Developer: Last Day of Work
Publisher: Last Day of Work
Genre: Life
Release Date: September 2007
Pros:
- It'll take hours to discover all breeds
- Learn to play in a minutes
Cons:
- Needs larger family tree for seeds
- A system for managing cross-breeding
"Plant Tycoon" Features
- Breed and cross-breed plants in the hunt for the 6 magic plants.
- Over 500 different breeds of plants to discover.
- Collect insects that show up near your plants using a net.
- Buy supplies to keep plants healthy - vitamins, insta-grow formulas, and insect spray.
- Upgrade your equipment in order to breed exotic plants.
- Store extra seeds until you are ready to plant them or experiment.
"Plant Tycoon" Review
The developers that brought us "Virtual Villagers" and "Fish Tycoon" have released a new life sim, "Plant Tycoon." Similar "Fish Tycoon." the ultimate goal is to discover 6 magical plants while crossbreeding and selling plants. Your watchful eye will be needed to tend to the plants' health needs."Plant Tycoon" is a sim game that runs in real time. What this means is that while you are away from your computer, the game will be changing. Your plants will grow, produce seeds, die, or become unhealthy while the game is off. It runs the same whether you are watching over the plants or not. This type of gameplay is great for playing throughout the day. You cannot sit in one sitting and beat this game. You could cheat and change the computer's clock - but really you're only ruining the fun.
A tutorial in the start of "Plant Tycoon" will walk you through planting a seed, watering, buying supplies, and storing seeds. You'll have a pile of seeds from your own plant creations in no time. Watering, storing seeds, and pollinating plants are all done by dragging and dropping. You won't get lost in menus.
To start a new plant, add soil, water, and then a seed to an empty plant pot. Plants grow in stages, from seedlings to mature plants that can be pollinated. Cross-breeding is done by dragging the pollen of one plant to another. You'll need to buy supplies (like vitamins or insect spray) and seeds later in the game.
Seeds do not have to be used right away. Often when you pollinate plants, they will produce 4+ seeds. Those seeds can be stored as long as you want and you can see the "parents" of the seed. If all your plants do die, you can always restart the game by using the seeds in storage. They don't expire!
Checking in on your plants as you can and see what new breeds of plants you have made is the entertainment of "Plant Tycoon." Finding all the plants possible takes patience and a lot of notetaking.
Yes, I said note taking. This is also where "Plant Tycoon" shows its flaws. There is no way of tracking in-game which plants have been cross-breed. To keep from wasting time and working in circles, writing down the results of pollination is essential. Otherwise frustration is inevitable.
No tracking is the weakest aspect of "Plant Tycoon." It is otherwise a solid game, that will suck you into the search for all the breeds of plants. Fans of "Fish Tycoon" should without question try "Plant Tycoon."
