You are a creature swimming in the deep blue sea inhabited by strange underwater organisms. The plot of flOw, a flash-based single player game created by Jenova Chen, is simple. You are hungry. Very hungry. And all there is to eat in the murky depths are other organisms like you.

As you eat, you grow bigger and begin to evolve. You begin by letting the mouse guide you in order to eat the organisms around you, especially those that can’t fight back. The Red ripples guide you deeper into the sea and towards bigger and meaner creatures that are out to eat you, too.

Initially, the creatures simply run away when you attack. And you spend most of the time gently guiding yourself to find the next meal. The soft music in the background can make you drop your guard. But be alert. Before you know, other hungry creatures will eventually find you and try to eat you!

Don’t worry, you won’t lose points for this. There are no points in the game at all so you can concentrate completely on playing (or eating). Even if the bigger creatures eat you, you can work your way back to health by eating the smaller creatures in the sea before taking on the big guys again. You get bigger as you eat more and meet many more interesting creatures as the game progresses.

Don’t get too friendly, though. You will have to eat everybody — or they will eat you! You will know if another creature is out to get you because they turn bright orange when they get angry.

To get away from the meaner creatures quickly, click and drag your mouse across the screen far away from the attacker and speed up and away. It is best to sneak up on your enemies from behind and collect the solid shiny objects attached to their body. If you manage to frighten your opponents, they turn blue and start running away. This is the best time to launch an attack.

You will learn how to speed up by clicking and dragging. Soon enough you will be addicted to the game. Sometimes however, you can be swimming for a long time just looking for something to eat. As soon as you learn how to follow the red and blue waves that guide you through the game though, you will find your next dinner! flOw has won numerous awards including Internet Game of the month on EDGE magazine in May 2006 and one of the Best Indie Games 2007 on wired magazine.

If you want to know how the game sounds then go with the flOw at http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/Flow.

Special requirements: Macromedia Flash (free download)