Flower, Sun, and Rain (DS) Review
Flower, Sun and Rain is quite possibly the hardest game Ive ever had to review. On one hand, I absolutely enjoyed the game and thought it offered an amazingly abstract experience, a far cry from most of the titles on the shelves these days. On the other hand, I know that Flower, Sun and Rain is definitely NOT for everyone (in fact, its almost not for anyone), but is something that every gamer should at least try.
So what is it all about? I wouldnt blame you if you didnt realise that Flower, Sun and Rain was a remake of a game released back in 2001. I also wouldnt blame you if you didnt know that it was the second game made by Suda51, the auteur game designer behind Killer7 and No More Heroes. And finally, I wouldnt blame you if the storyline really, really doesnt make any sense to you. Being the second game designed by Suda51, and as a result the kind of unofficial sequel to The Silver Case, another Japan only game designed by Suda51, its most certainly a strange decision for this title to be localised before its predecessor. Regardless of the strange decision though, here we are with an “enhanced” remake of the game exclusively for the Nintendo DS.
The easiest way to explain Flower, Sun and Rain is as a cross between Groundhog Day and a David Lynch film. Specifically, the story and setting of the game draw parallels to Mulholland Drive, in that the game is set in a locale featuring idyllic scenery that hides a deadly and dark secret. Players assume the role of Sumio Mondo, a “searcher” who makes a living looking for peoples lost things. He arrives at an island, LosPass (Lost Past for those playing at home), and takes a room at the Flower, Sun and Rain hotel. Sumio is at the island to find a time bomb which is planted on a plane, which is soon to leave the islands only airport. On the way to the airport, however, Sumio is distracted by various inhabitants of the hotel who want their problems fixed, and is always distracted up until the plane explodes. Sumio then wakes up in his hotel room to find that the explosion hasnt occurred and thus he goes on to repeat the days doings, except everytime a different person needing help is present in the hotel. Eventually, Sumio begins to question his sanity and whether or not he can really foil this “terrorist attack” or whether he is just beginning to go insane.
It is up to the player to ensure Sumio finishes what he came to LosPass to do before his insanity takes a hold of him. The story is very vague in its delivery but its one of the most compelling Ive ever played. And its the characters and the setting that really set Flower, Sun and Rain apart from other titles. Along his journeys, Sumio will meet a hotel maid who finds comfort in crawling under guests beds as they sleep in them, an alcoholic angel from the heavens, two professional wrestlers (one of which speaks like a pirate), a soccer obsessed systems engineer and a Japanese student who has lost her pink crocodile, which is named Christina. The characters are an eccentric bunch and the dialogue they deliver is interesting. The worst part about the game is the graphics are terrible. The characters are blocky, lack detail and quite honestly dont look much like people. The textures are extremely pixelated and stretched, and in all honesty, look really ugly.
The environments themselves would look really nice in real life or at least with some better graphics, but unfortunately the engine the game is running on doesnt do it any favours. Its hard to believe that this once was a Playstation2 game as it resembles something worse than the PSX era or even the N64 era. Either way, if you are looking for an awesome story and some intriguing characters, you should be able to look past the terrible graphics of Flower, Sun and Rain and happily solve problems with Sumio.
So, just how does Sumio fix people’s problems? Well, he carries all his things around inside Catherine, his partner, and retrieves them whenever he wants to. Catherine can also be used to “jack in” to points of interest in order to progress the story. Items that Catherine can jack in to include people, PDAs, laptops, mops, alarm systems and so on. Oh, did I mention that Catherine is actually Sumios briefcase shaped code cracking device? Why does he call it Catherine? Because, and to quote Sumio, “Its certainly more interesting than working with a Bob”. Anyway, movement is performed with either the stylus or the d-pad, whichever tickles your fancy. Whenever a problem is found, Sumio must use Catherine to decipher the problem. From within Catherine, Sumio must use one of the eight available jacks to “jack in” to the object/person and then enter a number in order to progress the story. The number you must enter is sometimes extremely obvious (i.e. jacking into a phone to dial room 403 – you would enter 403 as a number) while some are extremely abstract and will really make you feel quite intelligent after sorting them out without using a guide.
The audio in the game is a little bit lacking too, but nowhere near as much as the graphics. Many of the ambient music tracks are all remixed classical pieces by the likes of Bach and Gershwin, which suit most of the environments quite well and might even make you think “hey, I know this piece” when they start booming through your DS speakers. Some of the pieces are quite intense and add to the dramatics of the scenes, making them a welcome addition. The voice work in the game though is quite lacking. If you ever played Killer7 and remember Iwazaru, the dialogue is delivered in a similar fashion. That is, characters dont speak but instead make electrically garbled noise, think a more “electronic” Banjo-Kazooie styled speaking. Its certainly disappointing that the gameplay isnt complemented with some nice voice work but perhaps its a blessing in disguise.
There is hardly any replay value in Flower, Sun and Rain and hardly anything to entice the player from deviating from the path they are given. The gameplay is extremely linear, although the solutions to some of the Catherine puzzles are not always obvious. That being said, there are some special Catherine puzzles that require an extra bit of thinking, and reward Sumio with new costumes, but ultimately there isnt a whole lot to keep gamers coming back. There is quite a bit of content in the game and it would probably require multiple playthroughs to fully understand, and in that regard I highly recommend it. There is perhaps only one thing that really perplexed me when I played Flower, Sun and Rain on the Nintendo DS – actually no, something that perplexed me before it released. As a huge Suda51 fan, why on earth did the team decide to localise this one before The Silver Case? Players who havent had any experience with The Silver Case may find some of the latter cases confusing in Flower, Sun and Rain. Its not 100 per cent detrimental, but something I felt was worth mentioning.
You will still be able to play and enjoy Flower, Sun and Rain without playing The Silver Case, but some references may be lost on you later on. All in all, Flower, Sun and Rain is an intriguing game with a very compelling story that unfortunately has not completely stood the test of time. The graphical and aural offerings the game provides are simply not up to par with other Nintendo DS titles (nor would it have been when released on PS2). While on one hand I absolutely loved the game, looking past the archaic graphics and enjoying the story for what it was, I know that only extreme Suda fans would be the only ones who would genuinely enjoy Flower, Sun and Rain. On the other hand though, I recommend you give it a try, see if you like it, and then take things from there. Its definitely an experience that almost everyone should at least try.
