Omen of Sorrow is a 2-D fighting game featuring 3-D characters and backdrops.  The fighters are mostly based on horror tropes from literature, myths, and legends.  Some of the characters include a mummy, a Frankenstein’s monster type guy, a demon lady with wings, a werewolf, Quasimodo from Hunchback of Notre Dame, and a Jekyll and Hyde guy.  My favorite is an angel lady.  The game is available on most current consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

Play control is pretty standard for your 2-D fighter. You have buttons for light and strong punches and kicks, as well as a grab and throw button.  Use these buttons with joystick combinations to pull off all sorts of moves.  There are various modes of play for single and multiplayer.  There’s an arcade mode where you go through a selection of fighters and the boss.  Two players can have a match in Versus.  Story mode has voice clips and cutscenes with some fights for you strewn in between.  And Survival has you tackle as many opponents in a row before you fall.  You can also practice moves, go online, view records, toggle options, and unlock items in the gallery.  I have no idea how you unlock things, though, and even though you can set the difficulty and matches in options, it didn’t seem to carry over in all the modes.

The game is serviceable, but it seems to have an amateurish quality about it and has a few problems.  While you can set the game to very easy and it certainly is in Arcade mode when you do that, the last boss is incredibly cheap.  Background locations include graveyards, mad science labs, and more, but still feel generic and drab, as do most of the characters.  The music and sound seems to drown out the voices, but that may be OK since the acting is terrible. The game is fine for what it is, but it certainly won’t replace the likes of King of Fighters, Street Fighter, and especially not DarkStalkers.

Kid Factor:

Omen of Sorrow is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Blood, Suggestive Themes, and Violence.  It’s a fighting game, so of course there is violence.  I didn’t see much blood come out of characters when fighting, but one of them is a lady with a blood stained dress and her arms and legs have blood on them, too.  Some of the female characters wear skimpy outfits.  Because of all this, I’d say this one is best for older players only.

Tags: Game Reviews