is, in turn, controlled by an omniscient supercomputer named Ix that makes all its decisions based on statistics. And to top it all off, that computer is merely the tool of a very nasty soul-sucking demon, called Astaroth.

Of course, since this is a video game, it's your duty to free the residents of Omikron from these multilayered oppressions and bring freedom and individuality back to these embattled people. Just don't let your soul get sucked, or you'll never return.

Welcome to Omikron: The Nomad Soul, perhaps the most ambitious, absorbing and utterly complicated adventure game to hit a PC. Developed by the French video game company Quantic Dream, and produced with the help of Eidos Interactive and David Bowie, Omikron: The Nomad Soul is one part sci-fi wonderland and one part action-adventure challenge, with a healthy dose of postmodern commentary to boot.

Also Today The man who fell to mirth David Bowie makes light of Van Gogh's ear, Ziggy's future and sowing "creative wild oats" in a chat about Omikron. By Janelle Brown

As the game opens, a man who calls himself Kay'l stumbles onto your screen and begs you to help save his world, by transferring your soul into his body and heading back to the world of Omikron. If you accept (which is your only option, of course), you are dumped -- dazed and confused -- into a back alley in Omikron. Your task is to figure out where you are, why you are there and who Kay'l was, while fighting off a few hundred demons, thieves and robots along the way.

Initially, you are given few clues to these mysteries, other than a hint that you should visit Kay'l's apartment. The rest you'll figure out along the way, as each place you visit points you toward your next interaction. In Kayl's apartment, for example, you'll find the Koopie lizard, which brings you a hidden key if you feed it Koopie food; the key you'll later use to unlock a box, which will give you a message telling you where to look next. Or you'll visit the Security Administration, where Kay'l works as a policeman, and talk to your fellow co-workers about the cases Kay'l was working on before he left. Fliers you find on tables in the bars will lead you to concerts, competitions and yet more clues to the unfolding mysteries of Omikron.

If you aren't quick on the uptake, you could easily spend hours upon hours wandering aimlessly without a clue. There were moments when I definitely wished for a good cheat sheet. Fortunately, you can buy advice, if you've been wise enough to save up on magic rings -- although the advice offered is often as vague as the clues. (I was lucky enough to have a direct line to one of the game's designers, a rather sneaky but useful way to solve some of the game's trickier puzzles.) It's not a game for the easily frustrated, although it's easier than, say, Myst.

Next page | The two faces of David Bowie