fleinn's flOw (PSN) review

This review had me a little lost--I like your other stuff better, I have to admit, and this seems experimental without fully working. While it's short it still seems to have some filler words, and I really am curious about what sort of goals people can set for fun (have X length for so long) or if you can set the computer AI or strategy to play against that. It sounds like a lot of fun--also I am curious about the graphics, and if they stress having different organisms, or if you can make your own multicolored, or even if teamwork is possible.

This game doesn't seem to need or even want a huge review but I still see opportunities to add a bit and maybe zap flabby phrases like the following:

Meaning that the point with the game was not necessarily to grow as fast, or as long as possible in order to beat a highscore, which the game does not have, but to just play the game however you would like it until it ended. ...

"The game has no high scores or explicit goals. You can capture memories of simple gaming joy by creating your own narrative: an organism trying to stay at length X for so long, or being the first to weight Y. But saying so within the game is dangerous."

I think there's a lot of groundwork for looking at philosophy of what makes games fun, and how to put simple concepts out there and let ambitious players do the rest to say what the game's about for them, but I'm left hanging.

.. Yeah. Now that I read through it, there really are a few sentences missing from what I typed in my notepad. I think I switched two paragraphs into the wrong order as well :D lol

Just to get that out of the way - there are different colours on the different creatures in multiplayer. And instead of a white 1 player along with another colour, the 1st player gets a new colour as well. It's very pretty with how the wings of the segments blow out into large shades. And functional at the same time, since it makes the creatures distinct.

Any player can pick any of the other creatures if you join on the creature-choosing level. And I think the scenario is decided by which creature the 1st player has. That kind of opens up for different approaches and cooperation on the levels. But it's all incidental, and defies any explanation when you.. *cough* flow around with a friend. Intimate or competitive, it's pretty organic in the way it's set up, but it's not structured enough to require or need any sort of thought.

Sometimes a player can pick up a super-powerup, that makes the creature large and angry - then you can eat the other players if you're not careful.. or very greedy.

It really is very difficult explaining this, which is why I probably didn't - but the pacing of the game as well is interesting. You're under no pressure whatsoever, but you still will be captivated enough to complete a level, forget the time, and just play. It's a very strange game.

While you're playing multiplayer, the camera will favour the first player, and then nudge towards the edges if the other players float off. Also functional and pretty - you're not straining to find out where the camera goes, and it's easy to locate your creature that way.

That.. was probably the theme I was going for, I think. It's a very complex game visually and technically - with everything from the animation to the layers, the camera and the fluid motion and ai for the other creatures - but it looks extremely simple in motion.

...right.. now, about what to do with the review... *thinking very hard*