Tech: flOw

In an era when games are getting more and more complex, it's nice to see simpler fare like "Geometry Wars" and "flOw" succeed. flOw isn't so much a game as it is an interactive plaything - think of it as a goldfish bowl or ant farm that you can control. In flOw, you play as a small, aquatic creature that gets larger by eating other creatures. As you get larger and larger, you descend into the depths of the ocean, and eventually face off in a final battle against...well, you'll see.

There's a nice ambient soundtrack and some really elegant graphics going on here - nothing awe-inspiring, but the entire package is calculated to inculcate a feeling of serenity in whomever's at the helm. One possible hangup - the red and blue pings at the edge of the screen seem a clumsy solution to the problem of designating where the entrances to the next level are.

The game isn't all that difficult, and it isn't all that long, either. I think the PS3 version looks fantastic, but the $8 price is pretty steep for a game that can essentially be finished, easily, in a half hour or so. There is no way to die in flOw, so the game lacks any kind of depth or challenge. But the totally-free Flash version linked above is well worth a run through.