Datura: PS3 Game Review

Datura: PS3 Game Review

Released by Sony
Platform: PS3

The world of downloadable adventures is getting incredibly good on the PlayStation.

Having set the bar incredibly high with the wonderfully mystical and magical Journey earlier this year, it's always interesting to see what comes next - and whether the experience is as good as what's come before.

Datura is another mystical game with little initial clue about what's expected of you.

As it begins, you're in the back of an ambulance with no clue how you got there and no real idea of what to do next; thankfully a floating disembodied hand becomes your guide on screen as you throw back the sheet, rip off the electrodes - and then find yourself in a forest.

It's a puzzling start to an intriguing journey ahead and one you'll often find yourself wondering what you're supposed to do next.

I think the push is more for a creative experience rather than a fully rewarding one because the controls can be difficult to grasp. You have a choice of either using the Move tech or the Siaxis controller and both have their issues in achieving the movement you're expecting. Taking control of the hand, you have to touch things around you, move levers, explore and examine - but sometimes, despite following what you think are the right instructions for the controller leaves you with little actual result. It's a frustrating touch which hampers this game's experience and borders on the obtuse and difficult rather than the creatively flowing touch the designers have clearly gone for.

That said, the world they've created and its dreamscape like appearance are mystical, magical and a bit bizarre. As you blunder about your atmospheric world, trying to work out what's expected of you it can be tricky to know what exactly to do but as with Journey, half of the fun of these titles is getting out what you put in and immersing yourself in the world around you.

All in all, while not quite as successful as it could be (thanks mainly to the technology issues), Datura is an intriguing title and proof that creativity moves in mysterious ways.

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