Right out of nowhere comes The Undergarden, a new Xbox LIVE downloadable game that defies description. But I’m going to try anyway! You play as this little flying monkey doll teletubbie…thing. Your job is to zip around dark cavern areas, collect pollen, and then make cave flowers bloom to brighten the area. Why? Who knows?

Fly around 2-D cavernous areas and collect pollen by touching green mushrooms. Then soar around and make glowing flowers bloom. Sometimes pollinated trees will bear special fruit. You can pick up these fruit and drop them at certain places to solve puzzles. Some fruit will weight things down while others are like bombs and can blow stuff up. Pick up musicians along the way to add to the music as you zip about. Collect hidden items to unlock secrets and other goodies.

The only main problem with this game is sometimes the goals and objectives in the levels can be a little unclear. And some may find the gameplay a little slow paced. I can think of several Xbox LIVE games that are more exciting, but fans of titles like Flower and other relaxing puzzlers may enjoy this little game anyway.

Kid Factor:

The Undergarden is rated E for Everyone. No violence whatsoever. You do use bombs to blow up obstacles, but they can’t really hurt anyone. The best part of The Undergarden is that two people can play at the same time, so it makes a nice co-op game for friends and loved ones to play together. Reading skill is helpful for the text instructions.

Tags: Game Reviews