Monday, July 21, 2008

Flow [PS3] - Review


Flow is a very difficult game to review. In fact, it is difficult to even class what type of game Flow is supposed to be. It most resembles a traditional 2D shooter but without actually shooting any enemies. You control a worm like organism and you guide it around the water to eat other smaller organisms. The more you eat the more you grow and evolve the shape of your creature.

Most of the creatures you eat are defenseless and you just have to aim your mouth at them and swallow them up. Other creatures can fight back and you need to decide on the best way to approach these creatures to eat them without getting harmed. By eating red particles you can travel to deeper, dark and more dangerous waters but you can also return to safer waters by eating the blue particles. It kind of sounds like The Matrix's red-pill, blue-pill choice.

The most interesting aspect of Flow is the unique control scheme. The direction and movement of the creature is controlled with the Sixaxis. All the other buttons have the same function, to increase your speed. The controls work well and quite responsive, certainly one of the best implementations of the Sixaxis I've encountered. The unique controls, nice graphics and really beautiful music provide you with a nice experience as you play. Just how much you will want to play is up for debate. I think of it as a game to jump in and play for a few minutes rather than something you will spend hours playing.

Graphics
Nothing spectaular but the characters all move smoothly and there is a nice 3D effect as you move to different waters.

Sound
Not much in the way of sound effects but the music is amazing.

Controls
Nice implementation of the Sixaxis and easy to get to grip with.

Verdict
The main goal of the game is supposedly to help you relax and if (please excuse the pun) you go with the flow then you might just find yourself relaxing. I can't see much use for it in the long-term but it is a cheap enough game on PSN.

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