Parent's Guide: Puppeteer - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

Puppeteer is a platformer where you play a puppet boy who takes centre stage in a fight against the evil Moon Bear King, a self-proclaimed leader who likes eating children for breakfast. Following a run-in with the aforementioned Moon Bear King, poor little Kutaro loses his head - literally - but fortunately the rest of him manages to escape - and as he's a puppet, all he needs to do is find a replacement head to continue on his journey.

Making use of the replacement heads you come across and collect as you make your way through the game, you'll be leaping gaps, dodging obstacles and snipping at enemies, with Kutaro's distinctive noggins each having their own specific use, much like the powers the characters in the LEGO games have. It's generally fairly obvious which head you need where, as there's usually a little sketch of the relevant head alongside each obstacle, flashing away to give those unsure a nudge in the right direction. Kutaro can store up to three heads at once and switch between them at will, and each one works as a portion of his health - get hit by either an enemy or a particularly vicious piece of scenery and his head pops off and rolls around the screen, giving you some time to pick it up again before it gets lost for good. Losing all your bonces means you lose a life and you'll be brought back to life a little way behind, at the last checkpoint you crossed.

Kutaro also has a pair of magical scissors at his disposal, which are used to snip through scenery, cut through bad guys and shear your way out of many a sticky situation. It's here that some may struggle, as using these clippers in conjunction with platforming is easier said than done, as the game often requires you to leap and snip your way up the screen, along falling leaves, billowing smoke clouds and fabric flags, which younger children may struggle with. Little Kutaro doesn't control very easily when cutting through things, and younger players may find themselves wobbling along, dangerously close to falling to their doom - and when things get a bit hectic or require you to get a move on, having Kutaro go a bit haywire with the scissors in mid-air can cost you.

With it's strong emphasis on story through it's theatre-inspired aesthetics and characters (including a narrator), Puppeteer has a lot of talking and watching to be done between the levels. While often witty and entertaining in their own right, youngsters may find the longer waits to get into the action a little bit on the boring side, and some of the more subtle jokes may go over their heads a bit. Fortunately, you can skip over the scenes and head straight into the action, although with such parts coming fairly frequently and being at least part of the game's appeal, Puppeteer may not be the best choice for those desperate to get into the action.

Puppeteer has very little in the way of questionable stuff - there's no bad language, sex or bloody violence to speak of at all. The only weapon Kutaro wields is a magical pair of scissors, which he uses to defeat enemies, and temporarily knock out the purple spiky balls that attack him, revealing the balloon-like 'trapped soul' inside, which he releases with a quick snip. Boss fights involve slow-motion snips with scissors, trimming a tigers claws or snipping off a tooth - which is nothing especially violent. Little Kutaro also has a tendency to lose his head when hurt, but it simply pops off and rolls around the screen in a harmless manner, ready to be picked up and plonked back on again.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Playstation 3