perhaps not as good as the original version, but a smooth transition from gameboy to wii, nontheless.
orbient is a quiet, stripped-down adventure, where you move a small star around different spacescapes. think asteroids crossed with ico.
the game is a re-styling of 'bit generations: orbital', a GBA game that came out in japan only, in 2006.
your tiny star can attract and repel. attracting, brings the star closer to other stars and their respective orbits (visualized as thin rings around the stars). repelling, pushes your star away from things.
orbient's language is simple, but you soon discover how subtle your movements can be, and how the same stage can differ on subsequent experiences.
as you drift around space, you encounter other stars floating about. some of them are grey, some of them are red, and some are blue, but often when begining a stage, most other stars are red.
the red stars lay 'dormant' (and potentially lethal), until you make contact with a blue or grey star. when you touch a blue star, you absorb it into yourself, and grow a little bigger. this intimate collision triggers a reaction in the dormant red stars, as they turn from red to blue, opening themselves up to you.
thegrey stars are often smaller and when touching them, they can enter your orbit, rotating endlessly around you. you can also absorb the greys if you want (and grow bigger); it doesn't appear to make much difference in terms of satisfying the goal requirements.
once you have reached or exceeded your natural capacity for each stage, a red star evolves into a sun, allowing you to take your final place among the stars, and enter the orbit of the sun. this beautiful moment really makes me feel that i have created the right conditions under which a new solar system can flourish, and perhaps even life as well.
each stage organizes stars, orbits and asteroids (obstacles) in interesting patterns and formations. these designs feel quite abstract, but at the same time the detailed pixel backgrounds make it feel like its actually in deep space. this contrast plays with the mind, and asks more questions than it answers, but a similar contrast is its unconventional premise & mechanic, but familiar game conventions such as lives, high scores, bonuses, levels and goals. and a final contrast is the melding of a paired-down, black-background retro feel, and the feeling of a very modern, avant-guarde game experience.
whether orbient intentionally or purposefully blurs the lines between the past and the present, art and games, abstract and realistic, the micro and the macro, doesn't matter so much, but it does offer plenty of talking points, and contemplation.
rarely do games so clearly appear to make use of contrast in ways that spark the imagination.
the sounds of orbital are perfect for subconcious contemplation.. and sort of electronically crackle into life, evolving as you progress onto different spacescapes. i felt a feeling of hope when trudging on and wandering about. the music blossoms into an even happier tune once you reach your beaming capacity.
there is a narrative structure to orbient. as you progress, the environments get stranger, the music changes, and you begin to see more of other planets. the scale of different planets makes you feel very tiny in comparisson. there is something very humbling about it all..
orbient is also very challenging. there are plenty of levels and many of them later on, require a certain mastery over the 'push & pull' mechanic. some gravitational fields can violently push you into a meandering asteroid, or suck you into a dormant red star. you feel like you have to negociate a path, and find a way to survive in rough conditions. at times it's often not straight-forward and can result in a frustrating experience if you don't practice.
if you've played the original sprite-based version on the gameboy advance, then you might be mildly dissapointed with the wii version. the graphics look less detailed, fuzzy, and seem rushed. the music is in tact though, for the most part and the sound quality is generally better.
the major addition seems to be a visualization that shows the gravity patterns when pushing and pulling your star. this makes the game somewhat easier to understand.
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orbient is a delicate and lonely experience - something of a rarity. however, there is something austere about it that you have to penetrate if you want to get the most out of it. but it's a shining example of a type of game design that sits between the so-called 'casual' and 'hardcore', both in terms of depth, difficulty, and fresh ideas.
orbient then, is a game of contrasts...but also a game about hope, and unity.