Osmos

Developer: Hemisphere Games
Steam Release: Aug 2009
Usual Price: £6.99
Hours Played: 5
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Rating:  1/5 Parsnips



GAMEPLAY
In this unique game, you control an amoebic-like spherical orb that floats in outer-space among many other spherical orbs. Simply collide with other bubble-like orbs to absorb them and add their mass to yours so that you grow bigger. That's Osmos in a nutshell. Every level starts with your glowing bubble in the middle of the screen. With the mouse positioned around the outside of your bubble, you click the left mouse button to jet propel yourself towards smaller cells so as to absorb them and accumulate their mass which is added to your own. Smaller bubbles have a cold, bluey-purple colour whereas larger ones have a burning red and orange glow. An objective is usually to become the biggest or to absorb another pesky bubble that's a bit of a nuisance to capture. 


BALANCE & PACE
You need to be aware, however, that as you jet-propel yourself forwards, you emit and spew out mass yourself. Thrusting along willy-nilly will just reduce your size drastically and goes against your ultimate goals. To counteract this, you'll often have to power yourself in small spurts so as to conserve enough mass and to stay large enough to be a contender. The experience is pleasant enough but some of the earlier levels end far too quickly. You'll often find yourself hitting the objective and being the biggest bubble very soon and want to mop up. Unfortunately as the level has officially ended, this process just seems pointless and irrelevant. Another criticism is that although the early stages offer promise, the game does become very diffcult very soon making the game feel a little unbalanced. 

PRESENTATION & DESIGN
The game has a very light and airy feel which is helped largely by the minimalist and new-age soundtrack. The result is that it can be quite a soothing and therapautic experience. This calming atmosphere is also helped by the game's outer-space quality. However, ambiguously, as the whole view looks like something you might see under a microscope, you could argue that the game takes place in some sort of microcosm where you're looking at cells floating in a liquid where the hostile ones are some sort of bacteria or virus attacking the good guys.


 

PROGRESS SYSTEM
With the game focused around floating in space (or cells floating in bodily fluids) the environment is reflected suitably in the main-screen where your path through the game is mapped out in the form of bubbles that are given coded names not unlike those seen in the periodic table. These bubbles have 2-4 smaller ones attached which become highlighted when completed. Complete these smaller ones before doing the larger "boss-level" bubble they're attached to. Bubbles branch out from the centre creating three routes, each of which feature three subtle differences in gameplay. The difficulty gets progressively harder as you reach the outer bubbles. 

CONCLUSION

Osmos seems to have a lot going for it at first. The minimal, avant-garde music adds plenty to the spacey atmosphere and this, along with the uniquely simple idea of absorbing bubbles, gives the game an intriguing quality with plenty of promise. However, as mentioned, the game does seem to shift from one extreme to the other; namely, being fairly easy and straightforward to start with but maddeningly difficult later on. Consequently, I personally found Osmos to lose its novelty value quickly. As such, for me, although fine for a diversion for an hour or two is not one of those games I'd want to go back to any time soon.