Plant Link review

Destroying plants with electricity!? Sign me up! Plant Link is a timed puzzle game where you pair off plants that are able to be connected with a line of electricity. Clear the field as fast as possible and rack up the high score! Plant Link, released by Coolkey Studio Inc, is available on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad for $1.99 with a Lite alternative.

Graphically, this is very lovely looking app. Cartoony yet detailed, the individual plants have quite a bit of detailing in each of them. There are also destructible non-plant items so expect adorable snowmen, dragons, and oddly cute slime puddles! To play the game, you tap on the plants and link together pairs. When you tap two of the same plants, a thunderbolt will connect them, but only if it takes 2 turns or less in any direction to get to the other plant. The thunderbolt cannot go through plants, so it takes a bit of planning on which plants to destroy and in which order, but you don’t have long to think since each level is timed. You also get 2 special abilities during a level: The Bomb and the Shuffle. Activating the bomb will automatically destroy a single pair. Yes, it’s extremely limited, but if you are done to a last dozen pairs but are running out of time, it might just save you a second or two. Shuffle moves all the plants and other things around to help you in case you paired yourself into a dead end and need some help.

You have 3 different modes to play in the game: Classic, Beeline, and Endless. Classic has the basic game where you chain lightning and whatnot that I described. Beeline allows you to move the rows around to your liking to make your pairs, but the lightning can only be linked if it’s a straight line. Endless is self-explanatory I hope. Game play for Plant Link is actually quite good. I was surprised how challenging it is to make efficient pairs and try and beat the progressively shorter time limit. Beeline mode was unbelievably challenging for me, but Classic is fun and nicely paced. I did fail a couple of times, but most of the time, you’ll realize that it was you’re fault. The shuffle ability is amazingly helpful and you should use it if you want to continue the force lightning.

I had a nice time with Plant Link but I really would have appreciated if they would tell me what level unlocks which mode. What I mean is, yes, you do have 3 modes of playing (Classic, beeline, and endless), but only Classic is unlocked at the beginning. I was playing level by level in Classic mode when I had to quit out and come back in… I was 12 levels in and suddenly Beeline was available. Why? When? When will Endless be unlocked? Do I finish off Classic mode or do I have to play a certain amount of Beeline mode? How about the garden? How do I unlock plants for my virtual garden collection? I have no clue in-game on what the requirements are.

Of all things, those are the only real negatives I’ve found in Plant Link. The game works well, the graphics are great for what it is, and the puzzles are challenging. Puzzle fans might get a kick out of the 50+ levels. A little more user friendly information would be helpful since I should never have to leave the app to know everything that I need to know about it, but this one is a solid buy.

Here is a video demo of the Plant Link app on the iPhone

AppSafari Rating: 4/5

AppSafari review of Plant Link was written by Joseph Ho on November 29th, 2010 and categorized under App Store, Fun, Games, Puzzler. Page viewed 5375 times, 1 so far today. Need help on using these apps? Please read the Help Page.