Here's my opinion on the videogame Flower, developed by That Game Company. For the purpose of having a more thorough understanding of this review, I encourage you to check out a gameplay video of Flower below.
For a Playstation Network mini-videogame that lacks dialogue and whose only text is the game title itself, Flower most certainly makes up for in its gameplay. Flower throws the player right in the middle of the battle between the daunting big city and the tranquility of nature - and it is done in a relatively peaceful manner. You travel through this game from the perspective of a single flower petal that has the ability to encourage other flowers to bloom when you come into contact with them (technically, you control the wind that allows this petal to soar). Not only is an additional petal added to your arsenal of flower power with each blossom, but every action you see is accompanied by a sound. Simply from an audio standpoint, It's obvious that much attention to detail went into the aesthetics of this game.
We begin with frightening illustrations of the city, which seems to tower over you in a mass of skyscrapers, construction cranes, and threatening weather. The musical composition here is somber and gloomy, which very effectively translates into an emotional disconnect and discontentment with this scene. We are then transitioned to the perspective of a single flower in a seemingly endless field of grass accompanied by a soothing picked-guitar rhythm. From this flower pops a single petal, which causes gusts of wind to come to life and take the lone petal to flight. After this initial woosh of wind, you're ready to go to town with nature (pun?). As you travel faster, the sound of the wind becomes more dominant, and vice versa. The grass itself exhibits difference behavior and sound as your rush past it more intensely as well. What you may find most pleasing, is that every flower bloomed produces a note to accompany the existing music, that's actually in the right key and even chord of the progression! Also, with each and every new flower you encounter, a different instrument is sounded. All of these audible things (and many more) come together in near-perfect harmony to sell you on an alternate reality that the visuals introduce.
What I liked most about Flower is the game's nonverbal storytelling. Throughout the entire game (as I recall) there is no dialogue or text, except for that of the title screen. This nonverbal type of communication plays on the most effective way that we as humans have of sending and receiving messages. This also leaves much of the game open to interpretation - a true art form. Beyond the lack of written or spoken dialogue, the simple sound design and implementation does well to reconnect you with the outdoor environment that you're so accustomed to that you tend to overlook. The wind sounds like wind, the swaying grass sounds like swaying grass - and if flowers made sounds, this game would've captured them. Another huge pro for Flower is that the incorporated music isn't beating your ears to death with an entire orchestra playing that single repeated staccato note, but rather plays a soft rhythm one instrument at a time. And, as your subconscious was dying to see/hear, the sounds you trigger from blooming flowers are in the right key. The only two things I can think of are: first, it'd be more pleasing if the music didn't include an instrument until you bloomed the corresponding flower. Second: the game's only 2 hours. What can I fill the other 22 in with?
What I liked most about Flower is the game's nonverbal storytelling. Throughout the entire game (as I recall) there is no dialogue or text, except for that of the title screen. This nonverbal type of communication plays on the most effective way that we as humans have of sending and receiving messages. This also leaves much of the game open to interpretation - a true art form. Beyond the lack of written or spoken dialogue, the simple sound design and implementation does well to reconnect you with the outdoor environment that you're so accustomed to that you tend to overlook. The wind sounds like wind, the swaying grass sounds like swaying grass - and if flowers made sounds, this game would've captured them. Another huge pro for Flower is that the incorporated music isn't beating your ears to death with an entire orchestra playing that single repeated staccato note, but rather plays a soft rhythm one instrument at a time. And, as your subconscious was dying to see/hear, the sounds you trigger from blooming flowers are in the right key. The only two things I can think of are: first, it'd be more pleasing if the music didn't include an instrument until you bloomed the corresponding flower. Second: the game's only 2 hours. What can I fill the other 22 in with?
If I were to summarize Flower with one word, it would be "Free." No - not in price, but rather in an emotional sense. The combination of subtle music and fitting sound effects will surely allow the conscious of any player to be put at ease for the two hours of gameplay you'll receive. As Miles Davis once said, "it's not the notes you play, it's the notes you don't play." The developers of Flower show that they understand this concept thoroughly, with a game that doesn't try to saturate your screen with the most CPU-intensive graphics, or tear your speaker woofers right out of place with a blaring symphony. While it may not be the 40+ hours of epic storytelling you're used to, Flower can serve as a nice contrast to your revenge-driven quest to slay the gods of Olympus, or annihilate every possible player around the world with your newly-unlocked grenade launcher attachment. Personally, it's nice to be able to enjoy a videogame without the unnecessary bloodshed of computer bots just for a misplaced sense of accomplishment. Now, back to waiting for the Diablo III midnight release...
-Matthew Morrison
-Matthew Morrison
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