There are still many untouched ideas in the world of video games. However, the number of developers who create games bases on these novel ideas is small. Mi'pu'mi Games is one of the brave studios which has stepped into a risky way by developing and publishing The Flower Collectors. The risk has almost paid off, and the outcome is a unique experience that can engage us from the beginning to the end. Despite several flaws, The Flower Collectors proves that it is possible to confine the game's events to a small place and still push the story forward thanks to a good plot and strong dialogues.

It is obvious that the Hitchcock's masterpiece "Rear Window" has inspired the developers in Mi'pu'mi Games to create The Flower Collectors. Instead of "Jeff" in the movie, now the protagonist is a retired police officer ("Jorge") in a wheelchair, who is living alone in a small apartment. The story is taking place in post-Franco Spain where the election will be held soon. Just a few days before the election, Jorge witnesses a murder from the window of his apartment. He then realizes that there are some connections between the victim and the election. Therefore, he tries to reveal the truth with help of a journalist called "Mel" (who of course reminds us of "Lisa" in Rear Window). Unfortunately, the protagonist cannot go outside and collect evidence, so instead, he should use a binocular and a camera to observe the people and the events carefully and also take advantage of a transmitter to guide Mel.

As I am a huge fan of "Rear Window", it was quite exciting for me to follow the game story and its protagonist. In contrast to most of the video games, now the protagonist cannot even walk, and his only weapons are a camera and a binocular. Although the gameplay elements are limited to looking at some characters and taking some pictures, the game can still successfully encourage us to continue playing until we uncover the truth behind the murder. I believe there are two main reasons for this success: good story plot, and wisely written dialogues.

I like the way that the story develops. We first start knowing about the people in the plaza and their backgrounds. Then, we find some connections between these characters and the murder. Finally, observing a series of events helps us to collect more and more information until we solve the murder. Moreover, dialogues play a crucial role in pushing forward the story. They are well written and successful in conveying feelings. The moments when the protagonist talks to himself or Mel are mostly touching and strong. The voice acting especially for Jorge is flawless and helps to make the dialogues even stronger. I will remember Jorge's bass voice for a long time.

The game suffers from several flaws in story, gameplay, and animations. As I mentioned, I like the story plot, but I cannot ignore the fact that the story lacks some dramatic moments and some details. The chain of events is logical, and we always want to know what will happen next, however, the events do not have enough depth, and they are not dramatized. For example, when Mel is trapped in the cabaret, and she is in danger, I expect to experience an exciting moment full of suspense (as we do when we watch "Rear Window"). Nevertheless, Mel can simply hide from the people in the cabaret and listen to what they are saying. It is only one of the examples that the game is unable to give depth and details to such an important moment.

There are two main ways to interact with the game environment: peeping with a camera or binocular, and putting the clues together at the end of some of the chapters to obtain a conclusion. The first gameplay element is something novel and totally in line with the core game idea and the story. However, the gameplay parts which are devoted to putting clues together are bad and uncooked. Unfortunately, these parts do not add anything to what we already know about the characters and the events. Thus, it is unclear why they even exist in the game. Moreover, these parts are not challenging at all and one can simply match the pictures and the drawings to the event descriptions even with trial and error. Using more complex and challenging mechanisms to analyze the events and adding more details could have resulted in a much more enjoyable experience.

The characters' animations are outdated and clunky. Especially for a game in which most the time is being spent watching the characters, it is a big demerit. All in all, The Flower Collectors has novel ideas both in story and gameplay, but unfortunately, it cannot totally satisfy the gamer due to the shallow story moments, bad gameplay parts, and rough animations. I hope that Mi'pu'mi Games again comes up with novel ideas for the next game, and this time accompanies these ideas with better gameplay and animations.

Verdict:

The Flower Collectors proves that it is possible to give the protagonist' role to a disabled ex-cop, and confine the game's events to a small place, and still push the story forward thanks to a good plot and strong dialogues. Unfortunately, several flaws in the story, gameplay, and animations prevent the game from achieving great success.