So this is Thatgamecompany's second game, originally built for PS3. It's pretty beholden to whatever deal they had going with Sony imo, much like their previous endeavor flOw. Both of these games are designed to find some kind of functionality for the DualShock 3's movement controls, which were transferred to the DualShock 4 but ultimately they were much less focused on. The trend for motion controls had kind of died out beyond being thought of as a cool bonus, as evidenced by the feature being relegated to optional camera control in Thatgamecompany's third title Journey, which was released on PS4.

This game being the middle child makes it kind of a strange entry in their legacy. While flOw could be seen as kind of gimicky as well as short, it at least presented some level of challenge for the player which is lacking here.

This game is entirely casual. It's the kind of game that also works as a screensaver. So going in, be aware that it's a chill and peaceful time, to either be barrelled through in an evening or played in short, relaxing chunks.

You use the motion controls to guide your flower petal to new flowers to collect more petals to ride the wind with on your way through the level. Simple enough, although the motion controls do take some time to get the hang of, which may be why the game lacks challenge. Another feature it surprisingly lacks is multiplayer, making it the only game developed by Thatgamecompany to be an entirely single player experience. That being said, the casual nature of the game does make it a nice entry-level experience, say, if you have a friend, family member, or partner who hasn't played very many games. Some single player games can make for good co op experiences if you're willing to pass the controller I guess.

The game is divided into stages, which do have a few collectibles to find for eagle eyed completionists. Each stage will have a slightly different theme or mechanic, but the objective in each remains the same: Gather more petals to open new parts of the level, engage with some bare-bones puzzles to bring the environment to life, and make it to the end where you'll get a short and beautiful Okami-like cutscene of the whole barren stage becoming lush with plants of all different colors.

Much of this game is wrapped up in its beauty. It's got a very storybook subtextual message about the magic of nature and how it should be respected and whatnot, so the nature of it all should look beautiful. And it serves the game's casual pacing and presentation, allowing for 2009 players to explore in awe. Some context at the time for graphics engines; the way developers loved to show off their power back in the seventh gen was largely through foliage. The water, character models, and particles weren't usually quite there yet. You can see the effect of this shift in games like Halo 3, and you can see the effect of the shift away from that in Thatgamecompany's very next game, which of course chooses to show off the PS4's power through lighting and tens of thousands of grains of sand.

All this being said, flower still happens to look pretty good these days. Added another easy 100% trophy collection to my belt. I think I liked flOw a little more for its comparative uniqueness and challenge, but this one's a nice, chill time. Solid, but not great.

By the way, if you're wondering how to get through that one section where shit's falling on you without losing any petals for the trophy, you should literally just fly above everything as slowly as possible.