The Game of Harmony

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Description

This strategic action puzzle game features original gameplay. You control a spacecraft situated on a globe which you can rotate and move around the screen. You must knock globes into others of the same colour, to rid the screen of all the globes. The screen has no borders, so globes can be pushed off the side of the screen, increasing your tactical range. Knocking globes of different colors into each other produces smaller pods which need to be picked up quickly, giving you energy, or they will turn into globes and you will have to get rid of them too. Many of the globes are linked to other globes (or the ship) via string, and the level layouts include barriers as obstacles (and ricochet points), making the Newtonian physics more complex.

Screenshots

Promo Images

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Alternate Titles

• "Sphericule" -- Alt. Amiga UK title
• "E-Motion" -- European Release

User Reviews

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Critic Reviews

Computer and Video Games (CVG)	Amstrad CPC	Apr, 1990	92 out of 100	92
Crash!	ZX Spectrum	May, 1990	91 out of 100	91
The Games Machine (UK)	Amiga	Apr, 1990	90 out of 100	90
The Games Machine (UK)	Atari ST	Apr, 1990	90 out of 100	90
ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)	Amiga	May, 1990	890 out of 1000	89
Svenska Hemdatornytt	Atari ST	Apr, 1990	81 out of 100	81
The Games Machine (UK)	Commodore 64	Apr, 1990	80 out of 100	80
100 aktuelle PC-Spiele	DOS	1990	7 out of 10	70
Power Play	Game Boy	Jul, 1991	68 out of 100	68
Play Time	Game Boy	Sep, 1991	52 out of 100	52

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Trivia

Cancelled PlayStation port

At one point, an English company called Darkhex was working on a PlayStation version of E-Motion, but the project was canceled. Screenshots and even a downloadable ISO with a work-in-progress version of the game was available at http://www.hermitgames.com/emotion.html

Marketing

The Game of Harmony was marketed in the US as a Zen device -- a game that rewards you for relaxing and staying calm under pressure. (See advertising blurbs for specifics.) However, the game was universally frustrating at times, so this particular marketing angle was quite ironic. Of of Trixter's personal experience of working in a retail software store at the time this game was published, He can remember almost every single copy of the game being returned by frustrated gamers.

Title

The E in E-Motion stands for "Einstein". A caricature of Albert Einstein appears on the cover of the European box, and on the loading screen for most versions.

Version differences

• The American release contained updated code and support for more music devices.
• Due to it not having color, in the Game Boy's case, or not being able to display enough colors on screen, in the ZX Spectrum's case, these versions did not have multi-colored spheres. Instead, they had spheres with different shapes within them, such as squares, triangles or circles.

Awards

• Amiga Joker
  • Issue 01/1991 – #4 Best Dexterity Game in 1990
• Amiga Power
  • May 1991 (Issue #00) - #30 in the "All Time Top 100 Amiga Games"
• ST Format
  • Issue 01/1991 – #3 Best Puzzle Game in 1990

Information also contributed by Andrew Fisher, Bas de Reuver and LepricahnsGold