REVIEW: Grow Up

REVIEW: Grow Up

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Grow Up is the sequel to the popular Grow Home which features B.U.D. (Botanical Utility Droid) as he tries to reach higher and higher. Now, if you’re unfamiliar with the first game, you can’t just keep on climbing structures to reach your final destination. You have to grow various plants and use special seeds to keep reaching new heights and milestones. There’s strategy incorporated into the experience as well as adventure. Grow Up can be considered a hybrid of a very basic survival game combined with a construction one.

The basic mechanics of Grow Up involve analyzing various plants found on the planet you crash land on. You pick up different species and can use them in certain situations. For example, grey mushrooms can be used to bounce on and reach higher areas. There are also other mushrooms you can control which can grow hundreds of meters. There is a lot of variety when it comes to the flora of the planet and exploring everything will take you many hours. You’ll encounter all sorts of odd plants from cacti to pollen-shooting pods. The game still features the ability to direct the stalks of Starplants into energy sources to help them grow. The powers from the previous game are still there, they just have more structure now.

Aside from collecting and analyzing plants, the main objective is to repair your vessel and head back home. The beginning of the game features a short cutscene which shows your ship crashing into the planet’s moon and the pieces getting scattered everywhere. In order to do this you have to accomplish various objectives such as finding parts to repair the craft. There are also collectible crystals you can find throughout the world. Even though the overall length of the game is quite short just like its predecessor—it’s still longer than the first—Grow Up is still a lot of fun and if you want to go for total completion you can easily play this game for a long time. I wouldn’t really rank it high when it comes to replayability but you’ll thoroughly enjoy your time with it if you’re looking for a casual experience between those heavy hitters this month.

Another main mechanic in Grow Up has to be the ability to upgrade yourself. By finding ability capsules, B.U.D. can obtain new powers such as a jetpack, gliding, and rolling into a ball, which can each be upgraded by collecting crystals hidden across the world. There are also certain challenges you can complete in the game which give you access to new suits. These require you to go through multiple checkpoints within a time limit. For example, the bee suit attracts bugs and the aviator suit increases gliding speed. There is a surprising amount of depth to the game that can be initially overlooked due to its cute and blocky appearance.

I nearly forgot. The planet you land on might seem dark and purple at first but it features multiple biomes. You’ll traverse mycelium fields to deserts. Just like the plants, there is a lot of variety in the environments. I initially was terrified of being stuck in the hellish mushroom plains but exploring the planet quickly addressed that concern.

The game also runs smoothly on Xbox One at 60 FPS from what I can tell. This is a welcome change from other titles I’ve reviewed recently that, even though have a very basic graphical look, run at 30 FPS and suffer from a lot of performance or control issues. Everything worked smoothly in Grow Up just like the first game and felt more refined. I’m glad the developers optimized the engine in between titles, especially how smooth the controls feel this time around.

Summary

Overall, Grow Up feels like a step up from Grow Home. It features an improved campaign and more structure by incorporating objectives that revolve around repairing your ship. It’s definitely a fun casual title that will keep you busy for many hours. The blocky graphical style is also unique, and coupled with its plant-based gameplay in an open world environment, it’s definitely a title I would recommend to all Xbox One owners.

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