And I really couldn't be more pleased with it. It's kind of surprising to me that it flew so far under the radar; if I hadn't actively looked things up on it after seeing it at the store, I literally wouldn't know a thing about it. I've never seen it come up in conversation or get any mentions of anticipation before it came out. The first time I heard about it was when I saw it at the store. And that's insane, because the game is incredibly inventive, fun, and polished, and deserves a lot more attention than it's gotten.
I'll try not to ramble too much on it, but I certainly do want to get the word out on it. Apparently, despite being made at Sony's Japanese branch, it's very much a joining of eastern and western minds; much of the game design was handled by Japanese folks, while the game's actual director and music composer are both from the UK. Interestingly, some of the main players behind it also worked on the Siren series extensively, so it represents a huge tonal shift from what they've done before.
Essentially, it's a side-scrolling platformer, not unlike many you've probably played before. To some degree, I would almost call it Klonoa-esque. But the thing that really sets it apart is the presentational style of the whole thing; it's all set up like a puppet show on a stage, complete with an unseen audience that reacts to everything happening on-screen. At all times, you can see the draw curtains at the edges of the screen, and the characters all appear to be made of wood. Backgrounds and the items in them are all given the appearance of cutouts or wooden props, with things like clouds either hanging by strings or held in place by sticks. Scenes spin and flip into place, as if it's all operated on some elaborate mechanical contraption, and the results are really, really impressive. There's such an intricate level of detail going on with the presentation that, frankly, it's kind of staggering just how much work and creativity has gone into it. Apparently the game is also playable in 3D, and this is one of the few cases where I feel that would actually enhance the experience. Additionally, despite obviously being mainly aimed at a younger audience, the voice acting is pretty damn great. There's such an insane level of personality and enthusiasm in everything that gets said that I couldn't help but be impressed.
Seriously, play this game. It's a perfect example of why I actually value Sony in the gaming market; many people seem to think of them as another mindless corporation that only wants to cash in on trends, but I think releases like this prove otherwise. They genuinely seem to care about developing and supporting slightly avant-garde concepts like this one. Not only that, but this one easily could have had its production cut in half and been relegated to the realm of digital-only games. But it was granted a really generous length, allowed a proper budget to make it as polished and visually-impressive as possible, and given a legitimate physical release. I would have thought all of that unfathomable for a quirky little sidescrolling platformer before, but they made it happen. Apparently serviceable advertising escaped the budget, but the resulting game is phenomenal either way.
