Osmos HD, experience Stunning Graphics & Relaxing gaming with this must-have classic!
by Paul Wilks
Mar 12, 2012 12:13 PM –
Install
Osmos HD is a scintillating and beautiful arcade game on Android & iOS. You control a ‘mote’, a stellar particle that you must grow as big as possible. To do so you need to collide with smaller particles and absorb them. Backed by a rich and mesmeric stereo soundtrack, it’s a game that simply has to be experienced…
Price: Free for the demo, currently $0.49 as part of the Google Play Store launch promotion, normally $0.99.
Tested on: HTC Desire HD
Content Rating: Everyone
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Beautiful graphics!
- Gorgeous and engrossing music tracks!
- Challenging and addictive!
- Relaxing gameplay!
Cons
Features:
Osmos HD is a relaxing and fun game that can be played by adults and children alike. You are a microscopic mote with big ambitions. Whether it be whizzing through a solar system or swimming about in a petri dish you want to grow as big as you can. Some levels of the game want you to grow bigger than all other organisms, others want you to absorb a particular one. Either way, the fastest way of doing this is to manoeuvre your way into the path of smaller motes to absorb them. Controls are performed by lightly tapping opposite to the direction you wish to move. This causes you to expel a small amount of matter yourself, but you gently shift in your desired direction.
When a smaller organism touches you, you absorb it and grow bigger. Doing so makes other motes smaller than you, so you can absorb them too. Keep going until you are the largest mote in the system. There are two different game modes: Odyssey and Arcade. Odyssey is the equivalent to a ‘Story’ mode which guides you through an 27 levels of ambient blobbiness and you get to encounter all the other kinds of environments and organisms in the game. When you have completed these, the Arcade mode unlocks and you can play any level on a variety of difficulty settings, making for 72 levels in total.
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Each level has a different objective. Most often it is to grow as large as possible; avoiding larger organisms until you are big enough to swallow them. Other levels need you to grow large enough to consume one particular organism. There are 8 different types of level. These include relatively free flowing environments where you move however you wish. More challenging ones place you in an orbit of a large central organism. Veer off your course and you could find yourself heading towards oblivion!
Gameplay is truly immense and very satisfying. While the controls are easy, the game itself is very challenging. Getting your movements just right, and with a minimum amount of thrusts can be very tricky. Sometimes you just have to be patient and wait for things to move out of your way or veer away from you. There is a cool slider along the bottom which speeds time up if you need it too. Because you lose a small amount of energy (and subsequently, size) when you boost in a certain direction, prolonged boosting will diminish your size. It’s important then that you do this strategically by becoming aware of the organisms around you and the direction they are moving.
The beauty of the graphics and the breathtaking simplicity of gamplay make Osmos HD an absolutely superb game. The grow-as-big-as-possible style of play might be familiar if you have played games such as Grow, but this aside, Osmos HD is relatively unique in its deployment. It’s very relaxing and laid back and literally absorbs time from the gamer. The swirling organisms are quite hypnotic and hours can pass and feel like minutes! It remains very enjoyable though and worth every bit of the 4.8/5 rating it has received in Google Play Store.
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Osmos HD – This is you
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Osmos HD – There is sometimes a specifically strategic way to complete the level
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Osmos HD – Grow to be the biggest
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Osmos HD – Two modes, Odyssey and Arcade
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Osmos HD – Level intro screen quotes
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Osmos HD – Level intro
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Osmos HD – Pause menu
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Osmos HD – Splash screen
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Osmos HD – Controls
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Osmos HD – Settings
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Osmos HD – Links to music artists
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Osmos HD – Credits
Fun Factor:
Osmos HD is lots of fun and very enjoyable. There is no other game quite like it; the music, the visuals, the simple gameplay and clever levels- it’s brilliant fun and certainly one of the most rewarding games I’ve played on Android.
Addictive:
It is very addictive, but you might not even realise it. I started to play the game- as part of testing it for this review- and hours literally flashed past. It left me wondering where the time had gone! The game is very engrossing and just sucks you in on various levels of engagement.
Graphics:
The graphics, while 2D, are very slick and detailed. Look closely at the organisms and you see all kinds of intricate molecular fireworks going on inside them. You can zoom in and out of your motes location to get a better view of the system or petri dish you’re in. This is remarkably smooth and slick, adding to the consuming nature of the game.
Accelerometer, Vibration & Sound:
The music is a perennial wall of ambient sounds. This includes tracks from a variety of electronic bands which are top quality. The game advises you to wear earphones to make the most of the sound quality and I can say for certain this adds a whole extra dimension to it.