Flower, Sun and Rain (Nintendo DS) - Review by jofra01

Introduction

Suda51, who you may or may not know about, is someone who creates some of the weirdest but well thought out excellent titles, such as Killer7 & No More Heroes. His last offering is no different. Flower, Sun & Rain is the latest of his wacky titles released for the Nintendo DS, it is a port of a Playstation 2 title released on 2001.

Flower, Sun & Rain can be considered as probably the most strangest, bizarre and most under appreciated title for the Nintendo DS. Containing a far fetched plot with even stranger characters and missions, and stopping those terrorists from blowing up the planes is not even the strangest part.

Gameplay

Flower, Sun & Rain isn't as action packed as you would expect from other titles Suda51 has put out. The whole objective of the game is that you must help people find things, but it isn't always items you are looking for. The game sees you in a hotel, with strange staff and guests, with the manager wanting you to stop terrorists from flying planes in to the hotel. The problem is however someone, mostly the manager, have you go off task to find something for them.

As you progress the things you look for get harder to find but it does mean you do get close to the airport to stop the terrorists. Finding things however gamers will find either fun and enjoyable or will give up on the title quickly due to its nature. To find things you need to figure out codes, made up of numbers, and you usually find these in between the lines on a guide book you have. The guide book is pretty much your survival guide as there are hints throughout it which give you more insight on your surrounding and the other people.

The problem is however is that finding the codes can be difficult as you will find yourself doing sometimes thousands of steps with your character, the game keeps track for you. Also when talking to characters gamers familar with Suda's work should find that the characters don't make sense, especially the prowrestlers.

Controls

The game does have a simple control layout which is actually honestly surprising as Suda51 likes have a weird and different control structure. The D-Pad or stylus on the bottom screen are used to control the player while you use the stylus for things as finding codes or going through the guide book.

Graphics

Probably the most disappointing and what would be most off putting to gamers would be the actual graphics within this title. Containing a very unpolished environment and characters the world within this game isn't very promising to gamers.

However being a port of a Playstation 2 title, that didn't have great graphics either, it has kept its unique feeling and Suda51 style. The game also contains some cutscenes which uses real people and environments but again being a Suda51 title they really don't make much sense and add to the confusion.

Sound

When gamers first play this game they will find that the soundtrack, though it suits the game's nature, is familar but somewhat discrete. Truth is that Suda has actually ripped some classic melodies and placed them in the game with some tweeks attached to them. This of course can change people's attitude to the title as well as some might find the songs to be to much to handle.

Along with sound characters also have a very annoying muttering to themselves. When talking to a character they will have a conversation, sounding similar to the Sims or in Chibi-Robo.

Dual screen

Dual screen use isn't a major part within this title with the bottom screen containing a map, which is hard to make of, and top screen containing your character.

Final comments

Flower, Sun & Rain is a title gamers will either love or hate, with none in between. It does seem obvious that Suda might have made this game to piss people off as it is a title that stands out within itself. For those not a fan of Suda stay away from this game but if you can handle his gamers or other weird and bizarre titles then you need to stay at hotel 'Flower, Sun & Rain' with Edo.

Pro: Very Suda51 like, Excellent Plotline, Strange Characters
Con: Unpolished Graphics, Hunting Codes Proves Painful Sometimes
Final score: 8

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