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Made by a Japanese artist with a distinctly surreal and unique vision, this is a most startling, stylish, and downright beautiful point-and-click adventure game that will simultaneously mess with your head while leading you on a not-so-gentle tour of his art website. Just click through to the Hanamushi website where you will be confronted with what looks like an unfinished drawing with various links to the website underneath. First, before you do anything else, notice the link at the lower right with the two flags. Click on it to make sure the US flag is on top, as this sets the language for the site to English. Then, find the missing pieces of the doll and her wind-up key, click on them to put everything into place, wind up the doll, and begin. Be prepared for a journey through the mind of the artist behind Hanamushi, a world that looks like it was illustrated by Terry Gilliam on a mind altering substance. Journey through the land of melting lollipops and bizarre creatures by clicking hands at the top of the screen to move left or right, up or down. Hover the cursor carefully and notice the changes to find clickable areas that yield various bits of clothing or other fashion accoutrements. Collect them all, for they will aid you in your search and allow you to enter certain areas or accomplish certain things. Within this bizarre world you will encounter mini-games as well, iterations of old classics such as Simon, Mastermind, Towers of Hanoi, etc., but so brilliantly and uniquely presented you might not recognize them right away for what they are. In the end you will be collecting a staggering 48 pieces of apparel to aid you. The world is comprised of many scenes and layers; move far enough in one direction and you will discover that space is truly curved, and forward momentum in one direction will eventually place you back where you started. If you find you need a breather the game automatically saves your progress, allowing you to come back again and again until you have explored every inch. |
