Although flOw suffers from a painfully short length, the presentation is slick enough to keep you hooked until the end.
What will strike players first about flOw is its incredibly calming soundtrack. Heavenly choirs sing out in the background while scores of violins softly compliment the gameplay. Couple the outstanding sound design with the strangely mezmerizing graphic styIe and flOw can be easily reccomended to gamers who perfer a more artistic presentation over anything else.
The gameplay in flOw is unique and, at the same time, is fluid. Controlling the direction and speed of player character is done entirely through the Sixaxis sensor, which sounds like a complicated idea on paper but works surprisingly well after about five minutes of practice. The face buttons are used for special actions that each character type can utilize to better advance through stages, such as boosting or guarding. Advancing the character is done by eliminating other creatures and consuming various organisms that are left behind. The gradual evolution of each character model is highly creative and begs multiple playthroughs in order to find out how complicated creatures can become.
With its superb sound design and graphics, flOw still has some notable flaws, the most prominent being the criminally short length. flOw takes roughly 2-3 hours to complete depending on individual learning curve but at least all the stages can be replayed via the title screen. Even so, flOw is a title that is meant to be played for special occasions, such as impressing friends or finding a calm escape. Still, the lack of sufficient substance leaves something to be desired.
Overall, flOw is a unique game that will undoubtebly please anyone seeking a highly artistic adventure through an evolutionary playground. Though the short length will leave many players displeased, the journey is still adequately enjoyable. Also, with a price tag of absolutely free (in the US at least), flOw is worth a look, if only for a single playthrough.