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flOw
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With a tagline like, “Life could be simple” you expect flOw to be a calming experience, but once you get past the first few stages you will realize just how serene of a game it is. A great collage of classical and jazz beats and riffs will accompany you through the unique adventure. Chords and notes play out with each consumed creature. The music chimes in the background picking up as you progress deeper and deeper into the waters. The musical presentation is fantastic, but if you aren’t careful you may find yourself asleep at the controller.

flOw's gameplay is layered. The deeper you go, the more dangerous it gets.

1080p is available, and sure you may think that with such simple visuals there’s no real point to having HD, but you’d be wrong. flOw’s visual presentation is crisp as a fresh potato chip. Each shape looks so clear that you almost expect them to splash out of the screen. Along with the polished look is great animation that doesn’t suffer the issues that many motion driven games are plagued with. No jerky movements or frame rate issues here. It all runs smooth as silk.

But with the great presentation there are also faults present. Many gamers may find the gameplay shallow, and only fun for the first little bit of play. Rightly so as the game only changes marginally as your creature changes from one form to the other. It still returns to its basic core gameplay. There is multiplayer, and it is smoothly turned on by another controller just being moved down to “dive in”. But the game is too often cluttered by one more organism, and imminent accidental dives into the deeper levels by your partner get irritating.

flOw thrives on it’s simplicity. Available on the PSN Store for only eight bucks, flOw is more than worth a peek. Any gamer looking for a dive into motion driven gameplay and a simplistic yet polished experience should pick it up, or at least give the demo a shot, also available on the PSN Store.

Highs
Great control and unique, calming gameplay. Plus it's cheap.

Lows
Multiplayer is confusing. Fairly shallow for many gamers.

Final Verdict
Fantastic game for those looking for a unique experience that really utilizes the SIXAXIS controller.

75%

Mar 6, 2007

Review by Sean Tonks.