That it took so long for PC, Mac and iOS masterpiece Osmos to reach Android devices is a tiny bit of suck which absorbs smaller sucks until it’s the biggest suck of them all. The Ubersuck, if you will, master of all that sucks.
Thank goodness Hemisphere Games got it out on Android this month, or that metaphor would have gone on forever. Which would have sucked.
If you’ve played games on the Mac, PC, iPhone or iPad in the past couple of years then you’ve probably heard of Osmos. It’s a Darwinian puzzle game in which the player propels a single-celled organism called a Mote about space, absorbing smaller Motes gain mass while ejecting mass to propel itself. Motivation takes a lot out of the Mote, so it’s up to the player to navigate treacherous fields of colourful galactic dust, always staying one step bigger than the objects it collides with.
Sometimes enemies will try to absorb you. Sometime forces will repel and attract your Mote, making simple movement much more treacherous. And sometimes your main opponent is yourself, balancing momentum with mass in order to make it through a level as quickly as possible.
Call it a simplified Katamari Damacy. Call it 21st century Pac-Man as Stephen Totilo did back when he reviewed the iOS version of the game. Call it one of the 12 best games for the iPad, like we did earlier this year. I’ve a feeling we’re going to need to update that Android list pretty soon.
With 27 guided levels which can be replayed in arcade mode on several difficulty levels, procedurally generated randomisation, and a wide variety of playfields to navigate, $US4.99 is a ridiculously small price to pay for one of the best games you can play on a mobile device. Osmos is guaranteed to draw you in.
Yeah, I can’t believe I wrote that last line either. Sucks, doesn’t it?
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