Similarly, with the experiments, once all the plants have been moved through each experiment, the play is essentially mastered. Players can only create so many new plants before the species begin to repeat themselves. When compared with the imaginative possibilities in Toca Builders or Toca Blocks, for example, which allow users to create new spaces, scenes, structures, and worlds, Toca Lab: Plants feels limited. While all these elements – the app’s open play that supports experimentation and discovery, the beautiful visuals, and the endearing plants – make for a compelling play experience initially, the app is limited in extending play beyond these initial encounters. The graphics are classic Toca Boca: beautiful bold colours, exaggerated blocky shapes, quirky plant characters, and uncluttered scenes. Since the play is wordless and largely without text (species are labelled with their Latin and common names at some points), the sound effects help to clarify what is happening and the materials in use, such as running water or electricity.

Each station has machines to turn on, knobs to crank, faucets to open, or buttons to push. The lab itself is visually interesting and begs to be explored.

They even giggle and shake their leaves in response to touch. They respond with joy and exuberance to stimuli they like and with fear and shudders at stimuli they dislike. The plants, as characters in this app, are endearing. In playing with these lab tools, the player can propagate plants, discover new plants, nurture others in pots, and keep track of them all in a botany chart. Five lab stations offer chances to experiment: a grow light, watering tank, nutrition station, cloning machine, and crossbreeding apparatus. Upon opening the app, players enter a lab where a plant bobs happily in in the center, waiting to be played with the plants are quite friendly and invite the player to interact. Toca Lab: Plants provides an open and unstructured environment to both nurture and experiment with plants. Toca Lab: Plants, from developer Toca Boca complements other apps in the Lab series, which aim to make science accessible through play. iTunes App Store, Īvailable for Apple, Google Play, and Kindle Fire

Toca builders review