Planting Another One On Us
Hey, all you green thumbs out there! Playfirst has planted a new on us called “Garden Dash”.
Hmm, a game that has me gardening? I always said I needed more culture but I didn’t necessarily mean horticulture.
I’ve heard that gardening is a great way to relax and forget the worries of life. But I'm not sure that you are going to relax much playing “Garden Dash”.
The game is quite tough with the time limits even in the easier levels. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Hi hoe, hi hoe. A gardening I grow.
Barb and Flo Had A Farm E I E I O
The star of “Garden Dash” is Barb who all you Dash fans might recognize as one of the impatient, businesswomen that came to Flo’s Diner. She is so high strung that the stress was getting to her, and she started to make major mistakes at work. Not good.
Her boss insists she takes time out to relax and get her mind in check.
But being the energized person that she is, Barb starts looking for a relaxing activity that can also become a business opportunity. So with Flo's advice, she turns to gardening.
Working Over-Thyme
I have an emotional attachment towards all of the characters of Dinertown.
Every “Dash “ game feels more like visiting old friends than just merely playing any old RTS game. It’s comforting and feels familiar.
That having been said, interestingly enough, unlike other Dash games where you must earn a certain amount of money in order to beat a level,here in “Garden Dash” you must fill a certain amount of orders in a certain amount of time. Sounds pretty simple right? That’s what I thought as well, but the level timer is pretty unforgiving and it is a real challenge to beat, especially in later levels.
Bless my bloomers!
Your basic task is to plant different flowers, fruits, or vegetables such as peaches, tomatoes, or roses in pots, tend to them, and in the end deliver them to a basket, where customers will pick them up automatically.
Each plant needs different tending, which makes the gardening more complicated. Every plant needs to be watered, some even twice. Each plant has a quirky need you have to take care of.peaches need warm clothes(?) roses like listening to music. One of my favorites was for cucumbers; they only grew when Barb talked to them. Isn't that sweet?
You grow a plant by first filling a pot up with soil. You then decide what type of seed you want to plant in it, then water it.
“Garden Dash” uses the color matching system where you get bonus points and extra time if you plant a seed in a pot with the same color. Each plant has a set color-garlic and roses are red, peaches and pears are yellow, grapes are green...you get my drift right?
That extra time is really, really needed in this game, because to complete a level within the time limit is quite a challenge sometimes.
Look, the name of this game - and just about every “Dash “game- is chain, chain, chain.
You need to get in kind of a groove with what plants needs what so you can get as many chain actions as possible which keeps your clock timer down.
Then it's time to harvest it and send it to the customer. Each step requires you to move Barb to the right equipment (such as a watering can or clippers), Unfortunately Barb can only hold two items at a time but anyway, then she goes over to the pot that needs the attention.
Feed Me Seymour, Feed Me!
In a different twist, it’s not the customers patience you need to worry about here, it’s the plants”happiness you must keep an eye on!
Hey, if the customers are willing to wait for a tomato plant to grow from scratch, I’d say they have more than enough patience! But anyway.
So, it’s the plants that lose patience, not the customers.
Each plant starts with five hearts that keeps going down. You can also lose hearts by pesky insects, which you can get rid of by using spray pesticides an upgrade that can be bought in the garden shop.
There is also a relaxation bar that can be filled up each time a plant is harvested. And once it's full, it can be used to recharge the hearts of all the plants.
Speaking of upgrades, on the downside some of the upgrades are completely unnecessary. There are at least three upgrades that I never really needed in the game, such as new outfits for Barb. I wish they had offered larger watering cans or faster growing seeds for example. But besides those minor quibbles “Garden Dash” had a lot going for it.
Gardening has never been my “thing” but I really enjoyed the fresh new setting in Dinertown; as well as the hyped up level of difficulty.
It’s great to see that PlayFirst is back on track after giving us some super easy ones-” Wedding Dash” comes to mind.
Thanks Playfirst for giving us a challenging frantic,sweaty palm time management game reminiscent of the very first “Diner Dash” that started it all, I really missed it.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some cucumbers that I need to go talk to.
Get Garden Dash Here |
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Posted by oxyjen on Mar 30, 2011
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