Flower
Overview
Platform: PS3A peaceful rollercoaster ride of colour and music, “Flower” hardly feels like a game, but who cares when it feels this good.
Flower, another concept game boasting the motion controls that didn’t do Lair any favours. A game easily fobbed off as trying to draw in the “casual” crowd, or as the less P.C. amongst us will call them, “Women”. Add to that a €7.99 price tag and a near 700mb download and for me this idea on paper is a loser, and a stood-up wiener that isn’t going to prom. Put simple I was wrong, this game is prom King.
I’m one who has little time for the game as Art debate, and further so game’s like Lost Winds, Endless Ocean and I’m even sorry to say Loco Roco have all somewhat irked me. I’ve never been in a situation where I wanted to play a video game to relax or chill out, I have an alcohol problem for a very good reason. I play video games for what is essentially cheap thrills and entertainment. I bought flower with heaps of scepticism, expecting a dull “relaxing” affair, however the game I downloaded ended up keeping me very much on the edge of my seat.
The game from the expertly titled developer ThatGameCompany is polished to a degree I thought to be unachievable outside the realms of full price retail games. The opening menu is nothing but a derelict window with a single sad flower sorely in the need of some lovin’. When you take your first spin into the actual levels the transition is seamless, it’s almost like someone who’s wearing a one-piece with no seams, essentially seamless. Each level you’ll be granted a little ripe flower with petals ripe for the plucking, from there it’s a rollercoaster of beautiful colours, perfection in depth of field, and aesthetics that are every bit as vital to HD gaming as the upcoming Killzone 2.
I can’t stress enough just how gorgeous this game looks, you’ll find yourself segwaying from the main game just to dive quickly in and out of the fields, the grass bristling as you brush by. It is for the want of a better (or non made up) word a Visualgasm. Stuck on to that a soundtrack that leaves REZ , Loco Roco and Patapon’s efforts looking like shoddy midi tracks strung together on half a keyboard and a bag of toothpicks, and well my friends you’ve got yourself a masterpiece right there.
Lair has been mentioned already; It was a perfect example of how the six axis could be made to appear like a very inferior piece of tech. On the other hand now finally Sony has a stick to really beat the competition with. The controls don’t have a flaw, they really don’t. I expected the camera to maybe be a little sluggish, possibly ruin my view of proceedings, it didn’t. Every time I turned the camera did just what I wanted it to do, it knew if I wanted it to back up a little to give me a wider shot, it knew when I felt lonely and needed some closer attention.
The downside? There’s only one and that’s longevity, depending on if you’ve been fooled into hoarding trophies or not. In reality you’re going to be talking maybe two to three hours. I mean this sincerely though, two to three of the very best hours you will find in gaming in your lifetime. Every slice of the game comes together like an orchestra and you as the conductor are left to tie it all together, you will achieve this, and you will feel very, very good about that.
Denis Walsh
About the Author
Oddly the first game I bought when I got my PS3. The premise was so unique that I felt that I was missing out by never having played it. I was right
Flower is one of those games you really need to play.
The music alone in flower has had quite an effect on me recently. Simple, tranquil and harmonious.
It’s a glorious video game and, yes, a wonderful work of art.