My wife and I had a plan for deciding when it would be time to have kids. We laid out a series of steps to seeing what we could keep alive under our care. So, we bought a plant. After a couple of poor starts we still have the same plant basking in the warmth of our living room for the past 8 years. So we got a small fish tank and a small selection of the pet store’s finest that promptly died about two weeks later.
My wife and I had a plan for deciding when it would be time to have kids. We laid out a series of steps to seeing what we could keep alive under our care. So, we bought a plant. After a couple of poor starts we still have the same plant basking in the warmth of our living room for the past 8 years. So we got a small fish tank and a small selection of the pet store’s finest that promptly died about two weeks later.
We tried again, and by about the third batch or so something finally stuck and the fish were alive. Next we adopted a dog. The dog promptly killed the fish by pulling over the table where the tank sat. Honestly, I don’t know where that leaves us with kids. In Grow the object is to eat the smaller fish in the tank on your way to becoming the biggest fish. I should probably show this game to my dog – he’d love it.
Be aware, this is no fake aquarium game where you’re trying to keep everyone alive and happy in some aquatic zen palace. Grow is all about becoming the metaphorical King of the Castle by eating your way through those smaller than you. You control a small fish with one of three control methods (tilt, virtual joystick or touch-to-move) and roam around the area, gobbling up the smaller fish and avoiding the bigger ones. There are a few power-ups that will float up towards the top that you can try to grab for temporary boosts to your abilities. The fish you eat will also let loose a few coins that you can grab and save up to buy power-ups from the in-game store (no real dollars are spent).
You’re presented with two ways of playing the game: adventure and survival. In survival you pick one of four areas from the adventure to see how long you can last against a series of infinitely-spawning fish. The adventure mode has you progressing through levels in a set up that will be very familiar to you Angry Birds fans, even down to the possible three star rating at the end of each stage.
It’s this familiar set up to the main mode in the game that gives Grow an addictive personality. The obsession with constantly becoming a bigger fish will definitely grab some of you. The levels are kept on a short timer to allow for easy pick-up-and-play while the cute graphics keep your eyes from getting bored. The only real problem with Grow, and it’s kind of a biggie, is that even though there are three different control schemes, none of them really feel all that good.
If you can find happiness with one of the options the developer gives you to guide your baby fish to a cannibalistic pleasure world, then you’ll no doubt enjoy what Grow has to offer. Though the actual mechanics might tend to get a bit repetitive, there’s no doubt that there is a ton of gameplay and replay value built in. If you’re looking for an action-oriented, fish-eating alternative to other undersea gaming options, Grow is well worth your time.
