User Review : Flower

Can a game about petals, wind and a flower really be good?

Where to start, Flower, a game where you control the wind, and guide a petal around vast and beautiful environments infusing them with colour and beauty.

Flower is a PSN game, available exclusively from the PS Store, Flower costs just $12.95AU and it will provide you with one of the single most amazing gaming experiences ever.

Flower was created as the 2nd of 3 PSN exclusives by ThatGameCompany, the team behind the relaxing micro-organism controlling game flOw, released in 2007 for the PSN(And then later ported to the PSP).

The game starts with you on the windowsill of a regular city apartment and has you looking at a single flower pot with a wilted flower in it, you look at the flower then hold a button to zoom in and enter the 'dream' of this wilted flower, once there is a short load you enter into a world and are looking at this flower that is sitting in a field and no longer wilted, you push a button again and your journey begins.

Flower has you control the wind(Using any button on the PS3 controller) and guide one petal across these massively vast and usually bland to start with environments, you pick up petals along your way by moving your petal(You control the petal with brilliant use of the SIXAXIS motion sensor control) through different types and colours of flowers in said bland environments, once you have collected a certain amount of the one type of Flower, you will fill the environment with colour.

You get no written or spoken directions during the game(Apart from a visual diagram showing how the SIXAXIS motion control works at the very start of the game), although you are given your objectives in various different and unique visual styles, in some levels you are guided with white flowers lining the levels and fields you fly through, other times there are Yellow/Red/Green/Blue/Pink flowers that you have to fly through which will activate a number of moments which regard the environment your in, they range from the colouring of a dry, yellow and bland field into a beautiful green luscious field, to colouring a full building.

Throughout the entire 'story' mode, you will face several different gameplay elements, all elements are different and varied, and none of them are any less brilliant than the other, they vary(And I will keep this as spoiler free as possible)from such things as painting the ground with different coloured petals, knocking down towers, and many others that I won't name due to possible spoiler reasons.

Overall in the game there are 6 'story' levels, and an extra level in which you play through the credits, each of 'story' levels progress through a new 'dream' from a new flower each time, as the game progresses the game goes from a wonderfully colourful, light game experience to something that turns into a dark and fairly heavy experience, while there is no real 'story' the story elements to the game are basically a take it if you want to, and the story basically revolves around the industrialisation of the world and that we are killing off these wonderfully beautiful and lush environments, but as I said you don't really have to take the story in if you don't want to as it is more implied that forced on you, even with the dark change in the game.

Even with the real dark turn the game goes into in the time you spend on this game, you will feel as relaxed as ever, this is the one game I have played where you get so invested that you forget about the world around you and can just feel yourself flying in the wind and you can BE the petal, it is amazing and a real unique experience for gaming in which many think that the pinnacle of gaming is to shoot the crap out of another person either online or in a campaign mode, and while I'm all for the FPS/TPS goodness, but sometimes it does tend to get a little old or repetitive, this game breaks from the usual and offers up a unique and truly amazing gaming experience, far detached from anything on the market.

Now I don't really want to go on to far here in fear of giving away some game spoiling story elements to the game, so I'll move onto the individual scoring elements.

SCORES:

GRAPHICS - 9.7/10 - Stunning graphics, for such a small file size, to create such a beautiful and huge game is amazing, the artistic style is brilliant too, with colours abound everywhere, but each one sending a different message to the user.

GAMEPLAY - 10/10 - As said in my spiel the gameplay is FANTASTIC, there is many a different gameplay element, with the quality in variation not letting you go for a second, the offering of relaxing gameplay, simple controls combines for such an amazing effect to the gamer, I dare say that you have nor will you ever experience anything like this game again, perhaps only until the next game from ThatGameCompany.

SOUND - 10/10 - Amazing sound experience, light and playful during the earlier levels, then dark and ominous throughout the latter darker levels, also offers a change up of styles when moving through the flowers which triggers a sound, usually working in melodically with the sound through the level, the sound is brilliant and relaxing.

OVERALL - 10/10 - This game is one of the best I have ever played, in fact it is now in my Top 5 games of all time(My Top 5 games - GTA: Vice City, Half Life 2, Portal, Goldeneye, Flower), this game is an experience not to be missed, and for such a cheap price you really should not pass it up, I guarantee you haven't played a game like this before, and don't think you will ever again, a truly unique experience and a game I will remember for the remainder of my days, this game is BRILLIANT, for me this is the PERFECT game, and it deserves the score of 10/10.