Never has the very real threat of falling into a black hole felt so calming. Orbitum is a strangely hypnotic game where every second counts in your struggle to stay alive by hopping from one orbital line to another.
Developer: Happymagenta Ltd.
Genre: Action arcade
Release date: 2nd July 2014
Platforms: iOS (Ipad and Iphone)
ESRB: E - Everyone.
Essentially you’re playing as a very bright, white planet that is being steadily dragged into a black hole by its extremely strong gravitational pull and, though you can hop away from this fatal void and take refuge on orbits that are farther away, these quickly decay beneath you. Despite the inevitable decay of the line you’ve, in the very least, bought yourself some time to consider the nature of your existence and perhaps the overall meaning of all of this. Though it’s tempting to just flee from the danger entirely you’ll find yourself trapped in by an, equally deadly, red barrier. This barrier that switches between being an unearthly mist or a solid red line prevents you from venturing too far out and leaves you stuck between a rock and a hard place. Between this fatal barrier and the deadly black hole suctioning you in there’s not much you can do except move between lines with lightning fast reflexes. The increasingly strong gravitational forces and the ever-present blockade of doom aside there’s even more threats to contend with; red, triangular obstacles are continually thrown in your general direction to keep you from lolling about too long on any particular line.
Ok so perhaps lolling about isn’t the right term as the game generally feels like you’re running on a treadmill with some sadist at the front of it, turning up the dial to make you run faster and faster. All the while, there’s a life threatening pit behind you that, some kind of lava filled, shark infested, spike laden ditch that you’re not too keen on falling into. So you keep running, helplessly and hopelessly because there’s nowhere to go except not in the death-pit whilst your sadist buddy laughs and throws knives at you. Why you’d choose to partake in this masochistic game of ‘stay alive and stay fit at the same time’ is questionable but, there’s no doubt about it, Orbitum is somehow very good stress-relief. On a much needed positive note you’re also thrown helpful items like a shield or extra points that revolve around on the orbital lines, tempting you into making a premature jump so you can grab them. Green hexagons are the items that give you additional points to boost your high score whilst blue cubes will reward you with some kind of helpful item, such as the shield or a hyper-jump powerup.
Underpinning all of this is an electronic female voice updating you with what you’ve just picked up, the new level you’re on and things of that sort. A weird, hypnotic electronic music track plays continually in the background and generally I found it both distracting and helpful though it did grate a little after just a few minutes of play. Despite the grating, the rhythmic beat from the music actually gave me something to time my jumps against and, in this sense, it acted as some kind of celestial, auditory anchor in a sea of… death. The learning curve of the game is spot on as whilst you only start with one or two of those red triangles and plenty of helpful items the pressure quickly increases as you become more familiar with the game. By the time you’re a couple of minutes into he game you’re battling against multiple triangles and working within a much larger space when the game switches its background colour to pale rather than dark. Overall the game is fairly addictive and very challenging, with its low price tag and clean cut, simplistic graphics its worth playing if you enjoy reflex based arcade games.
The Good:
The Good:
- The challenging nature of later levels keeps you playing
- Hypnotic and mesmerising game draws your attention
- The game design is clean cut and rather tasteful
- Shifts in the colour scheme and associated gameplay changes adds depth
- Simple to understand and easy to get into
- Music can be grating and distracting
- Not particularly original and brings nothing new to the table
- Not the most addictive or fun of survival games
Final thoughts: “That was weird, I have a headache, I don’t think lava filled shark spike pits are a thing, but they should be.”
