Flower

Flower Review



Need something to take a break from all the shooting and slashing from action games? Then Flower is for you. Made by thatgamecompany, Flower is a game about blooming flowers by blowing on them with the wind. With beautiful enviroments, responsive sixaxis controls, a beautiful, emotional soundtrack and alot of grass, (More than 200,000 to be precise) Flower is a game that's meant to be played for enjoyment, emotion and enlightenment.

As soon as you start up the game, a menu will appear in the form of a view of the window in a bedroom. It's also the only menu you'll ever see in the game. Even if you press start, the same menu will be viewed. (See below for a picture of Flower's main menu)

(The main menu above is what you'll see if it's your first time playing) The look of the menu will change as you play the game.

When you get to the first level of the game though you'll instantly notice that the game is downright beautiful. From the more than 200,000 blades of grass (No really... more than 200,000) to the flowers and it's petals to the smooth animations of both the grass and flowers being blown by the wind. The graphics in flower is something that you should give youself some spare time to look at when you get that spare time or possibly after finishing the game once.

Oh wait. I forgot to mention more about the game first. It's a game that plays like a poem. You enter the different dreams of flowers each with a different theme and enviroment and you must try to complete different objectives and solve puzzles at your own pace in order to advance and reach the end of the level. When you first start a stage, the music starts out simple but as you progress through the stage, the music builds into a more calming melody that is easily enjoyable as you play.

The gameplay in flower is simple. You fly across a dreamscape blooming flowers as you solve puzzles and complete objectives in order to get to the end (As mentioned earlier). The controls are also simple. Press and hold any button (Except Start and Select) or move the left or right stick in any direction to blow the wind and tilt the controller to control the movement of the wind. That's all you need to use to complete the game. It works very well and the movement of the wind directed by tilting the controller is very tight and responsive meaning you can do tight turns when you've missed a few flowers. With the controls nice and simple, it allows you to choose which button or stick your more comfortable with when playing the game which is nice.

Flower isn't excatly long to complete. It could take you more (or less) than 3 or 4 hours to complete the game. And while it maybe short. There are secrets to find and secret flowers to bloom. There are 3 secret flowers in a level and collecting them all allows you to unlock something special (Which i won't spoil here). And maybe after finding everything, you may wish to come back to the game for fun and enjoyment as you relax and enjoy. So there's always something you may like to do as you play.

Verdict:

Flower is a game that you should definitely give a go but incase your not sure if you want to pay for it, you may want to download the demo just to be safe. The rest of you though, definitely play it. It's definitely worth the money you pay for the game. Trust me, you won't regret it.


Presentation = 9.5
A very well introduced game with a story to tell. Only if your willing to listen and listen well

Visuals = 10
A very beautiful game with a ton of grass swaying with the wind and flower petals dancing around the wind beautifully

Sound and Music = 10
A outstanding soundtrack with music that builds as you progress through paticular stages

Gameplay = 9.0
Very simple like the controls, But in a good way for more enjoyable gameplay

Replay Value = 8.5

With secrets to find and collect, flower could have you playing the game multiple times if your willing to come back and experience it all over again

Overall Score = 9.25