Review: Flower

From beginning to end, Flower shows effortless mastery of what might be described as a new medium. This isn’t a game in the traditional sense. The developers themselves see it as an interactive poem. It might sound like marketing nonsense but I can fully understand what they mean. It tells a loose story that is open to interpretation, and can be experienced at almost any pace you wish. Instead of words you are presented with glorious landscapes and equally beautiful music. The only text you will see until the credits is ‘Hold Any Button’, which fades into view when you hover over a level selection. The menu is otherwise just a table with plant pots.

To break it down into gaming terms, you start at a single flower, and direct a petal towards another flower, collecting petals as you go, until you’re in control of a vast trail of hundreds of petals. Directional control is entirely via Sixaxis, with any button providing the thrust of the wind. The ‘key’ flowers have a slight glow around them, and colour the landscape and activate new areas. There are plain white flowers whose petals are optional to collect, but often lead you in the right direction. Level design is seamless, with the first couple of areas acting as a perfect tutorial. Each of the six levels has three hidden flower petals to collect, some of which are easily found during your first run, but others are quite cleverly concealed and add some replay value. Trophies also offer that additional challenge for the enthusiastic gamer. It can be completed easily within 2 hours, perhaps longer for those unfamiliar with games, but the simplicity of the motion controls (and the lack of enemies or death) means that anyone can pick up and enjoy.

But it is difficult to rationalise such a product. The feeling you get when playing Flower is hard to describe, and unlike any other game. First time through, it is fascinating and surprising. When you play it again it is purely relaxing, and a refreshing change from the major action titles on PS3. The only criticism is that the camera can occasionally follow too low or your view can be obstructed by the petal trail, but it’s really not a major issue for a game with no time limits.

Flower shows what a small team can create on a powerful platform thanks to distribution services like the PlayStation Network. The combination of a simple idea, sublime controls, supported by some of the best visuals and audio on the market makes Flower one of the defining experiences of this generation.

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