So I got a new game... Grow Home
Grow Home appears to be a game about a little robot climbing some kind of large plant vine. From the trailer, he looks like he's having all kinds of adventures traveling up the vine, on the way to... somewhere. For whatever reason he's climbing the vine, he seems to be very happy about doing so.
I'm going to go see what I can learn about the little robot and his vine, and hopefully get to the root of some of the above unanswered questions. Get to the root. Get it? Nevermind, you're a terrible audience.
Ok, I've spent some time getting to know Grow Home, and I have to say - it's an odd game. You play the role of a robot; some kind of representative of a space-faring species, dispatched to this garden planet to encourage the growth of a special plant. To do this, you'll need to climb. A lot. 'B.U.D. the android (Botanical Utility Droid) has the ability to climb anything he can get his claws onto. In fact, this represents the vast majority of the gameplay. You climb plants, rocks, giant mushrooms; anything with a vertical surface on it, Bud will climb it.
Once you start climbing the giant plant, you discover certain tendrils protruding from its sides. These tendrils can be made to grow like tentacles out from the plant and into special glowing rock formations. Each set of tendrils that are connected to these glowing rocks will make the plant grow taller. Eventually, I assume Bud will finally grow the plant high enough to reach his people's orbiting space ship and go home.
Along the way, Bud can find hidden energy crystals which upgrade his abilities and unlock new ones. These are fairly easy to spot, but climbing to them can be a bit of a challenge.
I played long enough to 'grow' the plant twice. This took about an hour. It looks like I might have been about ten percent through the game at that point, so there's a good 8-10 hours of gameplay here.
What I liked - the graphics are very well done. They're cute without being overly so, and definitely convey a sense of vertigo-inducing height.
What I didn't like - the climbing gameplay mechanic, the very core of the game, is clumsy. I have a feeling it's supposed to be; it conveys a sense of haphazardness in Bud's construction. However, when you're about to fall to your death 30 stories up, the cuteness of the halfway working robot wears off quickly. I imagine that after playing for several hours, you might get used to the control scheme.
It's a cute game. If you like platformers that can give you nightmares about falling, this game is for you.
Thanks for reading.Labels: Action Game, Grow Home, Review, Video Game
