thatgamecompany's long-awaited "Zen game" Flower is finally being released on the Playstation Network next week, having been originally teased way back at the Tokyo Game Show in 2007. So far the game has caused all who've witnessed it to find themselves unable to accurately describe what the "game" is, only that it is captivating.
VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi was recently treated to a demonstration by Creative Director Jenova Chen. While it is still nowhere near as telling as an actual hands-on experience with the game, it is most definitely insightful.
Controlling the wind via Sixaxis motion control, carry colorful flower petals through the dreary grey flowers and grass to energize the world with color, panning out for cutscenes of landmark colorings. This looks decidedly similar to the story mode of de Blob (my #1 favorite game of 2008) with the notable exception of being incredibly relaxed. There don't appear to be any enemies or noteworthy obstacles, just the garden around you. We've heard that the "levels" of Flower are each the dreams of potted flowers on a window sill and that other dreams include bringing wind to a valley and bringing light to a darkened city. It appears from this demonstration that the little success cutscenes will feel very liberating and joyous for the player, an excellent way to form an emotional connection in such a "casual" game. (You may notice I'm using quotation marks a good deal here. That's because the jury is still out regarding Flower feeling like a "game") Very interesting here is Jenova's explanation that the player will still be in control even during the cutscenes so that they never lose that sense of immersion, even when the camera pulls away, similar to how the player could still control the camera during cutscenes in Shadow of the Colossus.
Flower looks to be the game of the season that shows the most of what the Playstation 3 can do. Tens of thousands of blades of grass moving independently, pushed and pulled by the player in lush high-definition. If you have a Playstation 3 and ten dollars, you should probably get Flower when it hits the PSN Store next week. I know I will.
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