Fire Flower
General Introduction
The main thrust of this game is to solve puzzles. You move a puzzle piece over the top of the puzzle board and try placing it on a valid match and waiting a bit. If the puzzle piece matches then it slips in on top of the appropriate match. If you cannot place a puzzle piece, then you can deposit it into the trash can. This is a timed game. You try your best to keep the giant flower alive as long as possible. When the flower runs out of life liquid, the game is over and you must start from the beginning again. After you solve a puzzle, you try to discover the path through the magic labyrinth.
Sound and music
The music in Fire Flower sounded like that of an orchestra. However, it was the same thing played over and over again and began to be monotonous after a time. The music was interspersed by the slashing of cymbals which was cool. The music reminded me that I was marching toward victory of conquering the puzzle.
In this game I hardly noticed any sounds. The only two I really noticed was when I dumped a puzzle piece in the trash can and the clock ticking. Both of these sounds were very realistic. In this department I give the sound and music a rating of 5.
Gameplay
There are three game modes to Fire Flower – adventure, relaxed and arcade. You must first start off at adventure level. It the adventure level and work your way through the other levels. I personally never made it past the is quite difficult to match the flower puzzles with the pieces on the board. As I completed more of the puzzle, the green ball made its way down the path in the labyrinth. If I got too frustrated, I found that I could always pause the game and go back to it. I also felt that there were too many instructions to read and try to digest. I give Fire Flower a rating of 6 in this category.
Graphics
There are not many graphics to this game. The puzzle pieces consisted of three leaf clovers, lilies and some white flower that I was unfamiliar with. There was of course the giant flower which I was trying to keep alive. There was a green labyrinth that a little green ball had to travel down. It would have been cool if the ball could have been some other color other than green. It would have stood out from the rest of the labyrinth. In the graphics department, I gave Fire Flower a 4.
Fun Factor
I did not find this game particularly appealing. It had the same repetitive music and I felt the game was greatly lacking in the sound and graphics departments which could have made the game more tantalizing to play. It was indeed challenging to place the puzzle pieces on the board in the allotted amount of time, and I found that my cognitive ability was really put to the test. I would always seem to run out of time and go back to square 1. My thirteen year old daughter did not like the game at all! I do not think that she had enough patience for it.
Final conclusion
If you are a puzzle freak, then this is definitely the computer game for you! If you are short on patience, then you may want to pass this game by. I would, however, recommend trying out Fire Flower before deciding to purchase it. You may download a trial version here:
http://d.trymedia.com/dm/oceanm/1h_pkg542/t_09er/FireFlower_install.exe
