Growing Pains (XBLIG): "A Groovy Platforming Challenge"

I absolutely believe in trying different things. It's a philosophy that I not only apply to gaming, but to life as well. Limiting one's self to particular things in life only keeps one from experiencing everything else that is available. If you don't try other things you could miss out on something great. With that being said I often times try things/games out that I'm not particularly fond of. It doesn't mean that the said things are bad, but simply that they're not to my liking. In the case of 'Growing Pains' I found myself rather frustrated by the difficulty that the game presented. It's what I like to call an "Impossible Game". If you don't know what I mean let me explain. There are is a sub-genre of platformers in the XBLIG library that exceed in the hardcore difficulty category. These games feature frustrating puzzles/requirements that will have you repeating levels/stages over, and over again. Most gamers end up ragequitting on such games, and in turn never finish them. I have been guilty of this in the past, and once again I find myself repeating that reaction. I will be able to give you the usual game description, and details, so you don't have to worry about that.

Growing Pains is a psychedelic platforming game that takes a new approach on the genre. At the heart of the game is this thing called "The Vessel". You control this "Cousin IT" looking creature as you guide it's ever-growing body across a series of obstacle courses. Your goal is to collect all of the prism colored capsules within an area before "The Vessel" gets to large to pass through to the next area. Time is of the essence in this game, but there are some features that allow you to control the growth of "The Vessel". If you need to slow down the creature's growth process simply pressing/holding the (Left Trigger) will allow you to do so as long as you have energy left in your meter. Growing larger in size plays out in a similar manner, but uses the (Right Trigger) as the activation method. There is no limit when it comes to growing larger, but you do have to be careful not to grow to big.

There are a total of 9 levels within 'Growing Pains'. Each level within the game is broken up into multiple areas that have various obstacles (ball & chains, spikes, lasers ...) to keep you from reaching the final goal in a decent amount of time. Aside from the hazards that are present you'll find that you are also limited in lives. This can become an issue if you find yourself dying a lot, which you will. If you find that the initial challenge (Bronze) isn't enough for you then there are an additional 2 difficulty challenges (Silver, Gold) per each level. With each advancing difficulty challenge there lies more obstacles, and threats that will definitely put your patience to the test. If you manage to overcome the difficult levels that make up 'Growing Pains' then you can share your end times with your friends via an in-game feature. It's a nice feature you can use to show off your mad skills to someone else. Unfortunately it means diddly squat if your friends do not have 'Growing Pains'.

Graphics are pretty crisp in this game. It definitely has that next-gen look even though it is a simple platforming title. The game itself has this psychedelic look to it that not only encompasses all of the walls within the game, but that also pulses to the techno style music that plays in the background. Even the prism colored capsules pulse as the game plays out. As I played 'Growing Pains' I found no hiccups, or glitches at all. Everything operated smoothly. I definitely enjoyed listening to the games soundtrack which featured not only techno style music, but some disco sounding tunes as well. The overall presentation of the audio, and visuals were really quite impressive.

I have to say that even though I chose to not pursue the game any further than I did (Level 2) it still had a good quality about it. What it boils down to is whether or not you have the patience to tackle such a challenging game. I found the whole ordeal rather frustrating, but again that is my take on the game. The graphics, and soundtrack were both impressive. The gameplay itself was definitely manageable, but you have to have the necessary patience to make it far. If you rush through this game you'll be repeating it from now until kingdom come. I kid you not. In closing I have nothing significantly bad to say about this game. 'Smudged Cat Games (The Developer)' did a great job of making the game. If you're up for a challenge then you can't go wrong with 'Growing Pains'.