Flower Review
Into flora.
Version tested: PlayStation 3
In the words of developer thatgamecompany, Flower is a "videogame version of a poem, exploiting the tension between urban bustle and natural serenity", and while the brief, sensuous journey through the game's six levels is worthily conceived and executed, inviting interpretation, its high-minded origins also have the potential to derail it, albeit not in the eyes of "the audience of pretentious fawning fops that have turned the PS3 into the equivalent of a f***ing beatnik poetry bar", as one of our readers put it when we previewed the game in January. However, the result is pleasantly innocent and uplifting, and perhaps unexpectedly its best qualities are those of a very good videogame.
You control the wind, using the Sixaxis motion sensor to direct a petal on the breeze, or to gust forward by holding any of the face buttons. As the petal passes over nearby flowers, they bloom and release their own petals into its wake, which follow you across hills carpeted in swaying wild grass under gorgeous oceans of summer blue. Every new petal emits a calming strum or twinkling murmur into the gentle flow of background music and pivotal events are embroidered by the audible rush of wind.
Certain flowers are held in a translucent circle, and collecting all the petals in a group of these typically has an effect on their surroundings - spreading waves of vibrancy over sun-bleached meadows, for instance, or activating wind turbines and lighting beacons at nighttime. Besides collecting petals and admiring the scenery, you also gust through gullies on occasional, sympathetic rails, sweep through caves and soar from the crests of half-buried obelisks to ascend the walls of canyons and gather far-flung petals. This is how you make progress, moving between two or three significant areas in each level and restoring them by inviting their occupants to bloom, before floating into an end-of-level vortex that transports you home to a dusty windowsill in a city apartment, where your current level's flower is revitalised by the events you've portrayed in its imagination.

The grass animation and use of sunlight is almost without compare.
As the game darkens toward its conclusion, you encircle hay bales and sweep across pastures to sow luminescence in fields by starlight, and - in the closest thing Flower gets to conflict - flutter briefly but precisely between the rusted carcasses of fallen but electrified pylons to cleanse them, before journeying to the city itself for a conclusion it would be unfair to explain in any detail.
Each new level begins with a single petal and presents a discrete but overlapping flow of simple gameplay, and the game is never difficult. Although your stream of petals can be sizzled to ash by electricity in level five's industrial boneyard, if it's possible to fail I didn't manage it, and while the purely motion-based controls occasionally restrict precise turns over distances of a few feet, for the most part the interface is invisible.
But the absence of challenge isn't the least bit disturbing, because by the time it should become relevant Flower's gentle pace and expressive visuals have disarmed you of traditional notions of achievement. The superficially repetitive design is embellished by the game's grace and simplicity to the point that the things you do and see are the unspoken focus of your efforts. Spreading light across a field and gliding through canyons at knee height is empoweringly tactile, and the game is aesthetically coherent down to the smallest detail.
The way the petals move through the air is so convincing that it requires almost no consideration, and the silhouettes of industry that lurk in the pitch-black transition between the game's cheerful initiation and the final few levels are like shapes moving in the water. The impulse to proceed floods from these details just as it does from your first glimpse of the world outside Vault 101 in Fallout 3, or the first time you exit the hills above Damascus, Acre and Jerusalem and stare down upon Assassin's Creed's playground of minarets.
The only thing that punctures this, ironically, is the way the endgame leans too hard into tradition, inviting you to collect everything you possibly can and probe extremities to uncover green flowers, three sets of which are secreted in each level. There's almost no end to the simple pleasure of floating through the summertime but prolonged exposure to each environment weakens its grip on you until the stranglehold of immersion is broken and you're just collecting objects to make another object appear. There are many good games that are about nothing but collecting objects to make another object appear, but Flower is a good game for other reasons.

How long before we have to use the word "petal" in a review again? Answers on a kerb-stomped skull.
It is, simply, a game where you want to see what happens next, because whatever does happen next will be delicate, beautiful and pleasurable, and never so hurried as to overburden the spectacle and sense of immersion. Even viewed warily through the haughtily lyrical prism of thatgamecompany's artistic mission statement, these are the characteristics of a well-designed videogame, and the torch-wielding art police would do well to encourage them rather than arguing about the designers' motivation. Not least because in this age of overblown expectation, the developer's candour and Flower's composition are honest enough to make it clear whether or not the game will appeal to you in seconds. It certainly did to me.
With all this in mind, it seems almost horrible to have to debate the price, but GBP 6.29 is the figure Sony's gone for and, although beautiful and engaging, Flower's brief, film-length experience would be better suited to something closer to flOw's original GBP 3.49, and that ultimately counts slightly against it.
8 / 10
Flower is due out exclusively for PlayStation 3's online store on Thursday 12th February.
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Comments (116) Latest comment 2 years ago
Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!
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aww they fixed it, now its just a well scoring review.
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Would buy this if I had a reason to have a PS3.
But I don't, so I won't !
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If this is a one hour wonder I will not bother. The price tag has already put me off a little.
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not getting it for your PS3 then?
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What a cunt you really are.
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i.e. stop being so dreary
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I'm not surprised, seeing as your game collection on EG doesn't have a single PS3 game in there, do you actually have any PS3 games to play, or do you sit looking at it hoping it'll do something of it's own accord?
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Has my sheltered student life protected me from the harsh realities of the credit crunch more than I though?
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I do get to check oujt new releases and demos on a friends PS3 every few weeks though. Sometimes it's worth keeping switched on for nearly a whole hour! "
Hehe, even though I disagree, you made me chuckle
See I'm the opposite, I haven't used my 360 in about two months...
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@farticusmaximus
You like to play with empty boxes? Funny, so does my 3yr old nephew. You seem to have a lot in common, I'll introduce you.
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That certainly sounds like something I'd part with 6 notes for.
I might also point out that there are any number of ways to express amusement in prose. Choosing to use "lol" makes you look a bit of a twat.
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i did! Thanks, wont read it now~
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The review on 1up.com pegs playtime at 2-3 hours to basic completion. Longer if you want to find the hidden stuff/extras.
Judging by the trophy list, there's a lot more long-term play/replay value than say Flow.
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I mean, at £6.29 it is less expensive than most release on live arcade, it's got a good review and as far as I know hasn't insulted any or your mothers. Seems a little harsh some of the criticism.
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Do it, make it the next thing you do. Hit that button. Its worth a thousand times more than calling him a cock.
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Because tossers like farticus have nothing better to do in their miserable little lives than repeatedly put down an inanimate object and it's fans.
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Amazing, isn't it. Even the PS3 owners are getting 'bullied' by the 'in-crowd'. I thought I was in a minority (I'm a Wii owner) but thankfully the hate appears to be pretty much universal.
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No?
Just accept that the game is not for you and move on, asshats.
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There's nothing to be gained by reacting to trolls.
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I'd be tempted to buy this but not at that price tag.
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Yeah might've been a good argument 1 year and a half ago. Go play in traffic you silly boy.
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Makes me want to throw up
Seriously keep these people away from my PS3 Sony! I REALLY hate the "games are art crowd". Bunch of adults who don't want to except they are grown up and still like playing videogames if you ask me!
/ hides
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on the flip side; there's something very Internet about commenting on something you don't want for no reason other than to fight one corporation on behalf of another.
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"Seriously keep these people away from my PS3 Sony! I REALLY hate the "games are art crowd". Bunch of adults who don't want to except they are grown up and still like playing videogames if you ask me! "
Pet peeve, but it's 'accept' not 'except'. But that's more me being a pedantic arse than anything else...
Whats wrong with 'games as art' if it fulfils a market? If you don't like them, don't buy them. I love games like this, that are different to the usual type and enjoyable to both watch and play. And before anyone thinks I am the sort of person who only likes arty games, my two most played are World of Warcraft and Fifa 09.
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Christ you're right to pull me up, schoolboy error alert!
And, of course, you are right everyone is into different things....I...just.....HATE it!!!!!
Games are games, books are books, movies are movies. I never played Asteroids, Space Invaders, Head Over Heels, Skool Daze or Jack The Nipper (just to name a few old arcade/home games) and thought such nonsense about "art". I don't know where or when this "art" bollocks started (amiga era maybe?) but it is so far up it's own arse I can't find it!
Still if people are actually out there in our world that can find an unmade bed artistic, there are twats...er sorry....people who think ANYTHING is art.....
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Go back to whatever the hell it is you get enjoyment out of and let other people enjoy what they want. Jesus, it;s like a totalitarian state in here at times.
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Sony do need to be praised for encouraging creativity to blossom more on their console!!
My wife and kids are simply gonna love this as well.
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Go back to whatever the hell it is you get enjoyment out of and let other people enjoy what they want. Jesus, it;s like a totalitarian state in here at times."
Of course you're right, but happily free speech works both ways
/ Grants Goodfella's wish and f**ks off to play GAMES (on Dreamcast - thanks EG!).....
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If you have a look around on youtube, there's a quite nice little interview with ThatGameCompany creative leader Jenova Chen, you should have a look at it as it might help you get past your problems with what they are trying to do. You might be surprised how unpretentious his intentions are.
The heart of what he's getting it is that like movies, games should be allowed to entertain us with a broad spectrum of emotional experiences - not just one thing. You want a laugh, you go and see a comedy, you want action and spectacle you go to a blockbuster, chills and shocks, a horror movie and so on. As long as its clearly labelled as offering a particular type of experience there's really not much to complain about.
The key thing about games is that they are interactive. Not that they are built around a specific type of content. The premise of Flower is that its basically an interactive chill-out experience. Rather than excitement, its about relaxation, and that's not especially pretentious or high-falutin!
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How about I go up to a police officer and call him a cunt and see what happens. That's free speech right?
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In fact, I'm not interested in Flower or the review -which I haven't read-; I have only come to read the comments, to see how important is to people as farticus to trolling about a so insignificant game as Flower.
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Actually yes.
/ from experience.
You may end up in a small room with a sponge mattress and a toilet that doesn't flush and no bog roll. But you are "allowed" to do it.
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smoke a spliff FFS
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Bit of a shame to end the review with a criticism of price. I don't know how much cinema tickets cost in Brighton, but £6.29 is substantially cheaper than a peak (evening performance) ticket round here.
Yup, v good point. Anyone been to the Hop Poles lately? £3.60 for a pint of Guinness
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what a cock.
/hits ignore
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Games are applied art. Games are a medium. Some games will be art. Some will be entertainment. Some will be just rubbish.
Some even two or more of the above.
Me, I'm just happy there are games that are not brown and full of monsters that need shooting. I just wish that every game would be released for every format, so we could stop comparing hardware and start comparing games.
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+1, I'm on the fence about this.
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(And Farty, I really do think you just say these things for effect, but I wish you wouldn't.)
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Unfortunately rather than happily in some cases, but still true. So knock yourself out.
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I think this looks like a winner - a nice escape from the grit and adrenaline of the next few Killzone months. I'm gonna buy it...
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edit: Oops, bringing this back somewhere near the original topic; I'm quite looking forward to this, flOw is stupid addictive
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You haven't even played Flower. Once you have, if you still don't like it, don't worry, there are more than enough mindless games to satisfy your simple mind.
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This. 'Exploring the tension between urban bustle and natural serenity' is rooted in the 19th century.
Still, sounds rather pleasant.
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http://uk .ps3.ign.com/articles/952/95252...
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You said it : LOL
(jesus christ on skates)
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Unfortunately, in my case Flower will be the victim of me having impulse-bought too many games online which I hadn't bothered to play afterward.
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can they seriously expect anyone to buy this?
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Post of the ever.
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I'm clearly a retard...
IRT Bad09
I think the 'art' thing came in when games became graphically good enough to look like art. Space invaders doesn't really have the graphical power to look like art (except maybe some Jackson Pollock rubbish) but games like Flow and say, Okami, look beautiful for their artistic merit.
And I agree, Tracy Emin is an idiot. That is definatly not art.
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Anyway. Are games art? Some of them. Should they be art? If they want to be. That's about all there is in the debate, isn't there?
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Fable 2 a 10, and it had terrible multiplayer and a fair few glitches, seriously what is with eurogamer?
Racism towards japanese developers?????? who knws
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I love fable and I can admit flaws and mgs4 but come on how can a moving flower score the same as a game that pushed the boundaries, I'm from the uk everywhere in Europe gets along with america, but no place to the east if you think of it, so come on really. How do we rate games now, do we rate them on being new to a genre, a game with rather big flaws but don't knock it, or a game with small flaws but in affect are meant to be there aka long cutscenes and gets pulled down for it. Metal gear is a cinematic experience (cinematic).
So really am I wrong to point out the obvious no, I'm not. I'd like a gm of eurogamer to get in touch on their point.........
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EG is a weird bunch, agreed, but you need to calm down and think.
Is games always put on PSN at a certain time? I was looking fot Flower just now, but found nothing.
(Also, is the Lumines Classic Pack out today(12th) aswell?)
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"I'm from the uk everywhere in Europe gets along with america, but no place to the east if you think of it, so come on really."
I'm not even going to dare to imagine what you might be implying by that.
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Killzone 2 is frickin' good too, though
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Well for the six odd quid it cost.
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Back to Killzone 2
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amen to that brother, my sentiments exactly.
It really is a beautiful experiance....and a good , if short, game
@ farticus
you are a boring cunt
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Stockholm, not Stockholme. Please don't abuse the King's Swedish.
Also, your comments are moot since you're dead inside, and we're not :-D
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+ 1
This joins PJ Monsters and PJ Eden as the primary reasons why my PS3 gets a look-in almost every evening, while my Xbox 360 gathers dust.
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I would have hoped a man who uses words and phrases like "brand association" or "foible" would be capable of more than the partisan bilge you like to void over these hallowed pages. Are you sure you're not just taking the piss?
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Im pretty sure I've had more fun plugging in my Xbox 360 hard drive then with PS3 the games to date.
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Tried it? Flower is almost GOTY material.
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Personally I found it to be one of the most refreshingly fresh and addictive games I've played in a long time, it even drew me away from Portal on my 360 and World of Goo on my Wii, if only for a brief time. One of the most memorable and enjoyable experiences I've had in gaming for a long time.
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"Fuck IGN" is a genre now?
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We need to wake up everybody. [company A] is turning us all into a generation of pansies. Let's a start supporting [company B] instead. The future of both hardcore and casual gaming is at stake here!
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Not sure I agree with it being "artsy", but I'm liking it for what it is in game terms at least.
Will play some more tonight.
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Totally agree. The only issue I have is the week long gap I have to give my self away from the game to get that last trophy. Not really in the chill out spirit I guess but nevermind.........my kids loved it too. In fact it was only when they asked to play on the PS3/Xbox a day later that I realised how many titles are now equating AAA status with 15+ age ratings and therefore there was noting else for them to play. Flower is the exception and should be rewarded accordingly.
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This game won an award and it wasn't the Turner Prize for stupid art, go figure.