Robert Khuu Presents

Playing with flowers

Recently, the same company that made “flOw” released a new game on the PS3 entitled “Flower.” Here’s a video of the game in action:

The “characters” that you play aren’t so much a “characters” so much as they are a flowers in a city apartment that are dreaming of a dead gray field. The object of the game is to collect enough flower petals in an effort to reinvigorate those grayed out grassy fields. Control is handled through the PS3 Controller’s motion sensor. Turn the controller left (like a steering wheel) and the petals will turn left. Tilt the controller backwards and the petals will fly into the air. Overall, motion control is pretty well implemented. I am sure this game will re-open the question of whether video games can be art, but, regardless of whether that issues is settled or not, this game is still pretty fun in the mean time. The tagline, if it isn’t already, for this game should be “play and relax.” The gameplay is so soothing that when I started playing this game, I didn’t know 2-3 hours had passed. It’s a little like a good book. I wouldn’t necessarily schedule time to sit there and read a book, but if I’m between things, I’ll read the book. Same applies here.

There isn’t much variety in terms of gameplay. Some of the levels try to mix it up by having you “paint” the grass with colorful lights, but it’s just more of the same. I think the game tends to accomplish what a lot of games are missing: it finds 30 seconds of pure, rewarding fun and repeats it as often as possible without becoming repetitive.