Flower Power

I've been wowed by demos before. I can recall back to the PSX days, getting the Official Playstation Magazine just for that demo disc. Even getting Zone of Enders for the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo alone (though ZOE is a great game… and the MGS2 demo was awesome). Yes, I've had a long history of playing and loving demos. Last night though, for the first time ever, I was moved by a demo.

I downloaded a demo of the game Flower off PSN. I'd heard good things about it so I figured it was worth a try. It's a difficult game to pin down because much like Heavy Rain its not quite a conventional game. In Flower you control, well, flowers. Specifically it's a flower petal that floats along on the wind which you control via the six axis. Basically all you do is fly past other flowers to make them bloom and make a dead area green again. This mechanic is terrific and you actually get a sense of soaring through the air. For a downloadable title the game is incredibly detailed on the technical side, each blade of grass is individually rendered. It is almost jaw dropping to see an entire field blowing in the wind. I never thought I would say this but… I would absolutely love to play this in 3D IF they could keep the colors vibrant.

The vibrant colors are essential to this game. You start off in a dark and dingy apartment with a sad looking flower in a pot on the windowsill. The atmosphere is just awesome. There's no real narrative but you are pointed in the direction that your character is the person living in this apartment in the city. At night while they dream they help the plants grow (as evidence by the blinking eyelids when you enter the dream or plant world). I know, it sounds cheesy, and honestly it is. Still, there is a lot of beauty and power behind all the imagery.

Flower has you working to bring beauty to the world, both in the dream and out. Even games where you're the good guy you tend to do the opposite. Inside the dream world you make it green and full of life. While outside in the real world you add flowers to the windowsill. It's a very simple concept and a simple game all around, but much like World of Goo, it never limits itself with its premise. Now while I am a fan of action packed games, I am quite capable of taking a break from that and enjoying something a bit more intellectual.

Flower is an esthetic experience, but it can be something deeper. There are far worse things you could do with $10. This game is relaxing and beautiful, almost like Rez. That said though, I would avoid this if you're the type of gamer who has a seizure when you go 15 seconds without killing something. So yes, I was moved by this demo, enough to write this little snippet. I intend to get this game as soon as possible, and I suggest you download the demo.