NANO Review

Nano has been marketed for “fans of ambient music and abstract games”. It fits this description very well, but this doesn’t turn out to be a positive thing. The problem with abstraction in games is that it is inherently counter-productive to the nature of a game. To enjoy a game you, more often than not, need to know what’s going on and what you’re supposed to be doing. With most games you can jump in and figure out what you need to do, but even Nano’s tutorial will leave you asking questions.

There are six types of particles, each with differing effects on the “nodes”. Ultimately, you want some particles to go to the nodes and some to go away from them. To direct the particles you stroke your finger across the screen to manipulate the magnets that guide them. While this sounds simple, separating the particles is difficult and ends up being frustrating, making the “game” side of this experience dull.

Much like console downloadable titles Flow and Flower, NANO has an uncomplicated level of interaction to complement its audio and visual appeal. While these titles have been a very successful validation of this concept, NANO doesn’t hit the mark. The point of having simple interactivity in a game is so that you don’t have to worry about it. NANO would benefit from this hugely, but as it stands the audio-visual experience that might have been is let down by the game not being fluid enough – you just can’t be immersed in it in such a care-free way as to enjoy the ambient music and visuals.

What ambient games like this need as a foundation is a consistent interaction that is paced in such a way that you don’t need to think too much about it in order to enjoy what you’re doing. Instead, NANO is too tedious to be fun or an immersive experience. Some might have the patience for this game, so if it appeals to you the 59p price point might be worth it. That said, you will get much more fun out of the free demo of Auditorium, so go and play that instead.