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Osmos
$9.99PC
This title is available for purchase in United States, Canada, Mexico, American Samoa, Antigua and B...More
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IGN Review of Osmos
"Ambient games" might not yet be a prominent videogame genre, but more and more of these tranquilizing experiences are popping up on the indie scene. It's a term Hemisphere Games' Eddy Boxerman uses to describe slower-paced games like flOw, Crayon Physics, and his own Osmos. You won't find any twitchy shooting mechanics, frantic timed events, or macho posturing heavy metal here. Osmos invites you to relax, grow your amoeba-like mote, and enjoy the atmospheric electronica. I am more than happy to accept the invitation, as this is a beautiful, absorbing experience.
Your goal in each stage is to become the big fish in the pond. Any motes smaller than you can be consumed, but anything bigger will consider you a snack. You can swim, but it's a slow and awkward affair, creating much of the game's challenge. The real trick is that in order to propel yourself you must expel matter and sacrifice a little girth. That right there creates terrific conflict for the player. In an instant you can go from being the predator to the prey, and the mote you had your eye on may suddenly be gorging itself on your mass. Although there is no time limit, you are competing against all the other organisms in each stage, and they're all trying to gobble up everything in sight. So there is a bit of a race to eat as much as you can right when a level begins and food is plentiful.
Osmos starts you out at a Biology 101 level, but later stages can definitely get hectic as more aggressive motes are introduced and environmental hazards get in the way of evolution. You have a couple tools in your arsenal that may make things easier. Your mouse wheel will zoom in and out to provide a good lay of the land, and tapping the right mouse button will slow down time (which also produces a cool pitch bend effect in the music).
The primordial ooze that makes up Osmos is brilliant to look at, full of glowing orbs lazily floating amidst the soup. It could be described as minimal, but that just means there isn't anything extraneous here. The soundtrack is full of some of the best videogame music I've heard recently. Osmos credits the artist each time a new track begins, but I (an electronic music enthusiast) didn't recognize the names. Looks like I've got some new artists to research.
©2009-08-20, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Your goal in each stage is to become the big fish in the pond. Any motes smaller than you can be consumed, but anything bigger will consider you a snack. You can swim, but it's a slow and awkward affair, creating much of the game's challenge. The real trick is that in order to propel yourself you must expel matter and sacrifice a little girth. That right there creates terrific conflict for the player. In an instant you can go from being the predator to the prey, and the mote you had your eye on may suddenly be gorging itself on your mass. Although there is no time limit, you are competing against all the other organisms in each stage, and they're all trying to gobble up everything in sight. So there is a bit of a race to eat as much as you can right when a level begins and food is plentiful.
Osmos starts you out at a Biology 101 level, but later stages can definitely get hectic as more aggressive motes are introduced and environmental hazards get in the way of evolution. You have a couple tools in your arsenal that may make things easier. Your mouse wheel will zoom in and out to provide a good lay of the land, and tapping the right mouse button will slow down time (which also produces a cool pitch bend effect in the music).
The primordial ooze that makes up Osmos is brilliant to look at, full of glowing orbs lazily floating amidst the soup. It could be described as minimal, but that just means there isn't anything extraneous here. The soundtrack is full of some of the best videogame music I've heard recently. Osmos credits the artist each time a new track begins, but I (an electronic music enthusiast) didn't recognize the names. Looks like I've got some new artists to research.
©2009-08-20, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved