Game: Puppeteer
Platform: PS3
Publisher/Developer: Sony
Genre: Sidescroller
Describe This Game in Three Words: Tim Burton wishes,
Plot: The tyrannical Moon Bear betrayed the queen of the moon, and took her kingdom for herself. Now he rules with a cruel fist, stealing the souls of sleeping Earth children in order to make them work for him as puppet slaves. Finally, a boy name named Kutaro stands against him with a magical set of scissors, and a truly remarkable adventure begins.
Up, Up: Of all the games I've ever received for review that I wasn't expecting nothing compares to Puppeteer. It's a truly ingenious game that's presented in a brilliantly one-of-a-kind manner.
The idea is that the game itself is a puppet show, and that though you control Kutaro throughout his struggle what we're seeing is a representation of what has already gone before. The wooden puppet art is astrounding, and the storytelling reminiscent of Nightmare Before Christmas That's the impression you most get while playing Puppeteer, that all those dark whimsical worlds that were promised to us back in the '90s were finally handed over to someone who would make it happen.
You play through the game collecting a variety of wooden heads to replace the one you lost when the Moon Bear ate it. These range from bats to skulls to bananas to guillotines. Collecting the heads is a big part of the play, as is freeing your fellow captives from various traps. The background is almost fully-interactive thanks to your ghost cat guide Yin Yang, and you'll always be finding tiny pockets of new things to explore throughout the quest.