Review: Omikron The Nomad Soul (SDC)

The concept of The Nomad Soul was ambitious - even more so for a debut release.   Originally designed for the PC, this was another game that managed the transition to the Dreamcast without fully harnessing the machine’s power.  However the scale of The Nomad Soul is still impressive today, with sizeable cities (and locations within) buzzing with traffic and pedestrians. 

In an interesting twist of fate, the main character in this game is you – the video game player.   Through your decision, your soul is sucked into another realm to aid those under threat by demons, in a futuristic society.   Your travels reveal potential new hosts - and as one body dies – your soul jumps into another.  This in itself makes the experience far more entertaining, as by dying at specific points, you can in effect chose your next host, in a virtual reincarnation.  And as it is pointed out to you, the envelope changes but not its contents.  Yet those fighting skills you have developed fade away, leaving you to adapt to your new host on several levels.

You are sucked into this futuristic world to help combat the demons that are slowly taking over society.  The powers that be have become corrupted, or are oblivious to the connections laid out in a stream of gory murders.  Only “The Awakened” offer salvation, and a way for you to hopefully leave the video game and return home.

The Nomad Soul is a game of problems - not only those you most overcome in your investigations - but also issues with the design, control, PC roots and inexperience of the development team.  If you wanted to experience the definitive flawed adventure - then ladies and gentlemen – this is it.

Visually the game is coated in a thick fog, and despite the inviting introduction the character models never match their rendered handshake.   The size of the city areas is impressive, but the level of detail is sadly lacking.  Textures everywhere are extremely rough, and character and vehicle models never vary.  Each building you enter has to be loaded, and having a small hall just inside each does this.  So exploration soon becomes a staple experience of loading between doors; speaking of which, it’s easy to become temporarily stuck between these futuristic sliding doors.

However the main axis of disappointment is the level of control – or lack of frankly.  Despite the Dreamcast controller possessing an analogue stick, movement is controlled via the D-pad.  It’s a take on the Resident Evil method; with “up” on the pad allowing your character to walk, while holding a trigger down, allows them to run.  The cumbersome method is vaguely permissible during the on foot exploration sections; even though the camera tries its best to hamper such sections.  Yet things nosedive when trying to overcome the shooting and jumping sections that bring some variety to proceedings, with dire consequences.  With no special controls for jumping across games – the first person viewpoint – becomes extremely irritating.  Turok confirmed that in reality precision jumping with such a viewpoint just does not work; things become potluck.  And as for the gunplay during the first person experiences, Gamestyle has seen better shooters on the Psone.

Nomad Soul really does have it all, as Quantic Dreams also included hand combat sections, which work because of the default side-on viewpoint.  The standard certainly isn’t decent, but the one-on-one fights to the death are mildly enjoyable, and a great source of revenue.  The local competitions not only provide a revenue stream, but also fighting experience that is vital later on when you are confronted by the demons.

Quite a few issues within one paragraph, which would certainly be reason enough to dissuade anyone from purchasing The Nomad Soul.  There is a distinctive design style, and the world is populated with interesting characters.  On the Dreamcast there isn’t much competition when it comes to sizeable adventures, and Nomad Soul is arguably the largest on the system.  Upon its release the main publicity draw was the inclusion of David Bowie, which was a big signing when the game was being developed.  The music is well placed, and certainly Bowie’s offerings do manage to fit into the realm of Omikron.

Somehow, and by chance, the game overcomes the issues to become a rough diamond, a gem, and an underrated release.   It is, somehow, an enjoyable experience to see where the story goes next, and your role within it.   Proving that it is indeed more than a sum of its parts.   The experience is only for the brave.  Those who can withstand the difficulties and flaws of the design, and still extract some pleasure from onscreen events.  If you can then The Nomad Soul is well worth the quest.

Rating: 7 / 10

Words by Jason Julier