Flower: Relax and Float Downstream
by Orion_NGC1976, HSM team writer
“A lot of games you play, you are the destroyer, but Flower is an experience where you transform the world. It is very much about that feel good healing experience and I hope that people who play Flower will feel that not only have made the world in Flower a better place, but also make themselves feel a lot better.” – Jenova Chen, Playstation Blog interview on 1/27/2009 for the release of Flower.
Up until several years ago when I bought a PS2 console for my son, I had not played any games since I was in my early twenties on an Apple ][ computer. The only exception was the Myst series of games. I loved the freedom that Myst gave you to explore at your own pace. One isn’t forced through a linear storyline or had any time limit. There were puzzles that you learned to solve through exploration and experimentation.
Around 2006, I heard about a game, called Cloud, which was to break the mold of traditional gaming. I was intrigued by this, so I downloaded the game, expecting something similar to Myst, but was blown away by how different it was from anything else I had previously seen or played. I must admit that, to begin with, I was completely lost, but as I explored and experimented I discovered what to do.
For those of you that have not heard of Cloud, it is a game where you control a boy who, while in his dream, is flying through the sky. He is asleep in his hospital bed and you enter his dreams, during game play. Incidentally, this game concept was partially based on Jenova Chen’s – Cloud’s lead designer and developer – childhood experiences of daydreaming, when he was frequently hospitalized for asthma.
You guide the boy, who is wearing a hospital gown, over a vast ocean with some islands. The boy interacts with the different types of clouds to complete the game’s different scenarios of play.
In 2010, we purchased our first PS3, and soon afterwards I learned of a game called Flower. I had forgotten all about Cloud, but when I read about Flower, it immediately reminded me of Cloud. It was no coincidence, since thatgamecompany, the company that developed Flower, was founded by Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago, the producer and designer of Cloud. Flower was the second of three games that were contracted by Sony for thatgamecompany to develop; flOw was the first and Journey is the third and will be released some time this year.
From what I have seen with the preview videos of Journey, thatgamecompany’s innovation in new gaming experiences will continue to evolve into the area of the multiplayer gaming experience.
I believe Flower is a game that must be experienced to fully understand and appreciate. In the past, when I have attempted to describe Flower to others, I found myself lacking the words to adequately describe the experience of the game, and only left them with confused looks on their faces. Hopefully, in this review I will be able do enough justice to the beauty and grace of Flower that it will encourage some you to experience it for yourself.
Some of the same elements found in Cloud are also found in Flower. With Flower, you are controlling the wind that interacts with the flowers. The controls are different in both games, which gives the two games a slightly different feel. The computer-based game, Cloud, is controlled with the mouse, but Flower utilized the SIXAXIS of Sony’s wireless game controller, which gives you a greater sense of gliding upon the wind.
When you start up the game you can tell from the start menu screen that this is going to be a different gaming experience. The start menu presents us with a single flowerpot sitting on a table in front of a window. Both scenes inside and outside the window are dark and dreary. One of the panes in the window is broken, as if someone had thrown a rock through it, and the wind can be heard howling through. Occasionally, an airplane can also be heard flying overhead. The view outside the window is of a dark, overcast inner city with clothes hanging on the line. The detail in sight and sound that creates the atmosphere of the game is tremendous.
The only bit of bright color in this scene is the flower itself. The single flower is leafless and bent. The bud glows a bright yellow that invites you to tilt the controller towards it.
When you press ‘X’ on the bud a single note is strummed and a busy city night scene is shown and then fades to a bright, sunny grass field with a single yellow bud flower from the pot in the window. This is that flower’s dream. Serene guitar and piano music induces a complete calming effect. One begins to get the hint of the contrast between urban life and the countryside. As the player progresses through the different levels, the two contrasts will merge with the renewal theme that is found throughout the game and culminate in the final level. This environmental healing and renewal theme was another reason for why Flower appealed so much to me.
The two controls that you have for the wind are direction and force. To control the direction you use the SIXAXIS to direct the wind up or down and left or right. The force of the wind is controlled by pressing any of the keys on the controller.
As you blow the wind through the bud of the single flower that fills the screen, a single note is played; the bud opens to reveal the flower’s petals and one of them detaches to be carried off upon the wind. As you survey the area, you can see that there are other flowers nearby, so you nudge the petal along and guide it as it is swept by the wind towards the other flower buds. When the petal comes in contact with each of the buds, a note is played, the bud opens and a petal is swept up to join the others.
Flowers vary in color so the trailing petals are quite colorful and beautiful, much like the long, colorful tail of a kite. At times, I would take a break from the game and just swirl around up and down, watching the colorful trail of petals as they made art in the sky. The artistic aspects of Flower, by no means, end there.
On one of the game levels, you can infuse the wind with a color and use it as a paintbrush, painting color on the canvas of the blades of grass. The game also allows you to be creative with notes that are being played as you encounter the flowers. Depending of the speed of the wind used to guide the petals to the buds, you can change the tempo of the notes being played and it is quite beautiful as it harmonizes with the already wonderful soundtrack for the game that was written by Vincent Diamante. As a side note, Diamante also wrote the music for the soundtrack of Cloud.
There is no end to the uniqueness of Flower. Even the display of the credits has interactive game play.
Flower can be played on several levels, from casual to hardcore gaming. One could play it in a very casual manner, to be lost in the calming and soothing aspects of the game. Some of the levels are harder than others to gather all of the petals, or to find and unlock all of the secrets. There are trophies that can be earned as well; one of which is extremely difficult to achieve. So there are more hardcore gaming types of experience available in the game as well.
The game is sectioned into six different dreams, which coincide with six different potted flowers that will eventually fill the table in front of the window. After the completion of each level, the view outside the window changes. Each dream has three segments, and each of these segments has a hidden bunch of flowers to be discovered. There is a flOw trophy to be earned for finding the homage to thatgamecompany’s first Sony game, flOw.
Completion of certain sets of flowers unlocks things in the game: new flowers may sprout, new areas will become accessible and it will even induce the healing and renewal of an area as you watch it wonderfully transform before your eyes.
How well you do on each level is visually depicted by how much the flower grows in the pot on the main menu. The discovery of each of the three hidden flowers is marked by a leaf that floats down and alights on the edge of the flowerpot.
Next time you want to take a break from ridding the world of zombies and slaying dragons, or a break from a hard day’s work, relax and enter the wonderful experience of Flower. Flower is available as a PSN downloadable game for only $9.99.
August 17th, 2011 by Orion_NGC1976 | 6 comments
Father, husband, dolphy racer and sometimes Home world traveler.
Thanks Orion for telling us about this game. I have heard of it but was never sure what it was about. I got Flow for free a long time ago, and played it through, now you have me curious about this one too. Good review.
I love this game. Not only is it visually appealing, but the music hits all the right buttons (notes?) for me.
It’s also one of the very first games I let my son play, as it requires no intricate, fine-motor skills that may be just beyond a three year old’s capabilities. Just tilt the controller and push a button every now and then. Simple. It’s a great way to calm him down. And I know for a fact that the music puts him to sleep.
Often at night, when I’m editing here at HSM, I’ll pull up the title on my PS3’s XMB and just let the acoustic guitar music cycle over and over again as I do my work. It’s a great way to end my day.
Also looking forward to their next release -- Journey. I’ve been hearing a tremendous amount of positive buzz about it!
I agree completely. The trailer had me hooked so I bought it when it came out. It probably didn’t help matters that I’m a Jim Croce fan either.
It’s certainly a great experience and in my opinion, one of the best games on the platform. I fire it up if I’m stressed or just need to relax.
@Orion -- solid review. Good point on the hardcore-casual dynamic. I can’t find two buds on the first level or the third bud on the second level. This keeps me from progressing LoL.
Gah -- I meant Donovan fan. Facepalm.
Hah! I listen to both, so I knew where you were going with that.
Check out Jenova Chen discussing Journey in the Community Theater on Home.