Nature Treks - Healing with Color Review

Nature Trek- Healing with Color is not a game. It knows that and anyone curious about it should know that too. Instead, it is an interactive experience with the healing power of color. Anyone not scared away by that last description might be interested in taking this trek.

As its title implies, Nature Trek - Healing with Color is meant to relax and heal those who play it. In fact, it is being used for biomedical research at the University of California. The premise is simple. Players walk around three different colored forest environments in a first-perspective in the hopes that they will be calmed by the beauty and tranquility of the virtual nature. If they choose to, players can collect the scattered color auras to fill their color wheel but if not that's fine as well because this isn't a game, it's a relaxation tool.

Luckily the parts that matter, the sound and the music, are pretty great. The game can only run on an iPad 2 and after seeing the graphics it's pretty clear why. It may not transport players to a gorgeous fantasy world like in Infinity Blade II but it does a pretty good job at replicating the beautiful sights of our own world. The music meanwhile is soothing and serene and when players pick up a color aura a sweet female voice is there to explain how "yellow is the color of happiness" and "red is the color of passion."

Despite its non-game status however, Nature Trek fails in some very game related ways. While the slow pace and walking speeds are certainly deliberate, the sluggish, unresponsive movement and camera controls shouldn't be. Players can jump to collect butterfly auras and get over obstructions but it's such an unnecessarily tricky process that it's not even worth it. It's a shame because issues like these can ruin the relaxing vibe the experience is going for and usually achieves.

The fact that something like Nature Trek is even on the App Store speaks to the breadth of the service. Sometimes one needs a break from the shooters and banking apps. Sometimes one just needs to bond with digital nature.

[gallery size=”thumbnail”]