Its A Game That Sometimes Doesn't. Its A Demo That May Bore You After a While. Why Did I Kinda Like flOw?
With every introduction of a video gaming console there is a facet that gives gamers and consumers alike a general impression of what the console's focus aims to be. If this generation is any indicator, fuzzy mascots and commercials touting a deep library prior to a console's launch have been replaced with online marketplaces and realistic head explosions. ThatGameCompany's flOw would be Sony's experiment and a risky line drawn in an already tumultuous economic sand. flOw has a lot going for it, but inconsistent motion control and the sterile presentation makes flOw feel more like a tech demo than a game.
I can only imagine a PS3 owner's face during the system's launch in 2007. This [then] five-to-six hundred dollar gaming device touting every bell and whistle marked a dawn for the new age of gaming. It is of no wander why a game controlled only by any pressed button and the untested stability of the Playstation's SixAxis motion controller. Having a theme centered on a piece of plankton eating smaller microbes in order to become larger -- and yes, more beautiful. The theme of flOw may furrow the brow of a consumer looking for something that validates their investments. In a way, flOw does.
flOw Is at its best when the player gives themself a goal. Otherwise flOw can function as a cool looking screensaver
Prior to the four-player multiplayer being patched in, flOw had all of the trappings of a technically sound art project. Deep blues and sparse, seemingly random moving particles made you feel, alone. Which works for and against you in a game where you start as one of the smallest living things. You are given the decision to grow larger [by eating and thus turning this vivid demo into a game] you can become faster and quite savage given you decide floating around in a space inhabited by shapes and moving parts similar to your own. Where flOw succeeds is it gives 'most' of the power to the player. Want to skip all the way to the end of the level? Awesome. Go for it. Want to constantly be attacked by the larger species, that's cool too. As a first-time experience, flOw can pull a player in easily because it is so different. There is not score, though there are trophies. You can play with up to four players, but in the later stages of the game it feels chaotic.
Protip: There Are 4 different kinds of creatures you can eventually choose from. All of them equally hard to control.
The problem with flOw is that it is completely dependent on the controls for everything game related. When you flick the controller left your plankton may pensively turn left or flip right. If played like a demo just exploring the space is a joy, but playing flOw as a game those flicks to the left and right count on precision. Precision isn't apart of flOw's vocabulary. Art, experimentation and even fun can be associated with flOw. There were times where I couldn't comprehend how I was controlling my extravagantly dressed plankton, though I was eating the little microbes [and at times feeling bad about it] this game took the fun out of chasing or being hunted when giving me controls that were as inconsistent as my emotions were with this game.
Games are art, but games like these aren't always fun. Games like flOw, are graphically impressive and function as a great conversation piece for what they may mean or how they effected the gaming community. As game there is just your imagination and game controlled by an unfortunate gimmick. I really wish it could have been simpler. Give the player control and let me experience this game in more than just one flawed manner.
I Give flOw...
Let's be honest, flOw is kind of boring.The "Image Of How Most Indie Games Are Treated" Award