Atari’s been describing their own The Undergarden as a “palate cleanser” to be played in between more traditional titles, and that doesn’t strike me as a very positive way to portray your own game. Even if you accept that unfortunate label, it’s hard not to admit that there are other games that do it better.
The Undergarden, out now on PC, PSN and XBLA, can be described as equally both gorgeous and misleading. Its technicolor aesthetic and unsettlingly cute characters will evoke thoughts of Flower, Little Big Planet, and even visually opposite but equally arresting titles like Limbo and The Misadventures of P. B. Winterbottom. These comparisons are obvious, but inept, because The Undergarden is simply not on the same level as many of those games.
The game is most likely meant to be relaxing, but until you master its many quirks, you’ll spend too much time wrestling with the physics of objects and water currents to fully appreciate its admittedly lovely world.
Movement is sluggish, and the physics engine gets in the way as often as not. Your tiny gremlin, or sea monkey, or whatever it’s supposed to be, is tasked with dragging various objects around cramped, rainbow-hued tunnels during all of the game’s nine levels in order to solve a small variety of simple puzzles. The problems start when you try to tow around more than a few objects at once; they either get caught on the environment, and smaller tunnels become unnavigable.
Plenty of mechanics that initially seem necessary to advance are actually completely pointless. You need to collect pollen to make plants grow; except most of the time, this is almost entirely unnecessary. You need to lug floating or sinking fruits around to active weighted platforms and open paths; often, though, you can simply swim against the platforms and dash through the openings, skipping the intended solutions altogether.
Later levels become a little more complex, bringing bomb fruits, light fruits and a variety of obstacles into the mix, but unless you’re a completionist, every level can be breezed through in a matter of minutes. On the other hand, if you are a completionist, you’ll find plenty here to occupy your time; attempting to complete the last half of the game with all items collected and all plant life pollinated is a formidable challenge.
There are several other elements at play that are so irresistibly charming as to almost make up for the game’s many faults. The visuals are the most obvious draw, but on a deeper level is the way the game world reacts to your presence. Flowers, anemones and countless other bizarre lifeforms spring to life at your passing, and subtle foreground and background elements float in and out of view in sync with your movement.
Possibly even better is the music. Throughout each level are scattered a number of tiny, multicolored musicians – bongo, trombone and clarinet-toting creatures that can be towed around like the game’s other items. When you approach a bongo player, the game’s ambient soundtrack becomes augmented with percussion, and likewise with wind, brass and string instruments. You’re rewarded for bringing all the musicians in a given level to the exit, and when two or more are in proximity with the player, the soundtrack erupts into a lively cacophony of complementary sounds.
The levels themselves are cleverly designed, though often frustrating to navigate with half a sea monkey orchestra in tow behind you. Still, the fruits of your patience are well worth it if you’re after a unique aesthetic experience; and for most of the game, the music and visuals are the reward.
This extends to your charming little character as well. He’s got a surprising number of animations and facial expressions, and his beady black eyes and toothy grin are as creepy as they are cute. Completed levels and high scores are rewarded with alternate body colors, horns and even headgear – like a top hat and mustache – for the little guy. A small thing, but the Uncle Moneybags getup even causes a burst of green money and cash register sounds to replace his normal movement effects.
Co-op deserves a nod as well, though it’s as flawed as the rest of the game. Same-screen co-op is always a welcome feature; but unlike other games, which generally cause the screen to zoom out as the players move further apart, Undergarden simply warps the second player to the first player’s location whenever they move too far apart. This becomes a problem, especially since the second player will drop any items they’re carrying when they warp.
Where exactly the game takes place is left purposely ambiguous: “Where is the Undergarden and what lies above?” reads one of the game’s many self-referential loading screens, which contain the only text outside of the start menu. Take from that what you will, but it’s hard to recommend the game; the aesthetic creativity is remarkable, and the perfectionist in you will be drawn to master every level, but the puzzles themselves are far from challenging and, often enough, easily circumvented.
The frustration factor makes it more comparable to Earthworm Jim than Flower. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then there are worse ways to spend a few hours than with The Undergarden. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you.
