Grow Home
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8/10
James Davie
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DEV: Ubisoft Reflections
PUB: Ubisoft
RELEASE DATE: 04/02/2015
FORMAT: PC & PS4
Originally a PC indie sleeper hit and now a delightful recipient of a free Playstation Plus downloadable thanks to the ever fanatic Playstation community, Grow Home has landed with at least a little bit more notoriety than its previously truncated existence on PC. Regardless of whether you know it exists or not, it's a beautiful tale of a botanically specialised robot trying to literally grow home by erecting flower shoots in all kinds of directions in order to return to M.O.M, a spaceship in the sky. You'll be pleased to hear that there is more charm in this little curio than many big budget releases, and is very thought-provoking too.
B.U.D or Botanical Utility Droid is who you take control of in this little adventure platformer. He's well known for getting the player to jab the left and right triggers incessantly to scramble about. At first you gradually acquire knowledge about the inner workings of the game, knowing how to scurry up walls, which feels like a game of twister using your arms, it's not complicated, but shuffling along can cause our red adorable robot to backflip unexpectedly for seemingly no reason at all. Yet miraculously, the game's physics conundrums never boil down to unnecessary frustration, no matter how many times you tumble and get yourself all broken and waterlogged. You'll persist by climbing and climbing and climbing until every last red flower shoot has been shot as far as they can stretch.
If the last sentence didn't make things clear enough, your objective in Grow Home is to clamber up massive plantation structures and ride red flowers to their destinations. You can manually guide these shoots into desired rocks and other locations, but they only travel so far before you need to climb on another to exhaust it of its growth. They can make for disorienting rides, not just from the weird camera angles you succumb to at times, but how they twist and twine like botanical contagions, and make the luscious pristine island world look more like a huge growth hazard. And what a sight it is as you pan the camera outwards and gaze at an infested land of onyx- like star shoots. Glorious if disturbingly phallic, the sight can stretch skywards for miles depending on how many star flowers you decide to shoot.
PUB: Ubisoft
RELEASE DATE: 04/02/2015
FORMAT: PC & PS4
Originally a PC indie sleeper hit and now a delightful recipient of a free Playstation Plus downloadable thanks to the ever fanatic Playstation community, Grow Home has landed with at least a little bit more notoriety than its previously truncated existence on PC. Regardless of whether you know it exists or not, it's a beautiful tale of a botanically specialised robot trying to literally grow home by erecting flower shoots in all kinds of directions in order to return to M.O.M, a spaceship in the sky. You'll be pleased to hear that there is more charm in this little curio than many big budget releases, and is very thought-provoking too.
B.U.D or Botanical Utility Droid is who you take control of in this little adventure platformer. He's well known for getting the player to jab the left and right triggers incessantly to scramble about. At first you gradually acquire knowledge about the inner workings of the game, knowing how to scurry up walls, which feels like a game of twister using your arms, it's not complicated, but shuffling along can cause our red adorable robot to backflip unexpectedly for seemingly no reason at all. Yet miraculously, the game's physics conundrums never boil down to unnecessary frustration, no matter how many times you tumble and get yourself all broken and waterlogged. You'll persist by climbing and climbing and climbing until every last red flower shoot has been shot as far as they can stretch.
If the last sentence didn't make things clear enough, your objective in Grow Home is to clamber up massive plantation structures and ride red flowers to their destinations. You can manually guide these shoots into desired rocks and other locations, but they only travel so far before you need to climb on another to exhaust it of its growth. They can make for disorienting rides, not just from the weird camera angles you succumb to at times, but how they twist and twine like botanical contagions, and make the luscious pristine island world look more like a huge growth hazard. And what a sight it is as you pan the camera outwards and gaze at an infested land of onyx- like star shoots. Glorious if disturbingly phallic, the sight can stretch skywards for miles depending on how many star flowers you decide to shoot.
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No matter what you do though, M.O.M is always trying to will you on or say something sarcastic to get you to perform your task with a little less calamity. The encouragement is certainly welcome if you're not offended by her willing you on, but she does occasionally take pleasure from your mishaps, wishing she'd just stop talking. She even has the nerve to get you to commit to a task after the game's initial completion of all the cheek. Luckily she doesn't occupy your time too much as there are other things to see and do.
The rock faces you happen across are like miniature environments themselves. Some nestle caves hiding in rock crevices and others are populated with creatures who modestly and innocently crawl about such as Meeps, the unsuspecting animal's you'll gladly welcome with a friendly dip underwater, giggling as you watch them drown helplessly you utter utter meanie-no-beanie. Messing about with inhabitants is part of the fun of discovery as you journey upwards, but besides a few creatures to toy with, you're left on your own most of the time to accomplish your objectives.
Yourself is a very important aspect here, as you'll find a few upgrades and crystals on your journey. By collecting a set amount of crystals (there are 100 in the game) you can gain a unique ability such as a jetpack to help you gain some much needed distance. They don't add anything essential or game changing, but like the flowers you dig out of the ground to glide, and the leaves you can joyously bounce on to reach higher up the stem- they serve as subtle tools for your traversal.
Light on playtime as some will find it, Grow Home serves up a beautiful platformer balanced by its sparkling earthly homeworld. There are secret layers to unfold and an oxygenating level of exploration to delve into. Ubisoft simply wants you to bask in the colours and the awe of looking downwards and witnessing the sinuous germination of branching shoots as they swirl on for miles below. There's a clear reason why the community wanted to see Grow Home as their free game, it's unique, pleasurable and offers something refreshing to play in a me-too stacked indie scene. The physics can momentarily annoy sometimes and maybe its one-note approach ignores the other pleasantries to be found, but it remains a lovely little platformer and is free for PS+ subscribers so play it and see what you're missing out on.
The rock faces you happen across are like miniature environments themselves. Some nestle caves hiding in rock crevices and others are populated with creatures who modestly and innocently crawl about such as Meeps, the unsuspecting animal's you'll gladly welcome with a friendly dip underwater, giggling as you watch them drown helplessly you utter utter meanie-no-beanie. Messing about with inhabitants is part of the fun of discovery as you journey upwards, but besides a few creatures to toy with, you're left on your own most of the time to accomplish your objectives.
Yourself is a very important aspect here, as you'll find a few upgrades and crystals on your journey. By collecting a set amount of crystals (there are 100 in the game) you can gain a unique ability such as a jetpack to help you gain some much needed distance. They don't add anything essential or game changing, but like the flowers you dig out of the ground to glide, and the leaves you can joyously bounce on to reach higher up the stem- they serve as subtle tools for your traversal.
Light on playtime as some will find it, Grow Home serves up a beautiful platformer balanced by its sparkling earthly homeworld. There are secret layers to unfold and an oxygenating level of exploration to delve into. Ubisoft simply wants you to bask in the colours and the awe of looking downwards and witnessing the sinuous germination of branching shoots as they swirl on for miles below. There's a clear reason why the community wanted to see Grow Home as their free game, it's unique, pleasurable and offers something refreshing to play in a me-too stacked indie scene. The physics can momentarily annoy sometimes and maybe its one-note approach ignores the other pleasantries to be found, but it remains a lovely little platformer and is free for PS+ subscribers so play it and see what you're missing out on.
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+A refreshing platformer with quirky physics.
+Gorgeous world that only becomes a more eye-pleasingly sight as you grow towards home. +Dipping Meeps in the river and drowning them. -Physics can cause you to fall without much player error. -The main bulk of the game is over too swiftly. -M.O.M only serves to prattle you with condescending encouragement. |
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