Much has been said of thatgamecompany’s Flower over the last few weeks since it was first released on the Playstation Network for download. Whether or not Flower is a game, a visual poem capable of eliciting even the most intense of emotions from its audience or if it’s nothing more than an overpriced interactive screen saver for your Playstation 3 has been debated from sunrise to sunset and back again. These ridiculous attempts at classifying Flower will luckily fall to the wayside in the near future when the buzz dies down and the audience begins to fully appreciate the fact that they’ve just experienced something truly unique and powerful.
The experience begins with the gameplay design but certainly doesn’t end there, starting with the controls. Almost entirely relying on the six-axis controls of the Playstation 3 you’re effectively given control over the wind and are (loosely) tasked with guiding a single flower pedal throughout the surrounding environment in an attempt to bring other flowers into full bloom which then sees more pedals join your ever growing ‘tail’ of beauty. It’s a simple and straightforward gameplay mechanic that is slightly built upon as your progress through the game as you run into specific colors of flowers that give you different abilities like lighting up a dark field or speeding the wind up to give you the ability to fly up to higher points on the level to reach areas you couldn’t otherwise get to. The gameplay however isn’t what will bring you back to Flower, as the vivid and beautiful response you get from the environment is what will keep you coming back.
As you progress through levels you’re greeted with subtle musical keys at every corner and explosions of color as you complete different strains of flower patches giving you an immediate sense of accomplishment all the while directing you forward to the next area keeping the pace of the level churning at a high rate. There’s no more than a handful of levels but they’re built in such a manner that you’re never forced to play them in a certain way and you’ll find yourself making more than one pass on each one to find all the hidden flowers and bring the entire level to life. Even with the freedom found in each environment you’re not likely to find more than a few hours of gameplay before you’ve seen everything the game has to offer. Luckily for completionists out there Flower does include trophy support including one gold, two silver and 11 bronze trophies to help bring you back.
The joy found in playing Flower is much different than what you usually get from playing the industry standard FPS or Action Adventure title. In Flower you’re driven by the beauty of the environment rather than its destruction. You won’t find a time trial mode, a cooperative mode, versus mode, or even a leader board where you can compete with your friends for a highscore – in fact the entire notion of competition is completely lacking from Flower; but what you will find is a relaxing and often stimulating experience that leaves you questioning why today’s video game industry (and entertainment industry in general) is so focused on the creation and subsequent destruction of what we as people have built in our world.
The combination of the simplistic yet impactful gameplay, fantastic use of in-game musical score, sound design and a visual styling that keeps you moving forward rounds out into a beautiful package at an extremely affordable $9.99 price tag. Game companies industry wide should take note of Flower and by now they undoubtedly have; as thatgamecompany has set the bar for experimental game concepts and how to market them to the general public while maintaining their artistic and meaningful style. All the while loudly saying throughout the game that video games don’t have to revolve around destruction and can in fact rely on beauty as a game mechanic, and a worthwhile one at that.