Editor’s Note: A really fun, whimsical "review" by Mike McLeod. It’s really fascinating to see how the game basically tricked him into caring for it via its design (or lack of?). We’re not quite sure if that’s a bit of a spoiler at the very end, or if that’s just a romantic metaphor…but you’ve been warned. And don’t miss James DeRosa’s more analytic report, Blueberry Garden: Reaching for Significance, to get the best of both worlds. -Shoe
I haven’t had these feelings since I knew a girl named Lacey in the 7th grade.
You’re this bird-looking thing with clothes on. Except you don’t have wings — but you can still fly. You can eat blueberries and turn blue…but who the hell knows why? Along the way, you pick up random crap like an hour glass, a block of cheese, and dice, which you then use to make an odd-looking tower….
Yea…ok…
Even though I’m an indie lover, Blueberry Garden kind of weirded me out. None of it seemed to make sense. It was even worse when there were no instructions on how to play the game. I had to figure out which button to press to jump, fly, eat, etc. Then I would eat a blueberry and turn blue, but nothing would tell me what affect that had on me or the game. Does it just turn me blue? Does it do anything?!
The concept is weird. There’s no instruction on how to play. There’s no explanation as to what the different things in the environment do. There’s no music and the art is subpar. And this game won "Best Independent Game" at the 2009 Independent Games Festival?
Blueberry Garden was like that girl that everyone thought was hot but you. That girl for me was Lacey in the 7th grade. You just didn’t get it. She’s not that good-looking, right?
Then, for the first time, I finally jumped off of the platform that would eventually hold my oddly constructed tower. The music hit. Beautiful piano strokes came off a screen that now seemed to me to be misunderstood art more than the "subpar" art I once thought it was. It was almost as if I was flying through a painting of some forgotten artist.
Blueberry Garden was that girl again. One day she came to school, and I finally thought, "Maybe she is good-looking." Is it the outfit? Am I just desperate today?
No…nevermind. The next day she came back to school, and she reverted to her old self — the popular girl that everyone thinks is hot but me. She just had a good day. She isn’t that hot. I’m still eating blueberries and turning blue for some unknown, stupid reason. The game isn’t telling me how to play. I’m picking up rocks, and I don’t know what the hell to do with these rocks.
At this point, I can’t explain what happens next…but then again, when you fall in love with a girl, you can’t really explain that either. I keep playing for some unknown reason. Maybe it was curiosity as to why it won "Best Independent Game." Maybe I wanted to feel like I got my five dollars’ worth. Maybe there was some subconscious part of my brain that did like the game but just hadn’t realized it at that point.
But I kept playing.
I slowly started to realize that I actually liked not knowing how to play. I liked that the game didn’t explain what the different items did — it forced me to pay so much closer attention to everything than any other game I had played in recent memory. Paying such close attention not only helped me learn what the different items did, but it also forced me to appreciate the game’s small, beautiful quirks. My oddly constructed tower was getting higher and higher. With every lift off of the tower, the captivating piano played in the background. The environment was changing little by little, and so was I.
And the blueberries…? So that’s what the blueberries do!!
You know what? Maybe she’s not so bad-looking. Actually, she’s really cute. She’s fun and passionate. I feel different when I’m around her now…I feel like I’m a flying bird with no wings that just landed on the moon. She’s beautiful. I think I love her.
That’s it! I’m gonna let her know how I feel!
Then, after finally taking me to the moon after all of the growth and appreciation I developed for her, she rejects me. She tells me that’s it. There’s no more.
I realize it’s the end of my love affair with her.
How short and sweet it was.