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Rating: 5/5
Spring up surprised me. I consider myself an action gamer at heart, but I'm not unfamiliar with the casual games that you sometimes see advertised here and there. So when I downloaded and installed the demo of Spring Up I wasn't expecting much. In fact I wasn't expecting to be entertained at all. I was happily wrong.
The game is simplistic enough that learning to play hardly requires any tutorial at all. You shoot small colored balls from the top of the screen at similarly colored objects scattered and sometimes moving about the screen. Then as all the objects fall to the bottom of the screen you try to catch them on a platform that you can move back and forth. The more objects of the same color you hit and catch the higher your score goes. After each level you can then use your accumulated points to purchase items in a decorative garden.

The graphics themselves are crisp and easy on the eyes. You don't have to squint to see objects and the decorative garden rewards the player between each level.
The sound and music, while clear and cheerful, can become a little repetitive at times, but it's not distracting or overly obnoxious. I would have liked a little more variation in this area but it doesn't really take away from the overall experience of the game.
I do have to give the creators kudos for the insight they had to combine elements from several other casual game types. While knocking wildly bouncing objects around the screen seems a little basic at first, the player quickly comes to realize that an element of strategy and timing are required as well, to maximize your points.
It's a game that can definitely be enjoyed by the entire family, regardless of gender or age. If your child is old enough to use your computer to play Sesame Street games, they're old enough to play and understand Spring Up. Furthermore some of the older family members will be able to appreciate the challenge without becoming stressed out. It's very relaxing to play.
It requires very little computer memory to save and run, and even a computer a couple of years old should have no problem handling the graphics.
All things considered, I'd say that Spring Up is definitely worth buying if you'd like to have a game you can enjoy without having to hide it from your children.

Learn more about this author, Sean O'Leary.
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