Omikron: The Nomad Soul is primarily a free-roaming third-person 3D adventure game. Much of the player's activity in the game consists of exploring a large city, which is separated into five districts. The player is generally free to roam the city regardless of the plot development. Certain buildings can be entered and explored. Automatic taxi-like vehicles called "sliders" can be hailed to shorten walking distances and deliver the protagonist straight to the goal. In order to advance the story, information must be gathered by communicating with characters and solving puzzles of various kinds, inventory as well as logic-based. The emphasis of the gameplay, however, is on exploration and interaction rather than on puzzle-solving.
Throughout the course of the game, the player may take on the role of up to 41 different characters through the use of the soul transfer ability. In many situations, a soul transfer is required to solve a puzzle and advance the plot, e.g. accessing a restricted area with a specific character who is able to enter it without arousing suspicion.
Besides the adventure mode, the game also contains first-person shooter and fighting gameplay. These two modes are restricted to specific areas and are for the most part triggered by plot advancement. Once an FPS sequence has been initiated, the player must complete it in order to be able to return to the main adventure mode. Weapons and items for this mode can be found throughout the stages themselves, as well as bought in shops during exploration.
The fighting sequences are also usually dictated by the plot. They take place on side-scrolling screens and consist of traditional exchanges of punches and kicks, with the goal of depleting the opponent's health bar. Each character has different initial fighting statistics. These can be increased by taking the characters to a training facility and practicing to increase their parameters and subsequent combat performance.
This game is amazing. I have beaten it more than 15 years ago and will never forget it. I played it on an old 14" CRT monitor but i feeled like i was "there", in the city, myself. I really don't understand why this game is so under-rated. It is a mist of adventure with FPS and RPG elements, very well implemented. After all, this was the first project of the Quantic Dream team. They always know how to tell a good story on their games.
In my opinion, this game scores 10/10.

[i]Omikron: The Nomad Soul[/i] is primarily a free-roaming third-person 3D adventure game. Much of the player's activity in the game consists of exploring a large city, which is separated into five districts. The player is generally free to roam the city regardless of the plot development. Certain buildings can be entered and explored. Automatic taxi-like vehicles called "sliders" can be hailed to shorten walking distances and deliver the protagonist straight to the goal. In order to advance the story, information must be gathered by communicating with characters and solving puzzles of various kinds, inventory as well as logic-based. The emphasis of the gameplay, however, is on exploration and interaction rather than on puzzle-solving. Throughout the course of the game, the player may take on the role of up to 41 different characters through the use of the soul transfer ability. In many situations, a soul transfer is required to solve a puzzle and advance the plot, e.g. accessing a restricted area with a specific character who is able to enter it without arousing suspicion. Besides the adventure mode, the game also contains first-person shooter and fighting gameplay. These two modes are restricted to specific areas and are for the most part triggered by plot advancement. Once an FPS sequence has been initiated, the player must complete it in order to be able to return to the main adventure mode. Weapons and items for this mode can be found throughout the stages themselves, as well as bought in shops during exploration. The fighting sequences are also usually dictated by the plot. They take place on side-scrolling screens and consist of traditional exchanges of punches and kicks, with the goal of depleting the opponent's health bar. Each character has different initial fighting statistics. These can be increased by taking the characters to a training facility and practicing to increase their parameters and subsequent combat performance. This game is amazing. I have beaten it more than 15 years ago and will never forget it. I played it on an old 14" CRT monitor but i feeled like i was "there", in the city, myself. I really don't understand why this game is so under-rated. It is a mist of adventure with FPS and RPG elements, very well implemented. After all, this was the first project of the [i]Quantic Dream[/i] team. They always know how to tell a good story on their games. In my opinion, this game scores 10/10.