Flower Power

Grow Up takes procedurally-animated robot BUD to new heights.

- Andy Kelly

Last year Reflections released Grow Home, a charming physics-driven platformer starring a robot called BUD. It was a rare example of a major studio, in this case Ubisoft, backing something a bit more unusual and experimental than their usual fare. And it was brilliant, with joyous procedural character movement, a stylish polygonal art style, and a unique central conceit: growing an enormous star-plant to reach the top of the map.

Grow Up is more of the same, but in the best possible way. They really didn’t need to tinker with BUD’s movement much. His lurching, drunken momentum feels unusual at first, but wrestling against the physics is part of what makes the platforming so enjoyable. Getting him to the top of something without falling off is hilariously precarious, but make it and it’s hugely satisfying.

But while moving BUD around feels exactly the same as it did before, some pretty dramatic changes to the structure of the game set Grow Up apart. Grow Home was largely a game about careful, patient climbing. The higher you got, the more tense it was, especially with BUD lolling and staggering like a drunken teenager. It wasn’t until you got the jetpack, and upgraded it, that you could start taking risks, making death-defying leaps between platforms.