Swim through shoals of fishes in this cute little game. Munch on those smaller than you to grow bigger and badder.
Gameplay: You use an on-screen D-pad to control a fish and your aim is to eat through everyone else in the fishtank. As you chomp through fish you’re awarded points and this is multiplied by a chain multiplier figure in the top right hand corner of the screen. The chain multiplier goes up when you munch through multiple fishes quickly, and it has a countdown timer on it, so it’ll keep falling whilst you don’t eat fish. Gold coins will pop out as you go feeding, and if you collect these, then your coin counter and points will go up.
Grow isn’t just about mindless swimming though – there are enemies out there to avoid. Some of them are too big to be eaten initially, and some can suck you into them so it’s harder to swim round them. To beat the enemies, you either need to grow larger by eating more or you use the power-ups floating around in bubbles. In the free version of the game, there’s two specials introduced, but I believe there’s more in the full version. Even if there aren’t more, there’s more potential to have more.
Top notch elements: Wow, this game ticks a lot of my boxes. I think it provides a great immersive experience – it’s got nice clean and cute fishy graphics combined with realistic water sounds and satisfying chomping sound-effects. The controls are simple, and the momentum in movement adds to the fish swimming feel. It has a three star awards system (based off the points and coins), so you’ll keep playing until you get your full star collection. All the menus and navigation is very Angry Birds-like, so it’s really easy to pick up and play. Even if you don’t understand the game, there’s a good iterative guide as you play the first few levels.
Verdict: 5/5 What an awesome game. The free version of Grow is so good, that I might even buy the full game. It’s got so much potential behind it.
I was tempted to award 4 stars because:
- The free version is quite short.
- The game footprint is sizeable – almost 6MB. They really should have a Move to SD Card feature. It’s one line of code!
- I find that I need to release the D-pad, to trigger the special correctly (though I’ve always found problems with touch-screen on my HTC Desire). I get the feeling that the game would be better off with the special button at a different vertical level. I’ve not yet played a frantic scenario, but I think I might get annoyed at this problem eventually.
Promo Vid for Grow – ignore the lag or jerkiness, that tends to happen in these Android Videos.
Grow QR Code
Developers: Epic Pixel
