DESCRIPTION

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and the Cosmic Garden for Game Boy Color is a non-violent strategy game featuring E.T. in his intrinsic environment, aboard his spaceship, voyaging the galaxy in search of unique plants for his Cosmic Garden. A botanist by trade, E.T.'s goal is for players to collect a total of 63 plants while traveling to six differently colored planets. In conjunction with E.T.'s shipmates, Space Bee and Space Slug, players help E.T. grow and maintain his Cosmic Garden by caring for his plants.

Simulated gardening tasks include planting, watering, feeding, and fertilizing the different plants and flowers. An icon displays under each specimen indicating the plant's current need. Space Bee pollinates flowering plants and Space Slug is a well-meaning, but hungry critter who will eat the plants if no one stops him. A reference book is available for viewing that describes the different types of flowers along with their likes and dislikes. Galactic flowers can have six character traits: intelligence, sound, heat, movement, light and friendship. To obtain different flowers, players must learn to cross-breed plants with different traits and then successfully plant and grow their seeds.

Similar in concept to the Tamagotchi virtual pets, various icons are used to demonstrate the course of action needed at any given time in the game. Plants convey a number of basic needs as well as their contentment via the icons. A seed book will record the different plants as they are discovered. After traveling to all six planets and acquiring the necessary varieties of flowers, players will uncover a secret Prize Garden and E.T. becomes a botanist hero. ~ Jennifer Beam, All Game Guide