Let there be life: Games go organic

Winda Benedetti Citizen Gamer • E-mail

Consider for a moment, the flower — that delicate collection of stems and stamens, pistils and petals, that bringer of color and fragrance to our lives, and, of course, that perfect protagonist for today’s video games.

Yes, video games. Before you start pondering just what kind of pollen I’ve been huffing, note that while heavily armed giants like “Fallout 3,” “Gears of War 2,” and “Resident Evil 5” were dazzling the masses at this year’s games industry hootenanny known as E3, a modest title called “Flower” was causing its own fair share of head turning and tongue wagging.

According to the developers of this forthcoming PlayStation 3 title, “Flower,” is a game about, well, flowers, their dreams and the way their colorful petals dance on the wind. No, really! It was even nominated for a Game Critics Best of E3 Award, and it is eagerly anticipated by many. Well, at least by me and these guys.

And if it’s not flowers, it’s plants, in fact, it’s entire gardens of plants that are currently taking gaming by storm … or at least by delicate sprinkle. Last week’s launch of “PixelJunk Eden” on the PS3 sets players swinging from plant to plant, capturing pollen, fertilizing seeds, nudging greenery to grow skyward.

Sounds boring, you say? You don’t have a green thumb, you insist? Don’t judge the garden by its gate because “Eden” is the most addictive and elegant platformer I’ve played in possibly forever. 

And "Eden" and “Flower” aren’t alone in their organic exploits. From last year’s sleeper hit "flOw" to a little indie exploration called "Phyta" — nature, growth, life, the delicate dance of reproduction and evolution … game developers are nursing some creative and compelling new gameplay out of Mother Nature’s mulch.

Q-Games "PixelJunk Eden" is a trippy, stylish journey into a series of psychedelic gardens.

Gardening for gamers
“We don't like making anything that is normal or ‘expected of us,’” says Dylan Cuthbert, founder of Q-Games, the Kyoto-based company that created “PixelJunk Eden.”

Indeed. “Eden” is the third game in Q-Games’ much-lauded “PixelJunk” series. All three games can be downloaded directly to the PS3 through the PlayStation Network and all three games, on the surface, appear to be completely different — “PixelJunk Racers” is a slot-racing game, “PixelJunk Monsters” is a tower defense game, and “PixelJunk Eden” is a trippy, stylish journey into a series of psychedelic gardens.

But what all these games have in common is gorgeous high-def graphics, careful attention to detail and an almost whimsical disregard for mainstream gaming’s rules of engagement.

“I started Q-Games about seven years ago because I wanted to try and make games in my own style and I found I couldn't do that while I was working at a publisher,” Cuthbert says. “The reason being is that I don't pay much attention to what the consumer wants — I am a bit selfish and simply make the games that I find cool and that I want to make, and this quite often doesn't gel well with mass-market publishing.”

You can see how the pitch might have gone: Yes, I’d like to make a game about a garden gnome who helps plants grow and tends to his own Eden. It’ll be sorta old-school, 2-D even. No, there won’t be any guns. No, your character never dies. What’s that, you say? Oh yes, I see the exit right over there.

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