Who would have thought protecting flowers could be so dangerous? FlowerMan is an odd take on an alien invasion, taking risks and proving again that the independent scene can muster to the original. The game is about a family man and his wife, Jimmy and Jessie as it were, whose garden comes under attack by flower loathing aliens. Sporting a club and a shotgun, players are poised and ready to take out the alien invaders.

The game is played with the mouse, moving Jimmy around dispatching aliens. The right mouse button directs Jimmy's movements and the left mouse button initiates an attack. At a distance (around six steps away) Jimmy's attack reticule turns into a target for using his shotgun. However, his projectile isn't the only focus of his attacks; the shotgun has unlimited ammunition, and the gun must charge after every shot. Using the shotgun actually requires a certain amount of strategy, as players must time their shots and aim wisely because of the delay.

The objective of the game is to save the flowers from the vicious and colorful aliens. There's a timer in the top left-hand corner of the screen that shows when the game will end, so players must finish the level within that time, or else! In order to complete each level, players will have to protect the designated flowers until they are fully blossomed. If all the flowers have blossomed without being attacked, a new timer will appear that indicates when players will move onto to the next stage. It may seem like a simple concept that should be easy to execute during the game, but of course it's not.

FlowerMan may not seem like a daunting title, but the enemies are quite the opposite of the amicable name. Though the aliens certainly don't look dangerous, they are. Dying repeatedly in FlowerMan is something no gamer can help the first few times around. The game is strikingly difficult, which is completely polar to its cutesy, colorful themes and characters. Defending a single flower is not as easy as it seems; aliens don't die or stay down in just one hit from the club or shotgun. Defending a flower from multiple enemies is quite difficult and requires a good bit of a strategy. A head-on, no-holds approach will easily get the player a "game over" text printed across the screen. Most aliens have several hearts beneath them, indicating they have a lot of life to give. In a way, the more difficult an alien is to beat the more strategy it requires for players to handle them, especially when facing off against multiple aliens at the same time. The action in the game is fairly fast, and requires quick finger work when battling foes who take to surrounding the hero or hitting him and running off. Knowing when to take pursuit after an alien is a judgment call that could cost players the well-being of a flower, or worse yet, the well-being of Jimmy. Kudos to UBrothers for keeping the AI fresh, and making sure the AI keeps players on their toes.

UBrothers has thus far done an excellent job making beautifully rendered environments with objects placed in a way that makes players think about their surroundings. Getting from one flower to the next may require players to venture around and about certain obstacles, or choose to encounter more aliens by taking an alternative route. The subtle, yet intricately designed levels, require some quick thinking in order to properly defend the variously planted flowers.

Visually the game is displayed in the 3/4 isometric view, giving players a side-scrolling, top-down view of the action. The characters are well animated and the backgrounds are really gorgeous. This game looks very sharp with characters sporting a smooth and refined 3D look. The environments are equally appeasing with their graphical eye-candy qualities. The game even uses some physics tricks where environmental objects move, bounce or drag from being pushed, ran into, or bumped. The gameplay presentation is very well hewn in FlowerMan and could easily become a fan favorite based on its visual qualities alone. And the audio qualities are on par with the graphical excellence of the game. FlowerMan has a soothing new age touch to its musical melodies. Right from the opening theme it's obvious that FlowerMan carries a professional air of quality that adds tons to the experience.

UBrothers is nearing the end of FlowerMan's development and it's definitely shaping up to be a great game. The excellent visuals and the great sound really add a lot to this game. The smooth gameplay mechanics are also very well fitted. Although, if I did have a minor gripe, it would only have to be with how much time it takes to recharge the shotgun. Still, that's an element of the gameplay that adds a bit of strategy to the player's approach. In the final version of the game UBrothers plans to add a two-player mode, giving games the option of playing Jessie alongside Jimmy. So far it looks like FlowerMan is heading in a good direction for solid gameplay, featuring 40 levels, 4 different environments, 10 different enemies, and smooth entertainment values. This is definitely a title that independent gamers should keep an eye out for when it's released this coming October.