“Osmos” is different of everything you have ever played. Seeing its trailer, I had the impression of an inner tranquility, synonym with a meditation state of mind. It`s a strange game and thanks to its strangeness, “Osmos” conquers your heart. Now, “Osmos” takes with assault iPad and it seems that it will have the same success as in PCs world, or maybe a greater success.
“Osmos” is a dance between particles, molecules, call them as you please, the game will charm your eyes with an infinite delicate movement, touching, fusion between those. At one moment during the plot, the narrator tells you something like this: “It could be you”, which is an extremely sensitive remark. In a virtual world full of violence, sinister monsters and apocalyptical dangers, “Osmos” is your cure of serenity, proposing you a tranquil ambient break. I think I rather play it, at lunch, when I would like to get out of the tense atmosphere of work, but it`s suitable as a relaxing method whenever you finally get home, after a long day and feel like you aren`t in the mood to even heat your food.
“Osmos” for iPad costs just 5$, a very affordable price for your smart phone. The target of the game is quite simple, “Be the biggest” (molecule) and in order to fulfill it, to have to control a tiny organism named a “mote”. Your mote will have to move, to expel mass in the direction you tap. The more you play with it, the more it will gain proportion and travel much more into space. It`s a symbiosis between an astronomical game and a maternal one, after all you have to take care of your little “baby” not to be eaten by bigger motes.
Almost all the reviews I have been spinning as documentation for this article talk about Osmos as a “great experience”: some highlight its relaxing allure, others stress the incredible easiness with which you can play it, while using your iPad: speeding down and up, by simply swiping the sensitive screen and so on.
“Osmos” is created by Hemisphere games. From the official site you can convince yourself by seeing the prices won by the game (Video Game Award 2009 or Pax 10) or even trying the trailer posted there. In a few phrases you are told what to do with your mote, although you will learn the rules on the run (my humble apologizes, there`s no run, there`s just waiting, as “good things come to those who wait”): absorbing other motes, ejecting matter, confronting attractors or similar rivals. It`s a dreamlike world, sensitive, musical, elegant, but not absent of dangers, so treat the game as serious as you can.
In the end, one hot point: if you buy directly from Hemisphere`s online store, you can benefit of all three versions of the game (PC, Mac and Linux) for just 10$.