A game of dreams

When you have a strong desire of sharing an experience to the others, you have already started your design concept.

Though you may feel it in a different way, in Cloud, we tried really hard to communicate and protect this experience. It is the feeling of youthfulness, of your memory and the feeling of imagination which we all enjoyed in our life.

Where did the inspiration come from? A lot. The beatiful sky with clouds and white moon, every dreams about flying including Miyazaki's films, true love, joyfulness and goodness from Katamari Damacy, childhood memories, ocean, mountains, etc...

I always wish to make a video game that makes you feel more productive and enjoy your life better. Most video game today is about addiction. But for Cloud, it is designed to be something you can put down and go back to enjoy your life at any time. No failure, no saving. You pick it up and leave it with no second thoughts...

Xinghan "Jenova" Chen, one of the game's creators

Many of you might have played flOw - a game which started its life as a piece of university thesis and ended up as nothing short of a legend among the Playstation Network dwellers and one of the most iconic PS Store's titles. Some of you might have liked the game so much, that they decided to check out thatgamecompany's homepage and may have noticed the other game called Cloud. Maybe even downloaded and played it. This review is for those of you who haven't.

I don't know Jenova Chen, but I know I admire him. He and his teammates are people who can see beyond the realm of consumer-driven rules of making video games and have the courage and determination to pursue their own, independent vision. Great minds with great ideas, knowing hot to both express them and share them with the rest of us. The true artists. And their creations are just what true art is supposed to be: subtle, gentle, not totally overwhelmed with flashy advertisement campaigns and psychological tricks to keep you glued to the screen, but honest and serene. Letting you submerge in the deep dreamworld it helped you create for yourself or, if you don't like it, letting you forget about it with no hard feelings.

I had planned to tell you about the game itself - what you do, how you are supposed to play... I think I won't though. Just go here and have a look around. See for yourself if that's the kind of thing you would enjoy.

Me, I just wish the graphics were a little more realistic, especially the occasional bits of land beneath. Should that be the case, if what I see on my computer screen looked a little more like what I see through my window, Cloud would definitely find its place on my top ten list on the right side of this text. Still, in case of games like this one, graphics are not the most important thing. The emotions and feelings are what truly matters. Besides, the cutscene images are mind-blowing.

This wasn't much of a review, because, if you think about it, it's useless trying to review true art. Or the emotions true art evokes. I merely wanted to tell you that there is a little game called Cloud, which that may change the shape of your mind for a couple of minutes. It's completely free and if you don't like it, it will quietly and painlessly remove itself from your hard drive and life. (in other words: they even remembered not to clutter our precious Windows registry upon installation) It can't hurt to try it.

PS
Thatgamecompany has currently one more title under development, again on PS3, called simply "Flower". It looks spectacular. I just can't wait...