Plantastic! 1.00 – Plant and arrange flowers in this colourful puzzler
I’m a particularly keen gardener but unfortuately I live in a flat with no garden so I can’t put my green fingers to good use. However, I have just discovered Plantastic! for Palm, which lets you grow flowers on your mobile device.
The basic purpose of this one is to arrange flowers in a garden based on their colour. It’s kind of a convoluted version of Dr Mario, where once three touching plants of the same colour are connected they disappear. Once you’ve joined a certain amount of flowers you’re able to progress to the next level.
It’s pretty easy to get into Plantastic! thanks to an in-depth Help section and a tutorial that guides you through what you need to do before you enter the game proper. In fact, I felt this tutorial was a little too long and it’s annoying that you have to complete it every time you play.
Once you’re involved in the action though it’s a fun game to play, if a little easy. The levels are pretty simple to get through, despite the addition of obstacles such as Mr Mole, mushrooms and fast falling flowers. That said, there are a number of cool power-ups to collect and a series of five game modes (four of which you’ll need to unlock) to make Plantastic! more interesting and improve its longevity.
The graphics are cute and colourful and the overall presentation of the game is impressive. The sound effects are fun, as is the little ditty that plays in the background. As with most of these type of games though, it does become somewhat irksome after a while.
Overall though, Plantastic! is an engrossing puzzle game for getting your fingers dirty on the bus.
Review by James Thornton