This year has been stacked with fantastic games, but it has been lacking a bit on the multiplayer side of things. Most of current multiplayers game have been the same staples such as Dead by Daylight, Call of Duty, and Overwatch 2. Omega Strikers is here to mix things up with a unique multiplayer experience that has a blend of air hockey and MOBA gameplay.

Omega Strikers is the first game from Odyssey Interactive, a studio made up mainly of ex-Riot developers looking to make something a bit different and refreshing with their previous experiences. It’s a free-to-play live service game with a heavy emphasis on competitive matches.

Omega Strikers has a simple but intriguing premise that sets in a futuristic world, where Strikers from different worlds with backgrounds are summoned into a tournament to test their abilities and push their skills to the limit in order to become the Omega Striker. Lores and stories are attached to these characters alongside established rivalries and characteristics that stick with you and can resonate with some players as they score goals and team up with their rivals.

Omega Strikers is a 3v3 action sports game with an array of different Strikers each with their own set of abilities. You and your team are fighting with the other team over control of the puck to get it into the other teams goal. Before loading into a game, you must pick from three roles: goalie, forward, and flex. Flex is ideally for those just want to get into a game quickly or don’t know which role fits you yet that will usually make you a goalie. Your job as a goalie is, self-explanatory, to protect the goal. Your job as a forward is to attack the puck and try your best to score a goal. During the mayhem, you’ll notice health bars above everyone’s heads, if your health bar empties you will become staggered. If you’re staggered and somebody hits you towards the edge of the map or into your own goal you will be eliminated and have to wait to respawn and in that time your team may struggle as they are down a player.

At the beginning of each game, everyone picks their Striker in a draft style so there won’t be repeat players on the team. It’s best to learn at least three different Strikers mainly to make it easier on you when your “main” is taken from you. But if you don’t have the patience or time to sit down and learn different players that way its not a big deal, most of the players have pretty similar abilities that work in different ways. You have four different attacks and an ability that comes in the form of a dodge or a resiliance boost. Each Striker comes with their default attack that they use to hit the puck, generally a melee attack with short range. Most come with a long range attack that you will use to attack other players or stop the puck. A movement attack like a teleport to the puck or a player, or maybe a long range jump and slam or a long kick to move you quickly. Most also come with an AoE attack as well that can be used to stop and redirect the puck.

Omega Strikers has an ever-growing roster of unique and powerful Strikers. Each Striker has a unique design that falls right in line with most MOBA style games. While the artwork to this game may seem a bit cartoony to some, but it fits right in with the style of the game and the character designs. You have Strikers that range from a slime-girl to a big hamster to an AI.

While Omega Strikers  does offer a variety of Strikers to pick from, that also plays a part in the game being repetitive. In a way, some of the abilities do start to feel repetitive to an extent. It’s not a huge issue since it does make sense that they all have similar abilities due to the overall design and structure of the game. But they could have made this adjustment by simply making some characters better goalies instead of forwards.

The UI is a bit bland compared to the vivid nature of the rest of the game. It makes things easily understandable but also highlights the current limitations of Omega Striker’s single game mode. It’d be a nice addition to have an alternative game mode beside the the rigid format of the first-to-five games in order to keep players engaged after many losses.

Overall, Omega Strikers  is a fun experience for fans of the sports and MOBA genres, combining concepts from both to produce what feels like the funky offspring of League of Legends and Mario Strikers. While the game doesn’t have much else besides its standard versus modes, it’s an incredible game that’s very easy to get into and tough to master. The game’s structure could use some work balancing here and there, but other than that, it’s a great time to play for most players.

Score: 8 of 10

Review on PC