Sony's Flower: A Vibrant Bloom

Tired of shooting your way through video games? Sony's new PS3 game takes you inside the life of a flower

By Chris Buffa

Although we love first person shooters and fighting games, we sometimes crave innovative non-violent experiences to balance out our typical bloodlust. Enter Flower, Sony's upcoming PlayStation 3 video game. Instead of chopping off limbs and body slamming pedestrians, you guide a flower petal through gorgeous open fields. It's a bizarre concept, but having played it, we're confident that it's not only a phenomenal experience, but also an excellent way to relieve stress.

Designed by ThatGameCompany (makers of the PS3 video game flOw), Flower lets you step inside of a flower's dreams, going from a dank windowsill in some unknown city to breathtaking environments bursting with color. With DualShock 3 in hand, you accelerate the petal with the X button and maneuver by physically tilting the controller.

As you progress, you'll affect the environment in various ways. Approach a flower patch and the music will change; altering the soundtrack is one of the game's best features. In addition, you'll complete different objectives including one where you'll build up enough wind to power a turbine. You'll even pick up new and different colored petals along the way.

Flower is a marvelous looking video game. Its developers managed to model well over 200,000 individual blades of grass per stage and it reacts to wind, so as you move, pay attention to how it bends and shakes. There's also an intense burst of color that includes not only the grass, but also the sky and the other flowers.

Combine its dreamy visuals with a soothing collection of music, and Flower quickly becomes therapy for anxiety-ridden gamers looking to chill. Fortunately, Sony plans to release the game ($9.99) February 12 on the PlayStation Network.

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