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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Adventure Developer: Xseed Games Publisher: Xseed Games |
Gamers in the United States have gotten use to the fact that many games that come to the U.S. have already spent time in Japan. A
strange mix of puzzle and adventure, “Flower, Sun and Rain” was originally released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan. This unique game
saw very mixed review during its in Japan and now eight years later the game is making its way to the U.S. on the Nintendo DS.
“Flower, Sun and Rain” is possibly one of the strangest games that many players will have ever played. The story follows a man by the
name of Sumio Mondo who is a searcher. He is a detective who works freelance for the highest bidder. When a mysterious call comes
from the Flower, Sun and Rain Hotel, Sumio accepts the job and what unfolds next is the strangest offerings available. Players take on
the role of Sumio, learn what he learns and have very little available from the beginning.
Since Sumio is a searcher, he relies on a few tools of the trade, all combined into a single briefcase named Catherine. From the very
first moment of game play, players are shown some strange scenes and nonsense design and it it up to the players to determine what
is going on. Movies play throughout the game on a single screen. Players walk around the world, interact with objects with the touch
screen and they in turn either initiate either a movie that tells story, inner monologue with Sumio or jack-in challenges. Players can jack
into people or objects, and when successful they’ll progress the story.
It’s an odd situation that takes place in the game, but players use Catherine to plug into living and non-living objects. When initiated
players will be prompted with a number of colored plugs on the bottom screen and will have to guess each color by clicking and
dragging the plug into the correct docks. From there a number dial pops up, along with a number of open boxes on the top screen.
Just like hangman players need to spin the dial and input the right numbers until the have the code.
The entire story of the game is based on that core concept. Players find puzzles, research, use Catherine and input the correct answer.
The problem the nearly all gamers will find is that the game is entirely nonsense and doesn’t do much to steer players in the proper
direction. It all starts off simple enough, having players wander around until they meet a person who will ask for the player’s birthday.
The birthday is recorded and players will be off and playing. From there players will get a puzzle that is birthday related and need to
mess with the digits that were previously provided. The whole things gets to be pretty crazy, very quickly. A serious issue with the game
is that players never know when they are going to be talking with a character or going into one of the challenges, so every time players
pick an object, they may have to go through ten to twenty dialogue boxes about the new challenge. This will make players think twice
before talking to a seemingly random person or before checking a random object, instead of choosing every person and object at
random.
Yet another annoyance with the game is everything about inputting answers to the puzzles which, will involve a lot of guess and check
work, which can be quite slow and fairly unintuitive. The little jack-in mini game will always be the same, so that removes a small
aspect of the game, but every time players want to try a guess they will have to walk up to the object, talk to it, listen to Sumio’s inner
monologue again, play the jack-in game, spin the dial to input each number and wait to see if they entered the correct numbers. If they
are wrong it is right back out to the over world automatically, it simply drags the game on for a lot longer than it needs to.
“Flower, Sun and Rain” has been regarded as a fairly bland overall offering from importers and Japanese press, so it was pretty
obvious that players wouldn’t be getting an outstanding title, but instead something that would challenge even the most hardcore of
gamers. Anyone that likes this style of gaming and niche will enjoy this game. The game proves to be a success simply from the fact
that it made its way to the United States in the first place, but for those that dive into the game should be more than forewarned that this
game goes far beyond being strange, slow and really tough on anyone who attempts to play this game. Most niche titles of this type that
are currently available and become fan favorites have a hard outer shell, but once players are able to work their way into the game there
is plenty of rewarding game play to be found.
“Flower, Sun and Rain” is basically a title that is just too strange, slow and much too unintuitive to ever be a truly fun gaming title at any
time. Again, those who are looking for a challenge in a game, this one is sure to take some time to get through. Sadly, “Flower, Sun
and Rain” just isn’t a good overall game and will only appeal to a small audience.
strange mix of puzzle and adventure, “Flower, Sun and Rain” was originally released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan. This unique game
saw very mixed review during its in Japan and now eight years later the game is making its way to the U.S. on the Nintendo DS.
“Flower, Sun and Rain” is possibly one of the strangest games that many players will have ever played. The story follows a man by the
name of Sumio Mondo who is a searcher. He is a detective who works freelance for the highest bidder. When a mysterious call comes
from the Flower, Sun and Rain Hotel, Sumio accepts the job and what unfolds next is the strangest offerings available. Players take on
the role of Sumio, learn what he learns and have very little available from the beginning.
Since Sumio is a searcher, he relies on a few tools of the trade, all combined into a single briefcase named Catherine. From the very
first moment of game play, players are shown some strange scenes and nonsense design and it it up to the players to determine what
is going on. Movies play throughout the game on a single screen. Players walk around the world, interact with objects with the touch
screen and they in turn either initiate either a movie that tells story, inner monologue with Sumio or jack-in challenges. Players can jack
into people or objects, and when successful they’ll progress the story.
It’s an odd situation that takes place in the game, but players use Catherine to plug into living and non-living objects. When initiated
players will be prompted with a number of colored plugs on the bottom screen and will have to guess each color by clicking and
dragging the plug into the correct docks. From there a number dial pops up, along with a number of open boxes on the top screen.
Just like hangman players need to spin the dial and input the right numbers until the have the code.
The entire story of the game is based on that core concept. Players find puzzles, research, use Catherine and input the correct answer.
The problem the nearly all gamers will find is that the game is entirely nonsense and doesn’t do much to steer players in the proper
direction. It all starts off simple enough, having players wander around until they meet a person who will ask for the player’s birthday.
The birthday is recorded and players will be off and playing. From there players will get a puzzle that is birthday related and need to
mess with the digits that were previously provided. The whole things gets to be pretty crazy, very quickly. A serious issue with the game
is that players never know when they are going to be talking with a character or going into one of the challenges, so every time players
pick an object, they may have to go through ten to twenty dialogue boxes about the new challenge. This will make players think twice
before talking to a seemingly random person or before checking a random object, instead of choosing every person and object at
random.
Yet another annoyance with the game is everything about inputting answers to the puzzles which, will involve a lot of guess and check
work, which can be quite slow and fairly unintuitive. The little jack-in mini game will always be the same, so that removes a small
aspect of the game, but every time players want to try a guess they will have to walk up to the object, talk to it, listen to Sumio’s inner
monologue again, play the jack-in game, spin the dial to input each number and wait to see if they entered the correct numbers. If they
are wrong it is right back out to the over world automatically, it simply drags the game on for a lot longer than it needs to.
“Flower, Sun and Rain” has been regarded as a fairly bland overall offering from importers and Japanese press, so it was pretty
obvious that players wouldn’t be getting an outstanding title, but instead something that would challenge even the most hardcore of
gamers. Anyone that likes this style of gaming and niche will enjoy this game. The game proves to be a success simply from the fact
that it made its way to the United States in the first place, but for those that dive into the game should be more than forewarned that this
game goes far beyond being strange, slow and really tough on anyone who attempts to play this game. Most niche titles of this type that
are currently available and become fan favorites have a hard outer shell, but once players are able to work their way into the game there
is plenty of rewarding game play to be found.
“Flower, Sun and Rain” is basically a title that is just too strange, slow and much too unintuitive to ever be a truly fun gaming title at any
time. Again, those who are looking for a challenge in a game, this one is sure to take some time to get through. Sadly, “Flower, Sun
and Rain” just isn’t a good overall game and will only appeal to a small audience.
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