Playfirst and GameLab have bought us such challenging and entertaining titles in the past that it comes as no surprise that Plantasia has been making the girl’s delights around here.
The storyline is presented in the trademark cartoon style of Diner Dash, Trijinx and Egg vs. Chicken. In Plantasia, you play the role of Holly, a fairy who is sent out to fulfill someone’s wish. His wish is to have his estate gardens restored, but these gardens go on for miles, so Holly has a tough task in her hands.
The basics of the game are very simple: you plant things, watch them grow and harvest them for mana. To complete your goals (restore the garden statues) you need to reach a certain amount of mana before the timer runs out.
Plantasia offers two game modes: Holly’s Story and Garden Challenge. Holly’s story is the stage-by-stage gameplay, where you advance through all five gardens. Garden Challenge is a survival type of game to see how long you can last in the same garden. Both modes are played under a timer, but in Garden Challenge you can use the mana produced by your plants to buy more time.
Compared to previous games, what you will notice right away is that the difficulty level increases considerably during the earlier stages of gameplay. Plantasia gets complicated in the early levels, so you can imagine how hectic it becomes in the later stages.
If I had to compare the gameplay in Plantasia to any major title, I’d say it’s a bit like Harvest Moon, but without the boring part. Yes, you plant, grow and harvest your flowers, fruits and vegetables. But you have to defend your garden from several menacing plagues such as weeds, rocks and bugs.
To help you protect the gardens, you will have a series of tools available: a shovel, bug spray, watering can and a tool to get rid of weeds. Aside from the tools, you also learn some very useful spells that affect the entire garden at once, so you can get rid of a wave of bugs, water everything at once, break every rock once or shrink all the weeds once. The only single use spell is the wheelbarrow, which transports plants from their current position to any other square in the garden (even those that weren’t dug up yet).
Make sure you use the garden spots that have colored circles (fairy dust), since your seeds will grow more and produce more mana in these, but you have to match the color of the seed to the color of the circle.
These magical plants are a delight to look at as they turn from seedlings into fully bloomed little wonders. There are over 30 kinds of seeds ranging from roses to cacti, fruits and more, and they are all as cute as delicate.
A very nice touch to this game is the little tribute to Flo in the last garden. Just like in Egg vs. Chicken, the brave restaurateur makes another special appearance in Plantasia.
I strongly believe that the colorful graphics, involving romantic plot, delightful fantasy music and addictive strategic puzzle gameplay could very well turn Plantasia into the next Diner Dash phenomenon.
What the staff is saying:
“Plantasia offers delightful 2D graphics in lush watercolors and cute sprites, with cutscenes designed like a comic book and soft tunes in the background. Somehow, Plantasia slightly reminds me of The Sims, and taking care of plants instead of people is actually a bit more fun. Normally I wouldn’t play this sort of “puzzle-strategy” game, but this game really delivers great fun for all ages!” – Anna
“Enchanting watercolor graphics and ethereal background Celtic harmonies endow the innovative puzzle mechanics of this game with a magical storybook quality.” – Michelle T.
“This is a feel-good puzzle game, especially for those with a real life ‘black thumb’!” – Minna
Special thanks to Kirem Weers and Playfirst for providing the full version of this title.