The game put us at the controls of a nice robot, BUD, sent on an alien planet to analyze the vegetation and bloom the gigantic Star Plant, climbing able to stand up for thousands of meters and allow us, thus, to reach the satellites that gravitate around the world and discover its secrets.
The experimental nature of the product actually constituted the limit, given the complete lack of narrative elements supplied, the brevity of the experience and a series of technical flaws due also to the procedural system that managed the animations of the protagonist.
Grow up game guide and grow up gameplay
For this second chapter, Grow Up, the franchise is therefore in the condition of having to grow, combining the original mechanisms with a solid structure, some variation on the theme and maybe a technical upgrade. Did it go like this?
Grow Up enriches the Grow Home formula with new elements, but some aspects remain opaque
THE MAGIC BEAN
In grow up the game we find practically all the features of grow home game, but with an extra gear. This time there is also a minimum of plot, because the sentient MOM ship, on which the robot travels in space, came across a shower of asteroids and ended up in pieces on an unknown planet.
Our goal, finished on the surface of this new world, will therefore not simply be to analyze the vegetation, develop the Star Plant and collect some crystal, but also and above all rediscover the pieces of MOM so that they go to rejoin the main structuret o grow up , which is on the moon, and then reach it ourselves. We said, there are things that have not changed since the first episode of the series, for example BUD still moves with the agility of a drunk with two sticks of butter instead of his feet.
Did the developers want to simulate the gravity of the alien planet? Does the robottino protagonist of the game really have problems with alcohol? It is not known, but the ultra-inertial system of the grow up quotes can cause quite a few headaches both in old and new users, making complicated even trivial maneuvers and generating powerful episodes of frustration when a simple step leads us too much to fall from over a thousand meters in height, forcing us to repeat the difficult climbing procedure from scratch.
Even the latter has remained unchanged, with the hands of BUD activated by the two backbones of the controller (or the two triggers, if desired), which in turn adhere to the surfaces and allow you to occur in wonderful sessions of extreme climbing.
A THOUSAND WEAPONS YOU HAVE
To buffer the limits of the protagonist in terms of movement and to speed up the exploration of the scenario, the developers have fortunately enriched the repertoire of special abilities that BUD can unlock during the adventure.
In addition to the initial jetpack, in fact, the android can get a parachute with which to avoid the game over in impacts from great heights and make precision landings, a glider that allows them to glide for kilometers and kilometers, as well as the ability to roll up and become a kind of sphere, so as to move much more quickly.
The combination of all these powers and the ability to reproduce the various plants that are on the planet, often able to make us “bounce”, project ourselves upwards or simply provide us with something to climb on, makes things much easier than Grow Home, so much so that in the final stages moving for long distances or reaching incredible heights becomes a trivial operation.
So it’s a bit ‘ exaggerated in the simplification of certain mechanisms? Maybe yes, but everything must be placed in the perspective of a product that works well too, is pleasant and lasts a few hours (three or four, depending on how shrewd you are).
For the most demanding, however, there is the whole part of the collection of crystals, which enhance the capabilities of the protagonist, as well as a set of challenges that will often see us fluttering between the traditional circles in the air within a time limit.
