Game Reviews

Absorption

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iOS
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Absorption
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iOS
| Absorption

I never know what to make of quick little arcade survival-type games at first.

Sometimes I play them for a second and immediately forget about them, and sometimes I totally fall in love. It's the combination of style and gameplay that does it, really.

So where does Absorption sit in that incredibly binary metric? It's sort of somewhere in the middle.

Stick close

Absorption is a pretty sleek minimal survival game. You drag a finger across the screen to move a little circle-thing around while trying not to crash into several different kinds of enemy shapes.

And of course different shapes have different behaviors. There are exploding red circles that destroy other enemies within range when they go, and little blue star-looking jerks that can only be seen when they're close to you. I hate those things (in a good way).

What really sets it apart is how you have to get close to enemies in order to destroy them.

Once your circle is near enough to a rival shape, a beam will shoot out and connect to it. The longer this beam stays connected the more damage it will do, until the target is destroyed. Or until you smash into something in the ever-changing environment.

Just not too close

It all makes for a frantic dodge-a-thon that can be brutal but still lure you in for more. At least until you accidentally tap one one of those obnoxious ads that like to pop-up after you fail.

I get the point of them, but the "tap to continue" screen always appears first, with the ads shuffling in front of it, oftentimes while I'm in mid-tap.

I also was a bit disappointed to realise that the enemy wave configurations aren't random (although their order is to a degree).

It's not a massive problem or anything, but it takes some of that desirable craziness away when you see a group coming and know you've dealt with that exact setup a half a dozen times already.

Still, Absorption is a fun little survival game. If you can deal with the obnoxious ads and don't mind a lack of procedurally generated stuff, it's probably something you should check out.

Absorption

Absorption has some nice ideas, and aside from a few niggles, it's well worth a look
Score
Rob Rich
Rob Rich
Rob Rich is the editor of 148Apps.com