CRUSH Review

SEGA and Zoë Mode (formerly KuJu Brighton) look set to put an end to the timeless quarrels over the merits of 2D and 3D with a highly imaginative and mind-bending puzzle/platform hybrid for the PSP. Pitting players as Danny, a man driven to insanity through years of insomnia, it only takes a few minutes with CRUSH to realise this is a game in the minority, a decidedly unique offering for the PSP.

Enlisting the help of Dr. Reubens, CRUSH provides a genuinely warped perspective on Danny's attempts to put a lifetime of unresolved issued and bottled up emotions behind him - and hopefully get a good night sleep as well. Convinced that his miracle machine, the self-proclaimed Cognitive Regression Utilizing Sychiatric (C.R.U.S.H), will get to the root of Danny's problems by deriving them into a series of surrealistic landscapes to overcome.

Like the great puzzlers of all-time, CRUSH presents a deceptively easy task for players to grasp, but one that is agonizingly difficult to master. Danny must simply navigate the symbolic stages that make up his mind, collecting enough Orbs to open up the exit and move onto the next stage - sounds simple. The unique factor behind CRUSH, and one of the most creative features we've seen in a videogame of late, stems from the ability to shift a 3D world into 2D and back again, allowing Danny to traverse the increasingly complex stages. Using the d-pad to switch between 90-degree camera angles along with a bird's-eye perspective, a simple tap of the left shoulder button and Danny's foot flattens the view into a 2D image allowing him to progress through the stage. Of course, it's not as easy as it seems, CRUSH'ing can literally crush Danny if he's squeezed between blocks and there's also a tendency for blocks to disappear completely leaving the floppy-haired protagonist to walk on air for a few seconds before plummeting to his demise and waking up from his slumber. Later levels notch up the cerebral intensity, with a range of objects such as balls, cogs, and all manner of strange objects to handle, along with freakishly oversized cockroaches to capture and crush.

CRUSH strikes an entertaining balance between puzzle and platforming action, the likes of which has never really been seen before. There's a genuine compulsion to the game and it really comes together without feeling like a gimmicky experiment. Although highly original, imaginative and often entertaining, CRUSH falls slightly short of the sheer addiction that the greatest puzzlers provide, largely a result of it being a little too clever for its own good. Occasionally CRUSH touches on genius, the dawning of a solution becomes clear and that satisfactory warm buzz from a good puzzle game flows over you. Nevertheless, because of the complex nature of the dimension shifting gameplay, solving the stages can often be a little too tricky; the ability to sit back and work things out is muddled and by the time you've worked out a solution the shifts in dimensions have completely muddled up your plan. Largely as a result of this, CRUSH is mostly a test of your perseverance and trial-and-error techniques, trying every CRUSH from ever angle until you come upon the solution by sheer luck as opposed to cognitive skills.

With 40 different stages split into four themed levels that each forms an aspect of Danny's life that he's buried away deep into his subconscious, the amusing narrative that runs alongside between Dr. Reubens and his patient provides the coercion that many puzzles games lack. Evaluating your performance based upon the number of orbs collected, time taken, and a range of other criteria, attaining high grades and collecting the special awards is a challenge that will cause many sleepless nights for puzzle fans. A 'Trophy' mode that imposes a harsh time limit and the number of times you can CRUSH is unlocked with progress through the game, and provides the type of masochistic challenge that ardent puzzle fans will crave as you attempt to score a perfect round.