flOw (PlayStation 3)

Discuss Review + Want + Have Contribute

Description

flOw is a PlayStation Network game, originally an online flash project by Jenova Chen and Nicholas Clark as a part of Chen's thesis research, but later adapted to a commercial game by thatgamecompany, which Chen co-founded.

The player controls a small, worm-like micro-organism on a bright, two-dimensional plane. On the PS3, it can be moved around by tilting the SIXAXIS controller in the direction the creature should swim. The PSP version is controlled with the analogue stick. There are six, gradually unlocked creatures to choose from (Snake, Jelly, Manta, Rogue, Hunter, Credit Creature), each with their own abilities such as poison, a swirling move to draw in plankton or a homing attack. The aim of the game is to eat other micro-organisms and evolve, moving deeper into the sea until the bottom is reached, leading the game to restart with a new creature. Evolving will change the creature's shape or grants new abilities. There are different power-ups, making the creature move faster or giving it a larger mouth. Certain larger enemies are made up of dots that need to be eaten to have it destroyed, requiring different strategies to take them out.

With each new level, moving deeper into the sea, the background, colours, enemies and music change. The creature is able to return to previous levels, or dive deeper, indicated by different icons. The game has straightforward controls and offers multiplayer sessions for up to 4 players, all using the same creature.

flOw applies the concept of dynamic difficulty adjustment. Players can choose to ignore large and dangerous enemies or come back to fight them later, striking a balance between the game's challenges and the individual abilities.

Screenshots

Part of the Following Groups

• Executable flash games
• Game Engine: PhyreEngine

User Reviews

There are no reviews for this game.

The Press Says

videogamer.com	Mar 29, 2007	8 out of 10	80
UOL Jogos	Apr 30, 2007		80
IGN Australia	Mar 19, 2007	7.6 out of 10	76
IGN	Feb 20, 2007	7.6 out of 10	76
Jeuxvideo.com	Nov 01, 2012	15 out of 20	75
Game Freaks 365	2007	7.4 out of 10	74
GameSpot	Feb 22, 2007	7.1 out of 10	71
PAL Gaming Network (PALGN)	Nov 02, 2007	7 out of 10	70
Eurogamer.net (UK)	Apr 01, 2007	7 out of 10	70
Cheat Code Central	2007	3.5 out of 5	70

Forums

There are currently no topics for this game.

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Flow appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Related Web Sites

• flOw (Official game website)
• flOw (Product page on the developer's website)
• Welcome to Flow in games (Play the original flash game.)
• Wikipedia: flOw (Article in the open encyclopedia)