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From the far reaches of space, Nintendo sends WiiWare on an elegant and trippy voyage through the stars. A remake of a Japanese bit Generations game, Art Style: ORBIENT attempts to be accessible while also surprisingly difficult to master -– by no means a simple task. Players take control of a teeny white planet drifting through the cosmos. With two buttons at your command, players must find a balance of gravitating toward and repelling away from larger planets. The game’s core is compelling, but will you want to delve deeper into this universe or stay firmly grounded on earth? visuals The humble, GBA origins of the game are easily recognizable. Players will mainly see a stagnant background filled with white star specs. Occupying this backdrop, various sizes of red, blue and grey planets will hover throughout the environments. It’s visually appealing, but a few additional touches here or there would have been welcome. We would have liked, for example, more setting diversity, as only a few later stages showcase larger worlds or planets on the horizon. The inclusion of a few more special effects or details on the satellites also could have given some personality and pizzazz to the package.
audio Soothing. Relaxing. Dynamic. Surreal. Even beeps and bloops could be used to describe this sublime soundtrack. The sounds slowly evolve into gripping melodies as each new satellite a player attains leads to a new layer of music. This audio feature gives off an organic feeling that perfectly molds with the gameplay. Not only will you want to garner new satellites for extra lives, but to hear the tune transform. Our only complaint is the failure to use the Wii Remote speaker, which would have been perfect for certain sound effects. Still, this is vintage Nintendo goodness. Love it. gameplay The core mechanic of Art Style: ORBIENT is ridiculously basic. Avoid red planets. Merge with blue planets to grow larger. And ultimately, pull a golden star into your gravitational pull to transfer it into a personal satellite. This straightforward premise, however, slowly unveils a perplexing, puzzle-like title. Through the course of 30 levels (along with bonus stages), Nintendo throws some brain-busting challenges. Black holes and purple asteroids dangerously litter the skies. Planets will swing around larger worlds in a clockwork fashion. The variety and design of each sector is top-notch and the simple controls perfectly meld the experience. Players begin this quest of consumption and enlargement as an insignificant, pasty star. You will use the A button to gravitate toward bigger planets and the B button to repel away. Simple enough. At the same time, the puzzles make the experience trickier than you could ever imagine. We were constantly in awe of the clever stages created and enjoyed each journey into the stars. Trouble arises, though, with the weird rebound mechanic that occurs when you ram into the wrong object. Like we said, space apparently contains lots of traps to wreck havoc on your day. And as such, failing is a part of this game, as players must learn how to guide their cute star. That said, frustration can set in when you collide with planets because your satellite bounces away in odd directions. This mechanic introduces an element of chance into the game, as this recoil can prove benefitial or instead have you falling into a black hole. Gamers who despise random elements in their games may not like some of the physics in Art Style. The only other drawback with the title is in regards to leader boards. Art Style: ORBIENT concludes each stage with stats, like completion time. We would have loved to see online rankings to see how fast friends sift through the various galaxies. Even so, we were impressed that the game lasts a few hours, which is a great value for only 600 Wii Points. multiplayer N/A overall Who knew orbiting planets could be so fun? Or difficult for that matter? Art Style: ORBIENT successfully finds the balance of being accessible initially, yet more challenging as you drift further into space. The music is killer. The core game mechanic is oh so addictively fun. And the price is just right. We do wish the graphics could have been spruced up or that online leader boards were present. Let’s also not forget that rebound problem. But still, this is the perfect shuttle for seeing what lies in the far reaches of outer space.
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