Video Game Review: Flower

Flower 

PlayStation 3

Flower is a lovely game.

It feels weird using that word to describe a video game. Lovely. But it is appropriate. I can't think of a better word to describe the game, actually.

When I first gave Flower a try, I didn't know what to expect. It had been out for several years and I was familiar with hearing the name, but as far as what the game was about or how it played, I had no clue. I was told it was a "relaxing" game, but that seemed odd to me. How could a game be relaxing?

It is true, though. The game is very relaxing. There is no combat, no death, no conflict. As far as story line goes, I don't think this game even really has one. You may ask: a game with no combat and no story line - how does this work?

The concept of the game is hard to explain. I tried to look at it while playing it as a unique kind of flight simulator. There are 6 stages in the game, and at the beginning of each stage you start out as a lone flower petal hovering in the air.

The game only uses one button. Basically, any button on the controller that you want to use (for the record, I used the R1 shoulder button). This button moves your flower petal forward. How you control the flower petal - whether it be moving it up, down, left, or right - depends on how you tilt the controller.

There really is no better way to describe it than as a flight simulator. Tilt the controller left, the petal goes left. Point it down, it goes down. Pull up, and you lift into the sky. There is a little bit of a learning curve with how to control your flower petal, especially since so many PS3 games don't utilize the motion sensors in the controller too often, but it really isn't that difficult.

The purpose of the game is to collect stuff. As I mentioned, you start out each stage controlling a lone flower petal. You must fly around and touch other plants and flowers, and they add petals to your uh... character? Can you call it that? Think of it as a snowball effect. The more stuff you touch and the more stuff you collect, the bigger your whirling collection of petals becomes.

Each stage has certain goals you must collect to complete said stage. A very simple example - say you enter a stage with an open field. In this field are 3 glowing yellow plants located at opposite ends of the field. Touch one yellow plant, and a dozen red flowers bloom up out of the grass nearby. You must collect these. Then go to the next yellow plant, touch it, and another collection of red flowers blooms nearby. You must touch all the yellow plants and collect all the red flowers to move on to the next area. This is a very generic example, but an effective one. Basically all you do in this game is fly around and collect stuff.

It sounds boring, but it really isn't. As the game progresses, the levels get bigger and you have to start searching harder to find what you are supposed to do in order to advance. Again, there are no enemies or no fight scenes in this game. Anyone could pick up and play this game and excel at it, depending on if they can handle the controls while flying or not.

While the game is fun, where it really shines is in its audio and visual effects. They are clearly the stars of the game. This game is simply gorgeous to look at, and I don't throw around that term lightly. Each stage is bright and vibrant, with colors popping all over the place. Even if a stage at first seems dark and gloomy, it is your goal to bring light and color to the area

For example, in one stage that takes place at night, there is a flower you collect that makes the whirligig of assorted flower petals you control shine like a beacon. You can use this light to brighten the area, touching light posts to turn them on and bringing illumination to the area. Another area in the game turns your petal collection a bright color, and you become a paintbrush of sort. If you swoop down and fly through the grass, you paint the grass with whatever color you decided to become.

If an area seems dead or colorless, the more you collect, the brighter you make it. If there is a large area of dead grass, chances are that you can make it green by collecting everything in the area. If there is a story line to this game, I guess it is that your character flies around bringing light and life to everything it touches. It's on a mission to make the world a more lively and beautiful place.

The colors in the game are amazing. It really feels like you are picked up and transported to another world at times. You know the movie Avatar - how the world of the Na'vi is so brightly colored and glowing and beautiful and amazing looking? This game manages to replicate that feeling of awe and beauty, but on a much bigger and more immersive scale.

You haven't really played Flower unless you've truly immersed yourself in the game. When you play this - turn off the lights, put on some headphones, and dive in. The feeling of flying through the air, light as a feather, is amazing. Up in the air, riding the breeze, ducking down to the ground and skimming through the grass. It is truly awesome. The worlds you explore are well designed, the goals you must complete are simple but clever. It is one of the most immersive games I have ever played.

The game is short, however, and easy to boot. Expect to easily finish this in one night. If I had shelled out 50 or 60 bucks for this, I probably would have been very upset and it would have affected my final score greatly. But hey, I got it for free so I can't complain.

As a game, Flower isn't the best thing known to mankind. It's short, there is almost no challenge to it. No story line to speak of. As an experience, however, it is epic. Great graphics, fun controls, a giant, beautiful world to explore. You definitely feel like you are a part of something bigger when you play this game. Whether or not you like the game depends on if you think a game with no action or story line is worth playing. I don't see how you couldn't like this game, but I am sure there are some who don't.

It has my stamp of approval, however. If some day a game manages to combine the graphics, atmosphere, and immersion effect of Flower with a powerful story line and cutting edge combat and controls, it would be the perfect game. Instead, we just half to settle for a glimpse of what the future of gaming has in store for us.

Overall:

B+