One of my favorite trends in iPad development is the awesome amount of single-device multiplayer game modes so many developers have come up with. The iPhone had a few single-device realtime multiplayer games but the size of the screen really never made them that much fun to play. On the other hand, the iPad fits perfectly on a table between two people and with the massive screen allows for more than enough room for two people to be touching it at once while still being able to see what’s going on.

NimbleBit’s Omium [99¢] hit the App Store recently, and unlike other games that might just have a multiplayer mode in addition to a single player experience, Omium is a 100% two player game. It has three game modes, all with slight variances on the core gameplay element of one player spawning the “bad guys" on one side of the screen while the second player controls a ship and shoots them down on the other.

The different game modes are detailed in the following video released by NimbleBit:

Omium is as much fun as you make it, as the idea behind the game is that players take turns playing as each side to see how long they can survive. To prevent spamming of bullets or bad guys, each side has a resource meter which slowly refills to add some balance to the game. But, in the end, the bad guys always win. If you’re looking for another game for your iPad with local multiplayer, give Omium a spin.