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Opposable Thumbs / Gaming & Entertainment

PS3′s Flower is art, extends conversation on what games are

Flower, coming to the PlayStation Network this Thursday, is set to become the …

There are two types of people when it comes to the games-as-art debate: those who spend too much time and energy arguing one way or another, and those who ignore it altogether and simply create games that are art. Jenova Chen and thatgamecompany belong firmly in the second category, and after playing Flower to completion on the PS3, we can confirm that they have given us another game to talk about, puzzle over, and enjoy.

In Flower you control the wind, causing a trail of flower petals to fly around each level, gathering more petals to itself by touching flowers, which makes them blossom. Touch a group of flowers and a splash of color spreads out across the land. These transformations are oddly satisfying, as if you're painting the landscape with a heavenly brush. The music also works with the graphics to create a soothing, evocative mood for the game. These aesthetic issues are only part of the story, however.

The mechanic of awakening these flowers in order to change the landscape remains throughout the entire game, although the settings you explore do not. The game takes an odd turn about halfway through, causing a change in both how the game looks and how it plays. I won't describe what happens, and how you deal with it, in order for you to enjoy the game as fully as possible, but after the credits rolled—in an interactive sequence that you play—I was left thinking about what I had just seen.

The game is played by tilting the Dual Shock 3, and only one button is required to cause the wind to "blow," so this is a title that allows you to absorb what's happening while playing. In a world where publishers are spending millions trying to get the most desolate warzones imaginable, a game that knows how good actual colors can look and feel on the screen is more than welcome—it's almost required.

Whether or not Flower has a story is up to what you think is going on, and I'm unconvinced that the most topical explanation for the events in the game is the right one, or even the only one. Games are interactive in more ways than one, and playing Flower before it is released is actually something of a handicap; part of the draw of this game is going to be the discussions that it spawns across the gaming blogs and forums.

There will be some that simply don't get it, and that's OK. There will be some that don't care for it; this is a game that isn't for everyone. There will be others, and I am one of them, that will hear the game whisper to them when they close their eyes.

More ambitious than flOw, thatgamecompany's last release for the PS3, and much more satisfying, this is a game for those interested in gaming as emerging media can't miss. Even if you don't like it, working out why will give you insight about game design—and what can and possibly can't be done in gaming. Or you can opt out of thinking about the deeper meanings and just use the game as a way to relax and enjoy the beautiful swaying grass and gently blossoming flowers. Perhaps giving the game too much though is, in its own way, completely missing the point.

Flower is coming to the PlayStation 3 as a downloadable title on February 12, for $9.99.

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