DeVuego

After starting out thinking I'd be playing a traditional SHMUP, I came out feeling like I had played Star Fox with an extra dimension, been challenged by bosses reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus, given fresh challenges to old levels like Super Mario 64, all while feeling like I should be pumping quarters into a classic arcade machine. Fans of space shooters definitely need to check this one out. It will be out on PS4 physically on Thursday, and can currently be found on PS4's digital store for $29.99. PC gamers can garner the original Kromaia through Steam for $19.99.

In all, Kromaia Ω is a diamond in the current outpouring of PSN titles that shouldn’t be overlooked based on its price tag. There are a couple of other game modes included in this new package, but the main campaign will take around eight enjoyable hours to complete. I didn’t even mention the unlockable grapple hook, a feature that opens up new levels of piloting expertise.

Nevertheless, Kromaia Omega’s technical shortcomings are kinks that can be ironed out. That I’m lavishing a game that physically ails me with so much praise is a testament to its glorious, grand vision. If other companies are bold enough to follow in Kraken Empire’s footsteps with similarly intricate shooters, this game could be the launch pad for a whole new subgenre and that’s exciting stuff indeed.

I haven't played a game as impressive as Kromaia Omega in a long time. As a fan of 3D shooters like Omega Boost, I must say that the developers (Kraken Empire) did a fantastic job of making the genre exciting again.

Kromaia Omega is a visually intoxicating space shoot-em-up that absolutely nails the core mechanics. It could use a few more stages and another boss or two, but I cannot say enough good things about the action-packed combat. Kraken Empire has created a game that perfectly captures the arcade fun of Star Fox, while adding the amount of depth you would want from a modern game. Best of all, it finally washes away the horrible taste of Voxel Blast.

A la hora de hablar del estilo gráfico de Kromaia Omega lo cierto es que tiene algo muy enigmático en su aspecto, tiene un combinación de un estilo abstracto con un correcto uso de los colores y las formas. En resumen, podemos decir que Kromaia Omega es uno de los juegos indies que te puedo recomendar para tu Playstation 4. No es muy extensa su jugabilidad, pero sí es desafiante y tiene varios modos de juegos que te permitirán seguir mejorando en el manejo de la nave y como eliminar a las naves enemigas rápido.

Kromaia es una juego simple y a la vez elegante. Expresa perfectamente una mezcla entre un shooter y un juego de naves añadiendo un toque de aventuras. La maniobrabilidad es genial, puedes pilotar como te de la gana o como sepas y es capaz de realizar todos los movimientos que quieres que haga como si fuese una quimera de diferentes vehículos sin ser para nada un monstruo.

Even with what I perceive to be shortcomings, I have to recognize that KO isn’t trying to emulate every other Shoot ‘em up. It wishes, with its in-your-freakin’-face shootouts, to pay tribute to the genre and, with its refined directional freedom and adaptive difficulty, contribute its ideas to an established gameplay philosophy. And it’s mostly a success, certainly when it comes to blowing rivals into space particles. Really, if you are a fan of any form of Shoot ‘em up, Kromaia Omega might have the mission that sends you gleefully into bullet hell. 

Kromaia Ω is a great and surprisingly casual-friendly shoot ’em up. Hidden collectibles and a few small puzzles add a bit of variety to replaying the levels, though after two or three runthroughs they’re going to start getting repetitive. On the other hand, replaying bosses using the four diverse armors is great and makes you think about your different attack strategies. The game is hamstrung by it’s overall design though, and more unique levels and content would have been preferable to replaying the same four levels over and over with increasing difficulty.

Kromaia Ω termina siendo un genial port de PC a PS4 manteniendo el espíritu del juego, su jugabilidad y todas sus señas de identidad así como añadiendo funciones nuevas. Ver que un juego independiente tiene un trofeo de Platino, que no está regalado en absoluto, te hace darte cuenta del nivel que han conseguido con el juego. Es un imprescindible de PS4 que está pensado para jugar a ratos de 20 o 30 minutos al igual que su hermano de PC, pero si sóis de hacerlo del tirón tenéis el modo PURE para pulir vuestras habilidades y demostrar que podéis hacerlo del tirón de verdad. Aunque más caro que la versión del PC, Kromaia Ω sigue teniendo una genial relación calidad/precio por lo que sigue siendo una apuesta segura a la hora de divertirse.

As expected from a shoot ’em up, the game is short… but it’s also frantic, fun and colorful. The tutorial is a bit slow and the loading times are also a bit slow but other than that this is a good game with plenty of replayability and a good game for the speedrunning community.

romaia is an interesting take on space games, combining the constant flow of action found in an on-rails shooter while providing the freedom of movement and exploration found in titles like Descent. The action is solid and its moody atmosphere intrigued me into learning more about this world. Unfortunately, the repetitive and often frustrating nature of the games it pays homage to quickly sets in, preventing players from properly exploring its artistically beautiful locations. For this reason, Kromaia is at its best when played in short bursts.

Kromaia Ω to bardzo dobra pozycja dla starszych fanów gatunku, a jej niewygórowane, ale dające sporą dozę satysfakcji poziomy trudności plasują tę produkcję wysoko w moim rankingu gier niezależnych. Niedzielni gracze również z łatwością się tu odnajdą i początkowo będą czerpać sporo radości. Niestety cena 99 złotych za około sześć godzin ciekawej rozgrywki skutecznie odstrasza.

The game isn’t graphically advanced, by any means. It’s mostly blocks and angles in a Tron-esque color palette. The environment has a Matrix-like tint depending on which environment you’re in (orange, blue, red, green, grey), and that can make it difficult at times to see enemies or objects.

Kromaia Omega es un buen shooter que quizá peca de monótono, aunque su gran control es de los que atrapan.

Under the bright lights lurks a deep and unique experience that needs to be sampled. Along with an ear tingling soundtrack of atmospheric trance/techno and some eerie voices whispering in your headset, this is a decent shooter worthy to be added to your collection. Fast, fair and with epic boss battles, Kromaia is definitely worth your time.

Una extraordinaria combinación de géneros que sirve para reinventar y mezclar de manera asombrosa estilos tan dispares como los Shoot'em Up, los juegos de acción de naves espaciales y los simuladores espaciales. Todo ello con una estética realmente minimalista y que nos recuerda a las películas de Tron. Y además de manos de un estudio español, que añade el toque clásico de los videojuegos españoles con una dificultad endiabladamente deliciosa.

Kromaia Ω is a frantic and fun 3D shoot-'em-up, with a focus on arcade action and presented in a vibrant, though sometimes hard to read, aesthetic. With only four levels in which to unleash bullet hell, the game can get repetitive fairly quickly, but each area is massive, with secrets and puzzles sprinkled in to help keep things interesting. A unique, enjoyable game that could have done with just a dash more substance to go with all that style.

Es más largo de la cuenta y de una manera algo artificial, como si tuviera vergüenza de esa referencia al shmup clásico o como si quisiera por todos los medios matar al padre, cuando le habría ido mucho mejor dejar con hambre en lugar de empachar repitiendo plato varios veces. Puede llegar a echar para atrás, pero Kromaia es una de las aproximaciones al juego de naves (un género en el que por lo general lo mejor es ser lo más conservador posible) más interesantes del año.

Kromaia intenta ser original usando ideas ya vistas. La fórmula resulta divertida al principio pero pronto se vuelve algo monótona. Hay aspectos, como el diseño de niveles o el sonido, que con un poco de “maquillaje” hubieran dado lugar a un título muy superior al que finalmente ha salido a la venta. De todos modos, debería ser un juego de compra obligada para los amantes de los shoot 'em up en un concepto más clásico, aunque con toques modernos y una jugabilidad muy sólida que, sin duda, es lo más destacado del juego.

Relación de amor y odio con Kromaia. Refleja bien el tipo de tensión bajo una lluvia de disparos y cuando todo fluye como debería –especialmente con los jefes-, es el prometido espectáculo pirotécnico de exploración tridimensional que recuerda –y es un halago- a lanzamientos de disparos espaciales de los años 90, incluso el aspecto ligeramente retro ayuda a esa impresión. A pesar de sus imperfecciones, como esa falta de contenido encubierta, los aficionados al género van a apreciar su propuesta, eso sí, a un precio que consideramos ligeramente alto para el contenido que ofrece, 17,99 euros.

Kromaia is by no means a perfect game, but the action at its heart has an excellent flow.  The camera hates being near walls, I never found any practical use for the hookshot, one of the checkpoints is right under a swinging pendulum that will instantly knock off a shield if you don’t boost out of the way the second you respawn, and the penalty for grazing something (asteroid, enemy, random wall) is to get turned around in a random disorienting direction, but when everything is working, the combat runs hot.  A swarm of spinning stars hovers in the distance, waiting for an opening to charge while off to the side an enemy platform made of interconnected cubes you can shoot off one by one charges up a laser barrage and a pair of light-spear launchers are charging up to turn into a serious threat.  Using the concentrated laser power of the red ship takes out the central joint in the cube-platform, scattering its pieces in a single sustained shot, and then boost takes you out of the line of fire of the spears and charging stars.  Friendly fire is always on, so one of the stars explodes against a spear, and a few precise shots of the regular laser thins the rest of the star herd while the spear-shooters recharge.  By then your secondary charge laser is ready to shoot again to take them both down, but more enemies are flying in to replace the ones you’ve dispatched.  In the meantime there’s another gate fragment in the distance and an interesting structure off to the side that might house a much-needed shield.  It’s been under ten seconds since this encounter started, and the next ten don’t look to be any simpler.  Kromaia is a giant hyper-saturated burst of color, speed and heavy firepower, as stylish as it can be difficult, and it’s impossible not to forgive a few questionable design elements when the enemies are swarming and the action takes off.

Non ci troviamo di fronte ad un capolavoro, non arriva ai livelli qualitativi di Child Of Eden, ma Kromaia Omega è un’esperienza diversa, unica in un genere che può annoverare pochissimi esponenti e più adatta ad un pubblico sempre pronto a mettersi alla prova e che, in un mondo videoludico dove si presta fin troppa attenzione a dettagli inutili, preferisce ancora il gameplay nudo e crudo. Dato anche il prezzo budget delle versioni digitale e fisica Kromaia Omega merita sicuramente più di un’occhiata, se avete voglia di un gioco diverso e di un viaggio allucinante e allucinogeno Kraken Empire ha sicuramente quello che fa per voi.

Being a big fan of the old arcade games, Kromaia Ω is absolutely great. The last stage is beautiful and the music is totally cool! The boss fight is very fun, you have the whole space as your “battleground” giving you a lot of freedom to dodge and fight. The weapons give you different approaches to the enemies (the Light Sword is just amazing). My only dislike about Kromaia Ω is that sometimes there is too much stuff on your screen -the game should give you more control of what’s going on, but overall the game is very good and deserves a go, I’m sure you are going to have a good time!

Kromaia Omega is by no means a perfect game, but the action at its heart has an excellent flow. I never found any practical use for the hookshot and backtracking to explore the level sometimes leaves you with nobody to shoot, but the combat runs hot when everything is working. A swarm of spinning stars hovers in the distance, waiting for an opening to charge while off to the side an enemy platform made of interconnected cubes you can shoot off one by one charges up a laser barrage and a pair of light-spear launchers are charging up to turn into a serious threat. Using the concentrated laser power of the red ship takes out the central joint in the cube-platform, scattering its pieces in a single sustained shot, and then boost takes you out of the line of fire of the spears and charging stars. Friendly fire is always on, so one of the stars explodes against a spear, and a few precise shots of the regular laser thins the rest of the star herd while the spear-shooters recharge. By then your secondary charge laser is ready to shoot again to take them both down, but more enemies are flying in to replace the ones you’ve dispatched. In the meantime, there’s another gate fragment in the distance and an interesting structure off to the side that might house a much-needed shield. It’s been under ten seconds since this encounter started and the next ten don’t look to be any simpler. Kromaia Omega is a giant hyper-saturated burst of color, speed and heavy firepower, as stylish as it can be difficult, and it’s impossible not to forgive a few questionable design elements when the enemies are swarming and the action takes off.

Kromaia is a case of a great concept, with a few design choices that limit the experience. On the one hand, the visual design and audio are superb and create a unique experience. The movement system allows a different, refreshing approach to combat than most other space combat games, and the fast paced gameplay is fun once you change the camera to be able to shoot accurately. However, the chaos ever present on the screen often leads to cheap deaths. The floaty feeling of the controls lead to some difficulty navigating tight spaces, and the impact system left me disorientated after only small bumps. If none of that bothers you, the only thing impacting your decision will be the repetitive nature of the game, requiring you to play the same four stages four times, just with different ships and colour palettes. It is a fun experience, but the negatives begin to take hold quite quickly.

No será el juego del año, y su género tampoco pasa por sus mejores momentos, pero si hay algo que Kromaia Omega es que nos ofrecerá muchas horas de diversión, escenarios en tres dimensiones, muchos enemigos, varios modos de juego y lo que es más importante en este tipo de juegos, mucha acción. Todos los ingredientes para hacer un juego la mar de divertido y frenético a un precio más que ajustado.

While Kromaia Omega can't quite live up to the classic space shooters of old, nor the crazy visual splendor of offerings like Child of Eden and Rez, it's certainly not a bad experience. There's just a lot you have to get used to here, like the navigation system and the somewhat lacking audio. Once you do, though, you'll find yourself happily taking flight for a few hours, alone or with a friend. I just wish it had a little more content to complete the room, man (and, yes, Big Lebowski reference, felt like it).

Kromaia Omega es un shooter espacial moderno, divertido y con un aspecto visual que roza lo artístico, un juego que va a gustar a los simpatizantes de los juegos de naves más clásicos (de hecho, parece más un juego de la vieja escuela que uno nuevo), pero dispuestos a hacer concesiones. Su mayor lacra es la brevedad de que hace gala, unida a la falta de cualquier modo online, o simplemente de una mayor variedad. Si os apetece algo distinto, a por él.

Kromaia Ω es una apuesta española interesante, y no porque sea de nuestro país. No va a ser un juego referencia, y eso que el género al que pertenece está prácticamente muerto, pero al menos cumple con lo que podemos exigirlo. Unas horas de diversión y que con más experiencia y recursos, podría haber sido mejor, pero como ni es el caso y tenemos que valorar las cosas, decimo al menos que la gente de Kraken Empire ha salido hacer bien las cosas, ya que divierte.

All in all, Kromaia Omega certainly isn’t a bad game, but it’s far from being great. Its unique audio-visual design is perhaps its greatest asset, but unfortunately the gameplay doesn’t always sit well with it, creating an experience that is at times unsatisfying. It also doesn’t help that some of its gameplay systems such as the grapple and the ability to strafe up and down are either useless or unintuitive. Despite these issues, there’s still some fun to be had here by shooter fans willing to put the effort in, and those that do so will be rewarded with their senses being titillated by Kromaia Omega’s charms.

En resumen, Kromaia no es un mal juego. Resulta un tanto monótono, pero si eres un amante de los shoot ‘em up lo disfrutarás. No aporta nada nuevo al género, pero es cierto que tampoco hay nada por inventar, pese a eso, es un juego bastante decente que divertirá a los amantes del género. El aspecto sonoro flaquea un poco, y la banda sonora cumple sin más, pero hay veces que los temas musicales suenan a destiempo. Esto provoca que se rompa la inmersión en algunos momentos puntuales de la partida. No son fallos graves, pero sí que provocan que la experiencia de juego se vea afectada. Así que si te gusta eso de matar marcianos, y tienes opción de catar este juego, seguramente te gustará.

Kromaia Ω è uno sparatutto abbastanza divertente e dotato di una discreta realizzazione tecnica. Nessuna delle componenti del titolo sviluppato da Kraken Empire raggiunge livelli d’eccellenza, ma il risultato finale riesce comunque ad essere apprezzabile. Non ci troviamo certo di fronte a un caposaldo del genere, ma a uno shooter 3D che ha comunque tutte le caratteristiche necessarie per essere apprezzato dagli appassionati del genere.

Kromaia wants to be more than what it is, but it tries too hard with too many active parts all at once. Falling flat while at the same time continually exploding images on screen to achieve a more frenzied momentum feels desperate.

La poca variedad de zonas, naves, la insustancial historia y sobre todo las tres horas de repetición que el juego te obliga a pasar para avanzar en su aventura, son los puntos más negativos que empañan un videojuego que podría haber dado mucho más de sí con su peculiar estilo visual, su total libertad y sus épicos enfrentamientos contra los jefes de zona.

Kromaia Ω offer brief moments of fun when you're flying in your ship making things blow up, but it has almost nothing else to offer once that gets old.