Seems like the worst place for a garden is the seabed
In a time where fear clenches the entire world in the form of disease, bombs, famine, environmental disaster and general political belligerency, a surprising amount of games are being released encouraging you to create and prettify surroundings rather than run them into the ground. Perhaps it’s cool to sit in the corner and look cute nowadays. Perhaps this is a form of mind melding sorcery teaching us to rebuild a form of civilisation after nuclear disaster whilst acting as a morale boosting piece of propaganda. Worryingly, the hypnotic nature of The Undergarden give the impression that it’s the latter.
The objective of The Undergarden is beautifully simple. An unusual, blue Smurf like creature seems to catch the Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen bug and decides to give his underwater neighbourhood a dandy makeover. Thankfully his task isn’t blocked by noir antagonists and clashing colours, yet he needs some help from you to camp up the seabed.
The artistic merits and neon splendour are both your objective and reward in The Undergarden. From the very beginning it looks like Tim Burton has managed to get his hands on The Snorks franchise, what with the peculiar demi-sprite you float through segments of ocean. Admittedly, your unnamed protagonist looks like one of those stupid kids who has filled his brain with too many crayons and then committed himself to several faceplants, yet zoom the camera out and you’re able to see a much more beautiful picture painted before you. Gliding through the water and touching most of the surfaces and stroking dangling roots brings them to life and gives them a glowing soul. Soon enough pathways are ignited with fluorescent curls and light orbs, and it’s this visual stimulus that’s constantly greeting you through progression.
Any form of unnecessary stress is not something The Undergarden is particularly fond of.
Along your journey you’re accompanied by the same melancholy orchestra which simply soothes you into the steady pace of the game. Occasionally, some like-minded pals will turn up tooting their flutes egotistically labelled as ‘musicians’, and when plucked along for the ride will change the colours of anything you should spawn. In no way for a technical advantage, however, just for the purdy variations of plant you can grow.
This is the basis, the constant, the objective and the reward of the title. Much like the PS3’s petal power title Flower, The Undergarden is more about giving some weird form of sensory pleasure, and it works in a strangely hypnotic way. Witnessing the world come to life through your progression is enthralling to see, and when coupled with the enchanting yet minimal musical score feel like it’s lightly massaging your eyeballs whilst they’re still in your skull. It’s slightly disturbing, yet bizarrely gratifying as you give life to everything that surrounds you.
Occasionally, a physics based environmental ‘puzzle’ will pick itself off the couch in an effort to lightly tickle your brain lobes. As long as those who dare compete are above the age of five and are familiar with using Velcro, they do nothing to invoke challenge. In fact, any form of unnecessary stress is not something The Undergarden is particularly fond of. It’s a shame that, although you’re consistently greeted with the kind of beauty that would rival that of a glow stick party on the moon, there just isn’t any sense of achievement with minimal amounts of obstacles actually trying to hinder your progress.
Though the ocean coming to life through your actions is great to watch, the more you explore, the less rewarding the experience becomes. The only slightly spicier gameplay features aren’t instigated till very close to the end, everything beforehand is just a gentle swim to the finish. Secret flowers are dotted about levels, yet when discovered only offer up small customisation to dress you strange little critter in. The minimalistic rewards on offer don’t make the journey entirely worthwhile, and it takes more than lots of colours and floating lights to amuse the dedicated over time.
It’s because of this that you don’t truly feel like you’re getting back what you put into The Undergarden. It seems to act as a superb de-stressing agent, yet only in bitesize chunks as prolonged play simply doesn’t offer enough to keep you on board. For kids, it’s enchanting and for the older gamer a level or two it might make a sublime intermission between bouts of gore and limbs, yet despite the sensory tickles it offers up, it really is hard to find a reason to plough through let alone recommend a purchase at it’s rather high price. Yet it’s a fairly technically impressive side-scroller, and The Undergarden will certainly entice the casual gamer, even if there is little waiting at the end of the coral rainbow.
The Bad: Not entirely rewarding, Physics ‘puzzles’ aren’t exactly challenging
