Family Tree

Family Tree is a pinball platformer game developed by Infinite State Games and published by eastasiasoft. In Family Tree, you take the role of Mr. and Ms. Fruits, in a journey to save their kids after they have been kidnapped by the Evil Skull Pedro.  Now, the kids have been transformed into actual fruits and it’s up to their parents to save them.

The objective of Family Tree is quite straightforward: all you have to do is jump high enough to reach a platform inside of a tree and then reach the finish line. You need to aim to reach the platform you want, but beware! There might be some obstacles, such as a moving platform or enemies that will block your jumps if you hit them.
There are also various things to collect scattered around, such as gold coins and fruits (that are, in fact, your children). Collecting them will increase your score, along with how quickly you reach the goal. If the timer runs out Pedro will show up and try to hit you. If he hits you, it’s game over for you!

The game is divided into seasons. So you will play in various stages set in Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter with more than 100 levels. At the end of each season, you will have to race against Pedro in a horizontally-scrolling level. If you fall or if he reaches you, you must restart.
Outside of the “story” mode, there is also an endless mode that you can play either alone or with up to four friends. And if you want to waste a little bit of time, you can explore the title screen. You can move around it and discover some little things that I won’t spoil for your surprise.

Family Tree is not a hard game, in fact, it’s quite easy! Does that mean it’s a bad game? Of course not. But it really shows that it is aimed at a younger audience (or people who REALLY like pinball platformers). But it presents itself really well, being extremely colorful, looking like a cartoon for kids. The soundtrack is also something to notice, with a hilarious rap soundtrack that explains the game’s story.
The thing where the game fails at is the level design. They mostly look about the same, with not much to notice aside from a “harder” challenge for each level you beat, with added enemies and a taller tree. If the developers tried to make the levels more different, it would have been a greater experience.

To conclude, while Family Tree fails to differentiate itself much from the crowd, it’s a bright and colorful game you can waste some time into. Younger folks will most likely enjoy it and if you are a fan of the genre you will also find some enjoyment.

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