flOw

Creation is a hotly debated topic in America these days. Creationists are fighting evolutionists in whether so-called "intelligent design," a form of creationism which says that a being more intelligent than us must have created the universe, as opposed to chance and nature taking course. Video games have found themselves embroiled in the debate as well, and flOw appears to lean more towards science than religion.

flOw is a game that defies many standards in the industry. It takes the side in a divisive topic, it lacks any menu system or levels, and it controls without the use of buttons. Technically you can press any button for a special such as speed boost or to turn invisible, but other than that, you only tilt the Six Axis to control your organism. The game does not even have a real start screen. You just pick up the control, move it around and begin to feed.

This is a game where you see your character evolves as you continuously devour smaller (and sometimes larger) creatures than yourself. Some are harmless, others can be hostile. All of them have weak spots that you can attack in order to kill them. Since it takes place in the ocean, you will travel from one depth to the next as you make your way from near the surface all the way near the sea floor. These red colored organisms can be eaten to lower you one level and blue to go up one.

The object of the game is simple: reach the bottom of the sea as big as possible. You do this not by just eating everything in sight. Certain little white organisms are meant for your health, which appears in stunning visual fashion by lighting up your creature. Other organisms are meant to be eaten in order to enlarge your size. Eventually you will be the size of a large fish sporting a splendid design and glowing in a vibrant color.

The designers did a great job of creating an underwater environment. It is both beautiful and moody. Unfortunately, it seems sparse of much life outside of these jellyfish-like creatures. Where are the schools of fish? Where are the sharks? Where are the whales? I understand that the idea of the game was to keep it as simple as possible, and adding these other elements would detract from that goal, but simply for visual reasons, you think they are necessary props in the sea.

My only other major concern is with the replay value of flOw. There is not much to it other than eating animals, growing in size and evolving. You will eventually get to play as seven different creatures (including a credits one), but it will only take a few hours to do. Once you are done, you may only want to come back to show your friends this neat new experience. I am a big fan of new and unique ideas. This is one of them. The art direction and music of flOw make me feel that this is the Fantasia of video games. I highly recommend giving this game a look.