Datura is described as a unique adventure game that relies heavily on the PlayStation Move controller. The game can however be played without a Move controller, but the experience is not expected to be as immersive without it.
GenreAction
Platforms ps3
DEVELOPER Sony Computer Entertainment | PUBLISHER Codemasters | RELEASE DATE
Datura Reviews ps3
gamingxp.com review
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psu.com review
Your overall objective is to progress to each new area, which is accomplished by solving a variety of riddles. The puzzles make great use of PS Move’s motion-sensing shenanigans, and there’s plenty to do to boot. For example, one scenario had me pouring a vase of slimy, green liquid into a statue’s water bale, while another time I was force to wake up a sleeping pig by lobbing prickly fruit at it – all while simulating a throwing motion with PS Move with alarming accuracy. Each area is free to explore, though doesn’t offer a great deal of freedom, and as such I found myself easily navigating my way through the woods to my next objective – I didn’t even bother with the in-game map. Sadly, the puzzles themselves are never really all that challenging, and it makes you wonder what would have happened had Plastic really gone to town by allowing you to put your thinking cap on a little more. Nonetheless, you are presented with various choices throughout, which offer a little more incentive in terms of replay value. Did you run over the pig or swerve to avoid it? Did you grab the trophy in the ice or rescue the drowning man? The choice is up to you.
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playstationlifestyle.net review
Despite having this replayability, the two-hour length makes Datura a hard sell at $9.99. Still, I do recommend trying this unusual, unique psychological experience, if only to see what it’s all about and to try and figure out what I means to you—even if it is accompanied by overly frustrating, cumbersome controls.
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gamesradar.com review
If this sort of game doesn’t sound appealing, no one can blame you. Datura is arty, a tad obtuse, and the clumsy Move controls don’t make it any more accessible. For more methodical, curious gamers, we recommend you download Datura, and play it with a DualShock. Moments from the game have a way sticking in your mind, calling you in for a replay. If you’re in the mood for something cerebral and weird, and can tolerate terms like “symbolic language†and “latent meaning,†Datura is worth your time.
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gamerevolution.com review
Datura should be celebrated for exploring the immersive, psychological boundaries of video games. Even though it doesn’t have a high production value and it’s short even for a $9.99 game, its core message is that this is an artform that has the power to have players experience something that other artforms can only dream of. There’s an incredible amount of untapped potential when it comes to cerebral, out-of-this-world game design, and I can imagine a full retail title based solely off Datura that can radically change how we approach video games. However, until then, Datura is just a sliver of imagination.
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meristation.com review
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gry-online.pl review
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pushsquare.com review
Datura holds very little challenge and has technical issues, but even in the face of these problems it’s a title that is worth experiencing for its distorted narrative alone. It may not be an entirely great game, but it is at the least a push in a different direction and a breath of fresh air that makes you think – and for that, as more and more games fall victim to conformity, it deserves praise.
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eurogamer.it review
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ign.com review
It truly is a shame that Datura doesn’t have stronger gameplay. In this medium, gameplay is and always will be king, and no matter how awesome everything else is about a title like Datura, if it doesn’t control well, you have to question whether it’s worth playing at all.
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gamerstemple.com review
Calling the game a puzzle game would be a stretch, as there’s nothing here that’s really a puzzle. The interactions are all just that, interactions; interactions that are all pretty straightforward, some of which trigger transitions to surreal interludes and others which don’t do much of anything at all. For example, you may see an air rifle and some moving targets. What should you do? Not much of a puzzle, is it?
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eurogamer.net review
It’s better with Move because it was made for it. It’s not, though, reason enough to buy one. But if you do have Sony’s under-supported device stuffed in a drawer, Datura is a flawed experiment that’s worth a look if only because it reaches towards – and occasionally touches – something that feels genuinely fresh.
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spaziogames.it review
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gamer.nl review
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ausgamers.com review
All the potential in the world and a bag of chips still only gets you a bag of chips. Datura reeks of under-utilised and squandered potential, making the end result even more disappointing. If you’re looking for a moving and immersive title to add to your collection Datura isn’t it. Spend your money on Journey instead.
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metro.co.uk review
We can see what Plastic were trying to do but for a moral choice to have meaning you have to care about the outcome, and ideally the people involved. More importantly, for a game to be worth even Dutra’s modest price it has to offer some kind of genuine entertainment – not just pretty graphics and a wealth of pretension.
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edge-online.com review
When it’s over, and you’re in the game’s final area surrounded by the consequences of your decisions, you at last sense an impending twist of some kind, some explanation for what you’ve just been through. It doesn’t come. Instead, flies swarm around a picture of a face showing confusion, frustration, and an expression like that of someone realising they’re not getting the last two hours of their life back – an image that will likely stay with you for months. Staniszewski’s wish for Datura to be played in a single sitting was designed to ensure that, like a film, players would discuss it after the credits had rolled. Players are meant to gather round, to compare notes on decisions and their consequences, to piece together the components of its fractured narrative and debate what it all means; a truly co-operative videogame. He may well get his wish, but you suspect few will have much to say after asking if anyone understood what on Earth just happened.
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eurogamer.es review
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gameblog.fr review
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eurogamer.de review
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