With the world's largest games conference, E3 now being just three days away, and preparations for the massive games industry trade show already well underway, everyone's attention seems to be firmly on the next generation - what sort of things Sony and Microsoft have in store for their home next consoles, and what Nintendo have up their sleeves to try and turn the tide for the struggling Wii U. But while the transition to a new set of home consoles usually leads to dwindling support for the older machines as developers start working on the newer technology, things seem to be going a little bit differently for Sony, as they're giving the PS3 one last chance to shine with a number of new games on the way. One such game, and one we've been keeping a particularly close eye on over the past few months is the theatrical platformer Puppeteer - after all, it's nice to see Sony willing to take chances on the weird and wonderful, especially with the Playstation 4 waiting in the wings, and for that they should take a bow.
Puppeteer (which really feels like it should have a "The" on the beginning) is a cute platformer which begins, in a distinctly non-cute way, with a beheading. Following an altercation with the evil overlord Moon Bear King, poor little puppet Kutaro ends up losing his bonce in a strange, nightmarish world - but after being rescued by a mysterious witch, and armed with a magical pair of scissors, he sets off on a quest to usurp the king and restore peace to the world. Only there's one big problem. He still has no head. Luckily for Kutaro, though, his headlessness quickly becomes a help rather than a hindrance, as during his adventures he'll come across a number of replacement heads, each of which he can pick up and wear, which in turn grants him a number of special abilities. From the bizarre head that transforms sandwiches into hamburgers (which lets you use them as trampolines to reach higher ground) - as well as four Hero Heads that once belonged to the four legendary moon heroes that are key to our pint-sized protagonist's quest, giving him the Shield Power of the Moon Night to deflect projectiles and objects or the Bomb Power of the Moon Ninja to blow up anything that stands in his way, there's also a pirate head which gives you the power of the hook, and a super-strong power courtesy of the Moon Wrestler.
Aye don't like the look of yarr face...
What's most noticeable about the game though is its rather unique art style - it's like the love child of the traditional Japanese puppet theatre of Bunraku and epic Shakespearian action, with the whole game taking place on a stage, complete with curtains, audience and all. Kutaro's magical scissors, that he steals right from under the Moon Bear King's nose, become integral to the game too, letting you cut through scenery to free Kutaro from sticky spider's webs, give a rather angry tiger a manicure and open up new paths through each level.
People who pre-order the game now can nab themselves a special edition Theatrical Pack, which comes complete with a load of downloadable goodies, like the original soundtrack, a selection of PSN Avatar pictures, including the main man Kutaro, the Moon Witch and the big bad Moon Bear King, as well as a fancy dynamic theme featuring hand drawn concept art taken from the game.
Puppeteer is due out on the 10th September in America, with the game expected to hit these shores shortly after, on Friday the 13th September. While the day might be considered unlucky for some, the good news is that Sony are set to be releasing the Puppeteer for a budget price, and although there's no official price point for the UK yet, we've spotted it up for pre-order for £24.99 on Sainsbury's website, so we'd expect it'll be around that elsewhere. Until then, we have a brand new trailer showing off the new heads' abilities:
