Hemisphere Games’ critically acclaimed PC title Osmos is making its way to the iPad, and will eventually be joined by an iPhone release in the future. Currently available for $10 for the Mac as well as Windows and Linux PC’s for $10, Osmos has been described as a “zen game", with many reviews citing the fantastic atmosphere created with the marriage of hypnotic graphics with perfectly paired music. It didn’t take more than a few seconds of playing the free demo on my computer to see just how well Osmos will work on the iPad.
In the game, you play as a bright blue orb floating about absorbing other orbs, called motes. The basic gameplay mechanic involves puttering around the game world sucking up anything smaller than you. Clicking (or tapping on the iPad) in a direction causes your orb to eject mass that way and send you jetting off the opposite way. Things start off easy, but levels quickly ramp up to require extremely precise movements as the game places you in levels where you’re absolutely surrounded by bigger orbs just waiting to munch you up.
You can get a good feel for the game by watching the trailer:
Osmos for the iPad is planned for release on July 8th, with the iPhone version following roughly a month later. I’ve really enjoyed these slow-paced “zen" games in the past, and I think Osmos will be a great fit on both the iPhone and iPad. Hemisphere Games has also posted a brief hands-on video of the game running on the iPad, and it shows how the mouse controls translate to touch as well as teasing a few extra game modes:
You can expect a review from us when the game hits the App Store in a week or so.
