[b]gardener's path[/b] is a short sliding game with [b]great pixel graphics and music, but pretty bad execution otherwise[/b]. it starts in a very small resizable window every time and you have to sit through or skip the pretty but very loud intro, again, every time, with [b]slow, typewriter-like text display, accompanied by annoying sounds[/b]. then it switches to full screen if that's how you left it, but accessing the settings should come before any lengthy cutscene, skippable or not.
the story is about a girl, gardener by trade, trying to protect her village and the underground gardens from giant insects. there's a bunch of dialog throughout the game with the same annoyances as the intro, but a press of a specific key (because why would enter, space or esc do anything) shows the whole sentence immediately.
[b]60 levels[/b] in 4 environments, level numbers only on the level select screen (with a lot of tedious left/right scrolling if you want to replay them) and in the pause menu. the whole thing should take [b]about 2 hours or so[/b], as most stages are relatively easy, but the game lets you [b]skip a level[/b] and come back later after failing it a few times.
gameplay-wise it's your average sliding game, [b]no timer or move limit, but annoying real-time element near the end[/b]. this isn't the first (or second) game claiming to be turn-based and those shouldn't have shenanigans like this. on the last 10 or so levels [b]you can 'turn off' some plants for better visibility and they come back after 3 seconds instead of after the next move[/b]. mazes are bad enough, made even worse if they're coupled with a memory game and level reset.
otherwise move in four directions, avoid cacti for obvious reasons, use sunflowers to get pushed around because they're famous for their bounciness, use other plants as teleporters and gates. bump into insects to deal 1 damage and open the path to the exit crystal once they're all dead. if you pick up a weapon, it'll auto-kill sturdier foes in one hit (as do cacti). [b]bumping into an enemy from the adjacent tile won't do anything, but sunflowers still work[/b], a bit of inconsistency for fun... there's also a poisoned skull to use when available, it can deal with multiple nearby insects.
[b]dying immediately resets the level and there's no undo.[/b] often a dealbreaker on its own, but it's only one of the many issues here. you can find a so-called time jewel on certain levels, but that's just part of the puzzle to take you back to an earlier position [i]as the next step[/i], not to rectify a wrong player input without having to start over.
keyboard and controller are both supported, [b]no mouse or logical keybindings, you can change them but it won't help much[/b]. by default arrows move, wasd doesn't work, 'z' is select, enter doesn't work, 'x' is skip/return, esc doesn't work. when will developers realize that [b]keyboard and controller aren't the same, so stop ruining keyboard controls by making them imitate a gamepad[/b].
rebinding is always useful, but in this case it doesn't work properly. [b]defaults are shown even if you change them to something else[/b], can't set alternatives, so it's still arrows [i]or[/i] wasd, not both, for instance, and [b]the keys for using in-game items double as select and exit in the menus[/b]. god forbid you had separate ones for very different functions. again, [b]it's not a controller, there are 100+ keys on a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ keyboard, use them[/b].
further settings, only available from the main menu (another shortcoming), include languages, separate volumes, a full screen toggle for a resizable window, but there's no proper full screen, window manipulation icons are always visible in the corner. this might only affect win7 users (or just me), as other games using the same engine(?) behave similarly. there's a [b]logbook with stats and lore to unlock[/b] as you run into new plants, insects and artifacts, always nice. your appearance can also be changed by unlocking [b]various skins[/b].
sadly, it's [b]the usual style over functionality schtick[/b]. looks great, works well enough in some areas, not so well or at all in others. it went half off a month after release but even that's too much at this point. if it ever gets patched and starts working as it should, not just look and sound pretty, I'll edit the review.
