Okay, I’ll be straight-up: I’ve only had the chance to play the first three levels (roughly half the game, from what I understand), but I’ve played each at least twice.
Flower is simply brilliant. Brilliant in that virtually everything it does is contrary to what most expect from a game. It’s one of the most peaceful, beautiful, relaxing, and enjoyable experiences I’ve ever had with a game. And it actually uses the SixAxis motion controls well–amazing well (perhaps the first PS3 game to do so). So well, in fact, then when I tried to play Wipeout HD afterward, I kept trying to tilt the controller to steer! In a world overrun with FPSs and the like, Flower serves as a reminder me why I still play games.
Anyone else give it a go?
I’ve not played it, but I previewed the trailer on the Playstation Network. It looks really cool … but I didn’t quite get it.
As far as I can tell from the trailer, you’re basically the wind, and you just blow around the landscape looking for spores? Something like that?
It does look pretty graphically impressive.
You collect flower petals. As you collect more petals, the landscape around you changes.
There’s no time limit and no way to lose. It’s designed to be an experience, not a challenge.
It’s actually the product of the tiny little division of PlayStation where I work. “That game company”, the developers, are co-located with us as part of an incubator program, and the Sony designer who supervised them sits in the office next door to me. My involvement was minimal, however – just occasionally playing early builds as part of internal focus tests.
It really is a magical experience. I hope it casts a very long shadow.