Puppeteer (Hands-On) (PlayStation 3) Preview

At its core, Puppeteer is a platform outing, yet with the likes of New Super Mario Bros. U and Rayman Legends sticking close to the standard formula for the most part, Puppeteer tries to mix things up considerably with a truly unique style, not normally seen in the videogame world. Cubed3 had chance to get a quick hands-on recently and from what has been played so far, it is going to be a true pleasure to play through the rest of the adventure.

Played out in an old styled puppet theatre fashion - complete with bold British voice acting - all characters have a papier-mâché look to them, with the main character being a wooden doll that loses his head at the very start of the game, and everything set against a theatre backdrop. Moving from location to location is literally an entire scene change, with the background dropping away and being replaced by a new one, almost like the curtain closing and the stagehands quickly switching props around.

Ah yes, missing heads - kind of brushed over that one! Well, it's quite a core aspect of the gameplay, with players able to collect all manner of objects as replacement noggins, each coming with their own special power that can be used at the appropriate time to activate all sorts, ranging from collectibles to even uncovering bonus stages.

As well as moving the lead around with the left analogue stick and jumping around to avoid obstacles and leap over treacherous gaps, there is also a little helper that can be controlled using the right analogue stick (or Move controller for those preferring to point and click). This is all for the purpose of investigating and interacting with the surroundings to gain even more extras for the hero of the story.