Botonicula : Where Fun and Music Collide

Music has been accompanying and evolving with man since the beginning of time. Music gives everything much more value. It could make a movie more dramatic, a parade more joyous, and, well, video games are no exception. Who could forget the orchestral masterpieces of Heavy Rain, the exciting melodies of Uncharted, and the terrifying sound effects of Amnesia? Botanicula has finally arrived, and it is one hell of a showpiece.

This is a game about friendship, I think. It is also one about adventure. You play as a group of five friends, attempting to save their home by protecting, and planting, the final seed. As you proceed through the game, you will obviously be facing many challenges that will increment in difficulty in a way similar to Machinarium, where the difficulty won’t overwhelm you but won’t be too easy either. And the puzzles are definitely not boring or frustrating. Although most of the time you control the characters as one entity, there will come times where you should attempt to use each character’s unique abilities to try and solve the puzzles.

One of the things I loved was the sense of pride you feel after completing a challenge. As soon as you do, a spectacle of ear and eye candy emerges, warming your heart and causing you to puke rainbows and butterflies. Completing the challenge isn’t the only part of the game where an artistic demonstration appears, but sometimes even the puzzles are works of art. It is indescribably by words, but every second you spend immersing yourself in this beautiful journey is a second of joy and excitement.

As for the game’s soundtrack, it could have been released on its own and I would have spent weeks and months drooling at its beauty. If you’ve played Flower, you probably know what a beautiful soundtrack is. Well, Botanicula’s music is, in my opinion, even better. It’s not a simple tune used to fill the void, but it is a mixture of weird instruments that intersect perfectly.

I think most of this post concentrates on the artistic aspect of the game, but that is perfectly justifiable, and I’ve got one more attribute to cover. This game is a visual chef d’oeuvre. It literally feels like jumping into history’s finest paintings, while adding interactivity to the whole thing. I especially loved the tiny creatures that float around the world, and make a mini alteration to the it either musically or visually just by pointing your mouse at them.

I really can’t put this game into words, and I definitely can’t describe it in a nutshell as a conclusion. All I can say is, you will probably fall in love with this too, so why not give it a try?