The Sandbox: “Flower”‘s Video Game Poetry

A new video game makes a great case for games as art.

“Flower”’s action is framed by a level selection sequence in which you “enters” a flower sitting on an apartment table, with quick images of a dour metropolis flashing by before you get to the game’s primary, upbeat space. It’s an unobtrusively was to establish the games urban-rural, industrialization-nature tensions. In the same way, while free-reign exploration is only allowed to an extent (gusts blow your wind current back on course if you stray too far from the beaten path), the game’s conventional underlying structure is executed so subtly that it doesn’t hinder the sensory experience. Until, that is, level five, in which the sky goes black, thunder cracks overhead and flowers become positioned amidst scraggly metal towers which, when touched, produce a jolting electric charge that reduces your colorful wind current to one solitary, charred petal. Demanding that your navigate harmful obstacles, and soon after smash through those impediments in order to reach key destinations, this level (as well as “Flower”’s final two stages) calls attention to “gaming” elements with a suddenness and harshness that’s jarring.

It’s intentional, of course — a way to create danger and tension so that the hopeful ending will resonate more strongly. But it’s a transparent device, and one sabotaged by the eventual raft of urbanized imagery that makes the game’s narrative aims too plain. “Flower” never gets so literal as to pin itself to a sole, specific meaning, but the weight of its intent become heavy-handed by game’s conclusion, and this shift from the abstract to the semi-abstract mucks up your efforts to maintain a strong emotional connection to the proceedings. By pushing too hard a reading for their text, the power of which comes from its interpretative openness, as well as by resorting to classic gameplay devices that sabotage the early going’s unique, transporting vibe, TGC’s game stumbles down the home stretch. Still, it’s a small complaint when the preceding action is so rapturous. On the basis of its introductory passages alone, “Flower” proves another example of indie gaming’s burgeoning potential, not to mention a unique trip most every gamer should take.

The Sandbox, a column about the intersection a film and gaming, runs biweekly.

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