It’s New and Smart! [Review of Flower]

Flower’s been described as interactive poetry, art, and other such non-gaming terms, and while those descriptions are accurate in a variety of ways, don’t shy away just yet as there are plenty of elements in Flower that are meant to appeal to the traditional gamer’s needs as well.

Often times, games like these get recommended to non-gamers, yet the lack of a clear objective is more likely to frustrate and turn that audience off. In contrast to their other game, ~flOw~, ThatGameCompany has provided players of Flower with a bit more of a sense of purpose. The objectives, once identified, are clear. From a pure gameplay standpoint, Flower is like PilotWings mixed with Okami or DeBlob: restore color to the world by flying through checkpoints. It’s a tried and true mechanic that, along with some of the twists and new spins added by Flower, is still enjoyable.

Gamers will also be pleased to hear that Flower, helped by its PSN Trophies support, actually has a moderate level of replayability. Unlockables, hidden objectives, and level completion ratings are in and add quite a bit of value to the package for that traditional gaming audience.

Controls are SIXAXIS tilt, are intuitive and, most importantly, they work. For the casual audience, every button on the controller does the same thing, gives you a speed boost. For the more hardcore, TGC has even gone as far as to make the analog sticks and analog R2 (L2) triggers pressure sensitive, to give you that extra level of control over your forward moving momentum.

Even with all of these traditional gameplay elements, Flower is still a very different experience from other games. Emphasis in the design was placed on creating a piece that explored other emotions beyond the usual fear and aggression, and it succeeds in this regard. The message that one gets in the end will probably vary from person to person, a true testament to how Flower is bound to be remembered as one of those games that pioneered interactive entertainment as a cultured past time.

So if you’ve been with games a long time and all the games you play have started to feel the same, Flower is not to be missed. It satisfies the need for virtual accomplishment while simultaneously offering a truly fresh and new experience.