Osmos (PC)
Like all good video games, Osmos is a game about calculus. That's right, I'm saying right of that all good games are based on maths text books and that Osmos is a good game. If you are big fan of more artistic subjects or are a fan of reviews where people sum up what they think of something in the last paragraph then at this point you may be feeling a little dissapointed. Tough luck!
When I say that Osmos is about calculus I mean it in the sense that it is all about objects in motion. You control a gloopy ball in a sort of soup of other gloopy balls. You can spit out smaller gloopy balls to propel yourself and sometimes you are drawn to other types of gloopy balls by a sort of gravity effect. You are set goals which normally involve running into smaller gloopy balls to absorb them. Since it is about objects in motion that means that screen grabs of it are about as useful as a chocolate teapot. Please try a demo, if you haven't seen it, and not a youtube video. The graphics, while two dimensional, have a really cool microscopic biological style that looks really good at high resolution with full frame rate animation.
Alongside the graphics the sound design is brilliantly minimalistic. Really good ambient music coupled with just the right level of liquidy sounding sound effects.
But, the gameplay, the effect the player feels when one is partaking of the playing of a game, to translate it from the ancient Greek. The gameplay in this game is something well worth experiencing and sticking with.
After the tutorial levels the difficulty ramps up to make the game really interesting. Some static levels feel like puzzles in that you can see them all laid out and can work your way though. Other levels that have AI opponents have a strategy feel where you must out manoeuvre your opponents. The third set of levels, where everything is in motion and gravity plays a part mainly demand a lot of skill. I don't have that much skill so have not beaten the last level despite trying a few too many times. The general fairness of the game system and ambient soundtrack stop it getting too frustrating but one failure does mean starting a level from scratch. I would appreciate a rewind or quick save feature on the last level just to prove to myself that it is possible.
So, to sum up, this is a great game for fans of maths, ambient music, puzzles, strategy, challenge and graphics. Recommended purchase.
Like all good video games, Osmos is a game about calculus. That's right, I'm saying right of that all good games are based on maths text books and that Osmos is a good game. If you are big fan of more artistic subjects or are a fan of reviews where people sum up what they think of something in the last paragraph then at this point you may be feeling a little dissapointed. Tough luck!
When I say that Osmos is about calculus I mean it in the sense that it is all about objects in motion. You control a gloopy ball in a sort of soup of other gloopy balls. You can spit out smaller gloopy balls to propel yourself and sometimes you are drawn to other types of gloopy balls by a sort of gravity effect. You are set goals which normally involve running into smaller gloopy balls to absorb them. Since it is about objects in motion that means that screen grabs of it are about as useful as a chocolate teapot. Please try a demo, if you haven't seen it, and not a youtube video. The graphics, while two dimensional, have a really cool microscopic biological style that looks really good at high resolution with full frame rate animation.
Alongside the graphics the sound design is brilliantly minimalistic. Really good ambient music coupled with just the right level of liquidy sounding sound effects.
But, the gameplay, the effect the player feels when one is partaking of the playing of a game, to translate it from the ancient Greek. The gameplay in this game is something well worth experiencing and sticking with.
After the tutorial levels the difficulty ramps up to make the game really interesting. Some static levels feel like puzzles in that you can see them all laid out and can work your way though. Other levels that have AI opponents have a strategy feel where you must out manoeuvre your opponents. The third set of levels, where everything is in motion and gravity plays a part mainly demand a lot of skill. I don't have that much skill so have not beaten the last level despite trying a few too many times. The general fairness of the game system and ambient soundtrack stop it getting too frustrating but one failure does mean starting a level from scratch. I would appreciate a rewind or quick save feature on the last level just to prove to myself that it is possible.
So, to sum up, this is a great game for fans of maths, ambient music, puzzles, strategy, challenge and graphics. Recommended purchase.
