Growing Pains Reviews

This game could be incredible if it was more fleshed out. The concept is lovely, and the character handles tightly, but having solid mechanics is not enough for me to recommend it. I try to only purchase games with aesthetics that really appeal me, so I have no idea why I thought Growing Pains was a good idea (heck, even the font is corny). The rudimentary graphics made me wonder why this isn't just a broswer Flash game. The "particles" from the lasers and glow sticks are really nice, which is quite incongruent with the lack of details everywhere else. I feel that the developers could make it work quite easily by adding touches here and there. The game only contains nine levels, and that's so inadequate for a paid game! Though there are ten other user levels, the base game is simply not meaty enough. Simply put: there are many more platformers that deserve one's attention.

The main concept is you start small, and need to finish the level before you grow too big and ge crushed. As a premise, this game executes that very well. It puts you up against a time limit and various obstacles which provide a good enough challenge if you're trying to beat the highest difficulty. The 2D graphics are by nomeans anything to write home about, but I think they work well in this game, as they need to be easily visible from many sizes and anything too complex might be difficult to see. The controls are pretty good although the way the 'ball' you're controlling works can take a bit of getting used to. Overall, this is a ncie twist on the standard platformer fare, but would have been nicer with more levels.

This game isnt really so difficult honestly, though this might be for those who are very well experienced with platforming. If you are a simple casual player, you can probably beat this too. The ranks (bronze, silver, and gold) are actually the difficulty, not something for time based. But even the hardest difficulty doesnt feel THAT difficult to me. Its still a fair challenge nonetheless and the design is pretty good. On the plus note, it supports workshop in case if you feel to try out other people's creation.

Growing Pains is one of those aggressively challenging platformers in the Super Meat Boy mold. Unlike SMB, there isn't a great deal of gameplay here, with just nine scant levels (albeit each containing three difficulty levels that adds traps). For the price I paid (greatly on sale), I feel I got my money's worth and it was a perfect distraction for me during a time when I didn't feel like doing much else. Your mileage may vary.