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Don't be fooled by the cartoonish music, graphics, and premise of the new BloomBusters game by UBrothers: this game is not for kindergarteners. True, the first few levels are ridiculously easy (well, at least if you're playing on easy mode like I was), but by the time you get to the tenth level, I guarantee that your mouse hand will be cramping and your tongue will be poking out the side of your mouth in concentration.

The game's storyline about farmers in love who are trying to stop the evil old crank who has poisoned the waters and animals of Bloomland made the tree-hugger within me cheer. The narrative at the beginning of the game was suitably silly and made me giggle just a little bit. But if you don't feel the need to giggle before getting your game on, the designers were kind enough to allow you the option of skipping the story aspect of BloomBusters.

The game's first few levels have you running (and I do mean running!) all about the screen to do various farm activities: growing and collecting food, feeding pigs and chickens, and growing flowers. It's not all that exciting, until the poor creatures that have been mutated by the mean old crank's pollution start showing up to eat your plants. The best part of this game is that you get to beat the little pests with a fly swatter or goo them with your slime gun. I don't think any game is complete without a slime gun.

The graphics in BloomBusters are nothing to write home to Mom about, but this is a casual game, so that is to be expected. The music is a bit too cutesy for my taste, but I did enjoy the sound effects - I definitely got a kick out of hearing my plants squeal "help me!" whenever a baddie got past me and started munching on them. My biggest gripe about the game is the extremely touchy drag and drop system used for collecting and distributing seeds, food, and water. It can prove a hindrance for a while, but you eventually get the hang of it as long as you're patient and don't keep clicking everywhere.

BloomBusters starts getting hectic when the game area expands and you have to run around simultaneously growing plants, feeding them to your animals, and fending off a variety of baddies. It is a multitasking game in the tradition of Diner Dash or Cake Mania, but it is more entertaining than those games for those of us who play real life Diner Dash for our rent money. Who wants to play a game about their job when they get home from work? So unless you're a real life farmer, BloomBusters provides a context removed from your everyday routine in which to enjoy a fast paced, multitasking game.

If it weren't for my current college-loan induced poverty, I'd probably be inclined to fork over $19.99 for the full game. The game started to get a bit tricky on easy mode, so considering that there are two harder difficulties and two different characters to play with, BloomBusters could surely provide hours upon hours of entertainment. Overall, I give it a 3/5.

Learn more about this author, Lanae Celeste.
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