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Just occasionally, something comes along to knock your socks off, a new way of looking at games. Introducing Eufloria, apparently an ‘ambient real-time strategy game’ (according to the website). In which the player must colonize an asteroid belt, often by force, using little seedlings with lasers. It’s a simple enough idea, but challenging to master.

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Story

The single player levels have an introductory sentence to set the scene, but every level of Eufloria I played in the trial version had much the same gist. Take over all the asteroids, wipe out enemies. The website says it’s all about mining, but you spread through the asteroids using trees and seedlings, so who knows? The story is not really the important factor here.

Gameplay

Ideally you should use a mouse to play, but I used the keyboard controls without any problems (I have a laptop touchpad). The playing area consists of a white space filled with circular asteroids, orbited by your seedlings. The seedlings can be used for several things: growing trees on an asteroid (either a defensive tree or a tree to grow more seedlings), exploring and colonising nearby asteroids, and shooting down enemy seedlings who may try and capture one of your asteroids. Strategy is paramount throughout the game. Different asteroids produce seedlings with different statistics, and they will only produce up to 32 per asteroid at a time. To keep the production rate up, you have to move seedlings between your asteroids, which allowed me a formidable army in no time at all. I did find the click and drag approach to moving the seedlings from asteroid to asteroid was a bit clumsy, though, and I never could quite get the hang of moving just a few seedlings. It was all or nothing.

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Graphics and sound

The sound is virtually non-existent. No music, and minimal sound effects to denote combat, a new tree, or an asteroid changing hands. The graphics are similarly simplistic – the asteroids are black circles on a white backdrop, and the seedlings simple three-pronged shapes (which vary in size and shape according to their statistics). It gives the game a very stark feel, everything is secondary to the strategy element.

Creativity and innovation

Eufloria has originality in buckets. Created for a developers’ competition to showcase procedurally generated content, the whole thing feels like a design experiment. What’s surprising is that the game is extremely playable and fiendishly addictive, and it’s well worth $19.99 to encourage future development of the title!

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Buy the game if you:

* Are looking for something new
* Love strategy games
* Value gameplay above other factors

Don’t buy it if you:

* Expect lavish graphics
* Have limited patience
* Prefer to have a strong storyline

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If peace and tranquility is what you are looking for in a game, than look no further. Osmos, a new game released by hemisphere games is all about simplicity. The genre of “ambient” games is becoming more popular. Gamers who are tired of all the fast paced action of time management and arcade games will love Osmos, with it’s slow pace, based on the laws of physics.

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The Story

Osmos is similar in style to Asteroids, though it is a much more evolved concept. Gamers become a living organism that must survive and grow. Each level contains different objectives, becoming the largest organism, consuming repulsors, etc. Using the laws of the physics the player must use their wits to propel them into smaller objects they can consume, while avoiding larger objects that wish to consume them. Sacrifices in size and energy require the player to strategize constantly.

Game Play

Osmos has levels that involve speed and levels that require the player to figure out a puzzle and or concept and levels that are purely strategy based. The early levels require the player to consume objects quickly before other organisms do, leaving nothing left to consume. Learning to propel your organism effectively is a key to the game. Short bursts seem to work better than sustained bursts which take up a lot of energy. In later levels you are not only trying to become the big fish, but also trying to consume specific targets all at the risk of loosing your own energy. Game play is slow and peaceful but requires the player to do a lot of thinking.

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Graphics

The graphics in Osmos, are exceptional. The colors and visual effects are stimulating, but not overpowering. Players can easily tell which organisms they can consume by color. The orbs that are red are too big and the orbs that turn blue can be consumed. The overall effect is very beautiful.

Sound

The electronica soundtrack for Osmos, is very good. It’s definitely not boring. It may be slow and deliberate, but it’s easy on the ears and not something you get tired of, after the first level. The game credits each musician as the song comes on which a really nice touch.

Creativity and Innovation

The concept for Osmos is very creative. It is not just your average eat’em up game. It requires a lot of strategy and thinking. What a slow paced game has to have in order to make it memorable. It is an evolved form of Asteroids that will keep the players attention. It may be thought to be kind of short, but when you add in the time it takes to figure out each level, not so short after all.

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YOU SHOULD BUY OSMOS IF…

- You like the older style games like Asteroids
- You are interesting in the “ambient” genre of games
- You like strategy games

YOU SHOULD NOT BUY OSMOS IF…

- You want a fast paced game
- You are looking for eat’em up or shoot’em up games
- You don’t want to think about anything while you play

Hemisphere Games created Osmos.