At long last I finally introduced my girlfriend to one of the most advanced gaming consoles in the world. After spending thirty minutes messing with the EyeToy’s video filters and showing off PixelJunk Eden, I decided to launch fl0w. I wasn’t sure how well she would recieve it, but when I realized that fl0w is also a two-player game, I decided it was time for her to experience the Playstation 3 and the SIXAXIS controller. The following screenshots really give no justice to the stunning quality of the game overall – what you are seeing is merely a capture in a sequence of intense movement – sort of like pausing your HDTV. To get the full effect, it is advised that you bite the bullet and actually buy the game; it’s worth it, and it’s multiplayer (through the Playstation Network, too).
Nonetheless, we started off as the two spinny creatures (officially named Jelly) in the most basic of levels. I was the red character, and she was the green. It was a little difficult for her to get the hang of the SIXAXIS controller, and I often reminded her that “up is down and down is up” like a concerned parent at their child’s first sports game. She quickly got the hang of it though (and shut me up) and we started cruising around and destroying everything that got in our way. Diving deeper and deeper, the levels and the elements we encountered became more visually stunning and we both couldn’t stop commenting on the great graphics. What I couldn’t believe, however, was how fast time slipped by and how she didn’t care at all.
And so we grew; not only as two avatars in fl0w, but in that moment we grew together as two people. We had something new that we could do together, a common interest that was my idea. It’s always a cool feeling as a boyfriend to have this type of interaction with someone you’re really interested in. To give someone interaction with a product that you spend a lot of time writing about is a satisfying feeling; it makes it human. She was truly having fun.
Our first encounter with a “bad guy” was pretty interesting and mostly chaotic. Now if she ever reads this, I hate to say it sweetheart, but I was killing a lot more things than you. My spins were so good it was almost Olympic. Of course, I have played the game a few times before so it’s not fair for me to judge her. You should have seen me cruising around, it was like when you finally understand how to drive a bumper car and you just run around in circles choosing your targets like a bird of prey. We eventually learned how to defeat this guy; you bump into him while spinning and then swoop in again quickly while he’s retracting. With two people simultaneously attacking it becomes very simple.
After advancing and eventually defeating the Jelly “level” we had an option to become something that resembled a fish (officially called a Manta). Its special move (R2) was the ability to dash in the aimed direction enabling very quick attacks. I’d never played this creature before, and it was really cool to share that moment of discovery. Her skill started improving as well, and I wasn’t the one who was doing the majority of the attacks anymore. Her movements became calculated, violent; I saw evil in her eyes and a sinister series of twists to the controller. We soon learned how to work together, because it was time for us to really flow.
After collecting power-ups, we decided to take on a creature that was really just an unbelieveable piece of design; a truly random, chaotic, and scary creature that took up half the screen.
I won’t tell you how this ends, because I want you to see what it’s like yourself. In fact, I can admit that this was only a fraction of the hour and fifteen minutes we played. fl0w is much more impressive than I initially thought. It definitely takes a few experiences and two-person multiplayer to truly understand the real value of the game. And yes, these screenshots were taken from the experience, by accident. 🙂
fl0w is available from the PSN Game Store, and I also found this Wikipedia article on fl0w interesting as it defines your encounters.
