Maybe you have never heard of Agar.io and maybe you have been very productive in your life thus far. Agar.io has been featured on season 4’s House of Cards as one of Frank Underwood’s infamous video game stress relievers. It has also been used as a tool in a political movement in Turkey during their 2015 election. I hate to call the game a time-waster because of how terribly addicted I am it is rather enjoyable, but it’s definitely in that category of games. Check out our Agar.io review to find out what we really thought of it!
Story
The story is all in the name. Agar.io stems from the substance agar, which is a jelly-like substance obtained from algae that is used to culture bacteria. You are a single celled bacteria in a petri dish that is populated with other bacteria. Some bacteria is automagically populated while other bacteria are powered by other players.
Agar.io first came to life from then-19-year-old Matheus Valadares, a Brazilian developer, in April of 2015. He announced the unnamed game on 4chan and eventually took the suggestion of an anonymous user to adopt Agar.io as other obvious names had already been taken. A week after the announcement, Agar.io hit the Steam Greenlight and eventually was released as a free-to-play mobile game by Miniclip.
Gameplay
There you are, a lone little bacteria trying to gain mass to avoid becoming another bacteria’s lunch. As you collect mass, you get bigger and bigger which also makes you move slower and slower and eventually you’ll start to lose mass over time. After a mass of 35 you can split your bacteria into 2 cells and have up to 16 split cells. As the split cells collect mass they will converge to make one mass again.
There are viruses located throughout the petri dish (map) that break up larger bacteria masses when they pass through. Smaller bacteria can use the virus to hide from the larger mass bacteria. Players can utilize the virus by sending some mass into which allows the virus to duplicate and will send a copy of itself in the opposite direction of the mass that was fed into it.
As players spend more time and get better at eating without being eaten, they collect coins and experience which is useful for getting into higher levels. Higher levels unlock various skins for the bacteria and you can also buy skins with the coins collected.
For those of us willing to throw money at winning, there are in-app purchases available for more coins, skins, starting mass, and XP boosts Coins are purchased with real money and range from 1,200 coins for $1.99 to 125,000 coins for $99.99 USD. Skins are purchased with coins only and come in a variety of faces, planets, animals, a hot dog, and various other colorful pictures. Double starting mass will run you 290 coins for an hour and 790 coins for 24 hours. Triple starting mass is 490 for 1 hour and 990 for 24 hours. A double XP boosts is 290 coins for 1 hour and 790 coins for 24 hours, while a triple XP boost sets you back 490 coins for 1 hour and 990 coins for 24 hours. Coins can also be earned for free, collecting 20 per hour and also by watching advertisements and downloading other sponsored apps.
Sound
Nothing! There is no sound in a petri dish as you consume and are inevitably consumed by bacteria. No one chews with their mouth open here.
Multiplayer
Agar.io is a massive multiplayer online game (MMO) and currently has four play modes — Free For All, Teams, Experimental, and Party. Players are grouped by region and compete against (or with) thousands of other players.
Wrap-up
It is really a simple game however the competitiveness is palpable and if you’re even remotely susceptible to that kind of draw in a game, then look out for Agar.io. Eventually when the repetitiveness wears on you, you’ll be able to step away from the game and resume life as normal. Until your need to become the BIGGEST BACTERIA overwhelms you and you have to continue the mission. While it does have a mobile version, the browser version is far easier to control your cells. You can check out Agar.io on Google Play, iTunes, Facebook, and just the plain ol’ browser game.
Last Updated on June 23, 2021.
