Stepping out of the alley, players are met by the cyberpunk vision of Omikron – a large, open city, complete with apartments and stores you can enter, driveable cars and even taxis – all this months before Shenmue and two years before GTA III.

As players try to take this all in, the opening credits begin to play, the camera travelling around the city, accompanied by David Bowie's eerie singing – a small taste of the excellent soundtrack he and Reeves Gabrels composed for the game.

While this all sounds ambitious enough already, Omikron goes much deeper. At first it plays like a 3D adventure game – you walk around the city, visiting your apartment and other locations in search for clues, trying to understand what's going on.

You'll talk to people, collect several items and solve a few puzzles. Then you'll be called to investigate a robbery in a supermarket, and, as soon as you enter it, the game shifts into a first-person shooter, with several weapon types, medpacks and a mini-map.

As you make your way through the robbers, you finally reach their boss – who disarms you, the game suddenly changing into a Street Fighter-like hand-to-hand fighting game, with combos and everything.

If fighting is too difficult, you can train at home, fight in arenas or buy potions to increase your stats. Moreover, the game's initial “soul transfer” isn't just a silly throwaway. You'll later unlock the ability to freely transfer you soul into the body of over 20 characters across the city, each with their own stats, items (such as their apartment keys) and usefulness.

For example, cyborg mercenary Jorg 722 might be great for combat sections, but only Kay'l can freely walk around the police station. The game also attempts some moral dilemmas: as a soul in the body of Kay'l, is it right for you to have sex with his girlfriend?