Omega Blade

Omega Blade is a hardcore virtual reality shooting and combat game built around challenges that test your skills. You shoot, slash and dodge flying droids and bipedal robots across close-, mid- and long-range combat, using your own physical movements and combat style to survive and compete for a place in the Omega Blade hall of fame.

Challenges and scores

Rather than relying on a single endless wave, Omega Blade offers a large number of challenges with different combinations of weapons, enemies, lives, stages and goals. Each challenge has a leaderboard, and each time you play, the system selects a rival score for you to beat.

Enemies attack and defend in different ways. Destroying them in succession builds combo points, but the counter resets if you do not defeat another enemy soon. Shooting specific weak points can earn a coreshot bonus; many enemies have parts you can destroy individually or in groups for extra points before taking them down.

Some modes focus on reflecting bullets with blades. Other modes ask you to reflect positive or negative energy bullets with the matching weapon, or destroy targets using only the correct energy type. Neutral yellow-energy enemies can be destroyed with any weapon, while green alpha- and red beta-energy enemies require a weapon with the matching energy. Hitting a positive or negative surface with the wrong blade causes it to disintegrate, though it regenerates on your body.

Weapons and combat

You grab weapons from positions on your body, shown in the challenges menu. During play, move a hand to the weapon’s position; on-screen icons indicate which weapon each hand is over. Shoulder items are easy to grab by placing a hand in front of your face. The weapons appearing in current challenges are:

• Alpha Revolver
• Beta Blade
• Machinegun
• Shuriken
• Sniper Rifle
• Dual Blade
• Shield Grenade

Long weapons such as the machinegun, shotgun, sniper rifle and spear require a two-handed grip. Some, including the machinegun, lose accuracy when used one-handed; others, such as the spear, cannot extend their energy blades. You can throw weapons, which explode after a few seconds and return to your body. Grenades return when thrown only if you have not activated them with the index trigger. You can also throw and catch weapons before they self-destruct, for example to change a blade grip quickly or pass a revolver between hands.

For swords and knives, pointing your thumb down gives you a standard grip, while pointing it up gives you an inverted grip. Single-handed weapons can change your hand pose depending on your thumb and index-finger positions, with some poses useful for particular weapons. To adjust the Sniper Rifle’s zoom, grab the yellow dot in its scope and change the length of the virtual line between the scope and your hand. The scope sits farther from your eye so you can brace your arms against your body for better accuracy.

Stages and equipment

Some stages keep the action in front of you; stages marked 360º can send enemies from any direction. If you cannot find an enemy, press the right controller’s A button to show a 3D map above your hand, and press it again to dismiss the map.

Shotgun, Shield Disk, Turtle Generator, Spear, Bow and Hand addon Delayed Segments are listed for a later challenges update.