A star is dying. In the ever extra intense pink mild of this collapsing large, eight blocky exoforms scrap for victory, dice and claw, darting out and in of the nooks and crannies of an intricate area. The legal guidelines of physics are breaking down round them. Collecting mass for glory is all that issues now.
This is the ultimate ten minutes of the universe, replayed endlessly for the leisure of sentient, atomic lifeforms. One closing seize at a sustained existence in a time that fails to recognise its price. It’s a poignant picture, laced with the surreal, otherworldly vacancy of impending common desola… HA HA! TAKE THAT YOU STUPID FLIPPING RAPTOR EEJIT! NOT SUCH A CLEVER GIRL NOW, ARE YOU? WHO’S NEXT? COME AT ME!
Want to know extra in regards to the considering behind Atomega? Read our in-depth interview with the dev team.
Sorry, simply obtained one other kill. I shot out the power bridge from beneath what I assume is one other UK sport journalist masquerading as a raptor made out of cubes. I’m a giant cycloptic ape, pounding about on my knuckles. It would appear that, regardless of the sport’s evocative setting, Atomega – the most recent challenge from the workforce behind Grow Home at Newcastle-based studio Reflections – is remarkably foolish. It’s all the higher for it, too.
Along with the Saur and guerrilla – referred to as Prime – different playable exoforms embrace a bipedal large named Superior, whose shadow appears suspiciously like that of perennial PlayStation disappointment Knack; and the crustacean-esque Zoa, which zips in regards to the place like an irritating, laser-imbued gnat. The aim of every ten-minute match is to collect as a lot mass as potential in an effort to rating essentially the most factors and evolve up via the assorted varieties – kills don’t matter exterior of their position in defending your place, and scooping up the tasty, tasty mass of fallen foes. Oh, and offering a catalyst for wonderful, Jurassic Park-inspired smack speak, after all.
Mass is represented by variously-sized cubes, which sit on leap pads, in tunnels, and spill from mass turbines which are dotted across the sport’s single – however monumental – map. You’ll rapidly set up favorite routes across the place, including a touch of driving sport flavour to proceedings as you finesse your traces in an effort to bulk up rapidly. With every exoform evolution, nonetheless, you turn into extra lumbering, and your laser – whereas significantly extra highly effective – much less speedy. Your rising stature additionally makes you a better goal, after all, and the advanced community of tunnels, doorways, and rooms that type the map are step by step closed off to you as your inflating backend precludes previously spacious hiding locations.
It’s a particularly sensible mechanic which units up some amusing conditions. On one event, because the Zoa type, I exploit a tunnel entrance as cowl whereas taking pot pictures at a drastically extra highly effective Superior. By zipping out and in of my gap, I handle to land just a few hits unscathed, and unnoticed, however then I unintentionally decide up some close by mass as I strafe out a bead too far. I instantly evolve into the Saur type and might’t match again into my hiding place. Of course, that is the second I’m noticed. I’m lower down like a dinosaur-shaped canine as I desperately scramble for brand new cowl.
Conversely, when taking part in as bigger varieties, you’ll often end up taking ineffectual however irritating hearth from some course, then uncover that the offender has disappeared into one of many constructions if you whip round to cope with them. The bully turns into the bullied.
Smart gamers will make use of the teleport potential, obtainable to each type, which lets you escape from firefights that don’t appear to be getting into your favour. You’ll nonetheless lose slightly mass – both a gory prize for the opponent with whom you performed health-bar rooster, or a leg up for any opportunistic scavengers passing via – however you’ll solely drop down one exoform degree. If you’re killed, it’s essential to begin from the atomic type, so – like an enthusiastic health club person reluctantly accepting the advantage of relaxation days – strategic retreats are a necessary a part of sustaining your development.
There are quite a lot of power-ups, referred to as hacks, that will provide you with an edge in a battle and minimise your weight reduction. Self-explanatory upgrades like Shield and Damage have the anticipated outcomes, however there are additionally non permanent boosts corresponding to Steal, which lets you leach mass from focused opponents; Impact, which knocks exoforms again (particularly helpful on bridges); and Grow, which makes each morsel of mass depend for extra energy.
Stick with the bulking programme (no, I’m not absolutely on board with, or in command of, these analogies both), and you’ve got a shot at reaching Omega type. This final evolution bestows god-like energy on gamers, permitting them to suck in any mass they aim and lower down opponents with a devastating beam weapon. Rather than well being, you’re on a timer which you’ll add seconds to by greedily consuming mass. Other gamers will take it from you with each shot they land, nonetheless, so holding on to the shape turns into an almighty tussle as each reticle is immediately pointed your method.
What seems to be a quite advanced premise on paper distills down right into a pleasantly intuitive shooter inside minutes of beginning a match. Shorn of the standard style muddle, Atomega spins up to the mark rapidly, and the brief, pacy energy struggles that represent every spherical are laced with sufficient strategic nuance to maintain issues attention-grabbing regardless of the only map and mode. The sport’s mechanical simplicity may equally find yourself being its undoing in time, after all, and it’s tough to know if Atomega’s slick, reductive design can maintain curiosity indefinitely. But my time spent blasting exoforms into items has, to date, confirmed to be a large quantity of enjoyable.
Verdict: eight/10
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