Imagine that you were Johnny Appleseed. Now, imagine that you were Johnny Appleseed, but looked like a Moogle from Final Fantasy. You're only task is to bring to life the aquatic plants under the sea. Queue Sebastian the crab from The Little Mermaid.

That is the life you can expect in The UnderGarden on the PSN. Atari and Developer Vitamin G Studios' creation is a serene and playful experience that reminds you that gaming is more about fun than maiming. See how I rhymed? The UnderGarden is an atypical title that is one-part puzzle game and part symphony. So music plays a major role in this immersive and truly non-traditional adventure. This is a game for all ages, but unlike other E-rated games, The UnderGarden can actually be enjoyed by all ages.

On the surface, or rather below the surface since this game does take place under the sea, there is not much to the gameplay. You drift around gathering seeds and helping the flora spring to life. This basic gameplay involves touching a seed pod, grabbing the seeds that come out and touching the decaying branches around you. You fill up a small circular meter and must replenish it with more seeds whenever your run out. The interaction is somewhat limited and it does often feel like your body is a floating log rather than a living entity. Although, your character should feel somewhat more fluid since it's moving around below water, it actually feels more like swimming through a Jell-O mold. Still, the game remains fun and engaging throughout.

A few minutes into aimless swimming and seed planting, you'll notice that a few flowers grow fruit. The game prompts you to grab these fruit and use them to solve mini-puzzles. For example, the first puzzle you come across is a wall with a crack through the middle. If you're a puzzle gamer, you immediately know that you need to get through the crack. Now, this game is all about serenity and peaceful living, like a Bob Ross "happy painting." So, don't look for bombs. That would disturb the tranquility. Instead, you will use your glowing orange fruit as weights to trigger to depress a stone lever. This causes the wall to open up. The second type of fruit you come across works in the opposite way. It floats up to the top of the aquatic cavern. Slowly, you'll start to use these two fruits in tandem to get through various puzzles.

Levels don't really feel like levels in The UnderGarden. However, there is one master underwater board with several warp zones to work through. It's not really an open world, but you will feel like you are drifting around at your leisure planting seeds. Once you defeat one warp zone, you'll unlock another sublevel to bring even more plants to life. The first five boards or so have the same basic layout and puzzles. It does take some time to build up to the more difficult challenges, but they do exist. At which point, you'll get to manipulate the underwater caverns in some unusual ways. The game could have benefited from some more diversity in puzzles, but the lack of which doesn't harm this very meditative experience.

What really makes this game stand out is the music. If you've played as many puzzle games as I have, you will understand how frustrating it can be when you get to the unsolvable puzzle. The music or lack of music usually adds to the tension of not being able to work out a solution. The UnderGarden doesn't try to unnerve you. Instead it works on the principal that creating a Zen like state is more conducive to problem solving. If only this premise existed on standardized tests. There are no time limits and no deaths. What you get in the UnderGarden is a rich symphony of sounds that builds up based different musical creatures that spring to life as you seed the ground around them. You can then drag these musical creatures along with you, much like you do with seeds. If you gather multiple creatures, you will start to hear varying harmonies play out since each creature has its own rhythm.

The UnderGarden now holds a place as one of my favorite puzzle games. It's not really a challenging game in the traditional sense. Instead, it is a peaceful game that helps my blood pressure to go down after an intense Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 online battle or Halo Reach session. I almost want it to have some expansion or more of a sandbox feel so that I can always feel like I'm exploring, but for now, I'm fine with creating one of the most luminescent gardens ever imagined 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Sponge Bob and Captain Nemo, eat your heart out.

Final Score: B+