Very Interesting, Although Disappointing Game
Today I noticed that I had $10 left on my PSN account. So I decided to pick up the indie hit from Thatgamecompany, Flower. Since it won many casual & downloadable game of the year awards back in 2009, I assumed it be a safe bet for my first PSN game. Flower is a very unique game, not fitting into any traditional genre in the medium. Much more of an expression of art then most games, both in the retail & downloadable space. The true equivalent of a “hipster” video game, ha. First I’d like to point out what this game does right.
Presentation & Story-telling
This game looks beautiful & does a very fine job at making you feel like your really in a spring meadow. The way the grass & flower pedals move in the wind is great. It also has an interesting menu in which you access the various levels by cursing over a flower & entering it’s dream. The approach to story-telling is also where this game shines. The game starts you out restoring color into the scenery of a beautiful field & then switches to small cut scenes in a dirty, grimy city. By the end of the game the two very different scenes have come together to make one amazing environment. About half way through, the game gets very dark. Your suddenly thrown into a very intense sequence that is very much foreign from what you experience in the first few levels. I don’t recall seeing a game do this well at telling a story with no dialogue since Limbo. Now for where the game missed.
Gameplay
The game builds on a simple idea of being an experience where you can immerse yourself & forget that your even playing a game. This is achieved by having simplistic gameplay where you control the wind flowing from one place to another picking up flower pedals which in turn changes the environment. My problem with this is that even with the solid controls of tilting your controller, having to work my way through each objective missing flowers & having to work my way back really takes away from the felling of surrealism your supposed to gain from this title. Lastly, this game is ridiculously short. You can complete a playthough in an hour easily. You’ll spend not much more time picking up all the trophy’s afterwards. Which some require you to not even play for a set amount of time. With all the work Thatgamestudio put into this game, one would think they would of wanted to put more content into this package. Especially since there are so many other downloadable games out there packing allot more bang for your 10 bucks. my short time with this game was enjoyable but very disappointing when it was all said & done.
I see why people like this game, but it's just not for me.
