Kromaia Ω Review (PS4)

Kromaia Ω is a chaotic, fast-paced, no-nonsense arcade shoot-'em-up that simply gives you a spacecraft, a playground full of things to make dead, and sets you on your way. There is a story behind all the action, but it's unobtrusive and doesn't appear to add much to the game - you can quite happily ignore it and continue shooting everything that moves.

The main game is divided into four levels, which you must initially complete in order and with the corresponding ship - or Armor, as the game calls them. Four levels may at first seem light, but once you begin playing, you'll see that each of them is a gigantic semi-sandbox, with plenty of space to fly around along with secret areas and hidden treasures to find in each. Your main objective is to collect 20 parts that unlock a jump gate back to the hub area between levels, but before you can complete the level, you must first defeat an enormous boss. These battles can be tough, but are often the most fun that you'll have in Kromaia Ω.

That's not to say that the smaller enemies don't put up a fight - they do - and depending on how you play, they'll adapt to keep the pressure on as you try to find the jump gate parts. Enemies increase in number as you collect the parts, and as you near the twentieth, their numbers sky rocket, resulting in a frenetic, almost overwhelming experience. The visual style only adds to the chaos, with simple colours and a ton of objects on-screen at any given time. Luckily, your ship is very nimble and, once you get the hang of it, is very fun to fly.

You only have access to one weapon at a time, the first being a typical machine gun, with a powerful shotgun-like secondary fire. With each new area comes a new Armor, giving you access to new toys of destruction such as homing missiles, lasers, and a powerful melee attack. They each change up the pace and force you to approach enemies differently; the laser requires precise aiming, but the melee weapon of course demands that you get right up in the enemy's grill.

Once you've completed the four levels with their attributed Armor, the game tasks you with finishing them all again with each Armor type. This seems like a cheeky way to increase the game's longevity, but because the levels are so big, you'll likely discover something new on repeated plays, and you could always play co-op with a friend to help make things more interesting. This sees one player control the flight and the other control the weaponry, and it's a fun alternative to playing solo.

Elsewhere, the game also features pure mode, in which you must complete the game without dying, and score attack mode, which simply tasks you with destroying everything for as long as you can. These side modes help inject a little variety into the game, and there will certainly be a number of people vying for the top spot on the leaderboards.