Run with Scissors this September in Puppeteer - Preview
by Karl Koebke , posted on 12 June 2013 / 3,544 Views
Few games have me as excited as Puppeteer. Something about the game’s commitment to its aesthetic style and theatrical setting has me enthralled whenever a new video shows up on YouTube. I got a chance to play this much anticipated PS3 title at E3 this week and I’m glad to say that the gameplay is thus far living up to my lofty expectations.
The first demo section I played was of the first moments of the game to serve as an introduction to the mechanics and setting. Apparently the Moon Goddess was once the ruler of the moon (makes sense) but was betrayed by her companion, Little Bear, who declares himself the Moon Bear King. This introduction showcased some of the clever writing of the title as the narrator got into a little snippy argument with the King himself. Kotaru is a young boy whose soul has been taken by the evil Moon Bear King. After playing with his captive the Moon Bear King unceremoniously bites Kotaru’s head off and tosses his limp puppet body aside.
All is not lost, though. A flying cat informs Kotaru that he can actually find replacement heads that’ll work just fine until he can get back his own. This is when the cat’s mechanics are introduced, and he basically serves like a cursor that you can move around the screen with the right analog stick and then investigate objects to find goodies using R2. Each head you find has its own magic that you can use with the D-pad and will reward you with bonus stages and items if you use the correct head in the correct area, like a spider head at the giant spider web.
If you’re hit by an enemy then your head will fall off and you have to run off and get it back before long or it’ll blink out of existence. It reminded me a bit of the classic Sonic ring mechanic. You can have a total pool of three heads so it’s not the end of the world if you can’t get it back, but if you get hit while you don’t have a head you’ll die and have to restart from a checkpoint.
After trekking through a kitchen and meeting a witch I was tasked with getting magic scissors from the King himself in order to free Kotaru and every other human soul the Moon Bear King has imprisoned. Once I had the scissors the game really kicked up. You can cut with square, which not only allows you to attack enemies but you can use it to get to previously inaccessible areas.
The first demo ended with a boss fight with a carpet. It is really the perfect first enemy for someone who has just found magic scissors. A bit of rote memorization and snipping later and I was victorious.
The next demo section was much further along. I was tasked with fighting a dragon that was taking all the Earth children’s souls to the Moon Bear King. Not only was this a horrible tragedy, but it would significantly power up the King if he was able to consume them. I was not alone, though. Replacing my flying cat “friend” was a flying fairy princess that I’d seen in a cutscene of the first demo and I rode a mighty pink flamingo steed. Riding the flamingo turned the game into something more akin to Bit.Trip.Runner where you move ahead automatically and your only input is to duck or jump. I’m slightly ashamed to say I died quite a bit during this, but I eventually caught up with the dragon and cut up enough of his body to get his attention.
Unfortunately getting a giant soul stealing dragon’s attention turns out to not be as good idea as I’d first thought and a truly difficult boss battle commenced. After some trial and error I discovered that I had new abilities in this demo. Circle button drops bombs with the Ninja head, triangle uses the Pirate’s hookshot, and R1 slams down with the power of the Wrestler. All of these were necessary to fight through the many stages of the Dragon boss fight. Probably my favorite part was dodging the dragon’s fire breath by snipping through the cloth smoke that it emitted on either side. After a long, hard battle a fancy scene and a quick time event saw Kotaru victorious.
All throughout my demo playthrough the visuals were starkly beautiful and the characters charming and humorous. The way each of the stages flew in with noticeable momentum from the backstage was a treat. There were even a few scenes where a different angle on the action was necessary so the whole stage was picked up and twisted 90 degrees. Everything about the presentation was truly enthralling and the moment to moment gameplay cemented my excitement for this title. Look for Puppeteer when it releases on PS3 on September 10th.
