echochrome Impressions March 17,2008 - The first title former Sony executive Phil Harrison showed off at last year’s E3 was echochrome, a title he described as having “the least graphics and most gameplay” of any game you saw at the show. Being one of the first PSN titles that would also see a simultaneous release on the PSP on a UMD, the title was certainly one of the few unique experiments that Sony was conducting with their PSN titles since that E3. Now, over eight months later, the game is nearly complete and we’ve gotten our hands on a quick demo of the game to see if Phil’s claim still holds up even after he himself has moved on.

If you haven’t seen the screens of echochrome by now, the game can pretty much be described as an interactive M.C. Escher puzzle, but taken much further. The game is pretty much a blank white background with the cel-shaded puzzle in the center of the screen which you must twist and turn around to help the mannequin make it through the puzzle. The control scheme is simple enough, as you can use the d-pad, either analog stick, or motion control, with the press of the L1 to activate, to rotate and twist the puzzle. R1 allows you to speed up your contorting, as it’ll move slowly and precisely without it. However, if the puzzle is more complex than you think, you can press the triangle button to tell the mannequin to stop and give you a second to think. If you’ve got the solution and want it to hurry along, the X button will tell the mannequin to move quickly so you can be on your way. The PSP version works the same way, minus the motion control option.

Before you get to the puzzles, the female narrator explains the basic concepts of the game, the five laws that govern the world of echochrome. The first law is perspective traveling, which means connecting two ledges that were not connected before. The second law is perspective landing, meaning that if the mannequin falls through a hole, it will land on whatever appears to be below it. The third law is perspective existence, which means that though there may be a gap, covering the gap creates a solid path. The fourth law is perspective absence, which means that covering up holes creates a solid path. The fifth law is perspective jump, which means that if you position ledges above jump spots, the mannequin may be able to land on them.

With that brief tutorial, you’re set loose to try to solve a few puzzle of your own. The main thing to note here is that shadows will appear on the puzzle, which you must reach by using what you’ve learned to complete the puzzle. Two puzzles are offered after the puzzle, one which is simple in structure and the other is quite complicated until you see its simplicity. Though the demo is short, the menu screen shows off several more levels being played that are a bit more complex, in the sense of the structure of the levels or the solution involved. The neat idea that’s dropped into your head at this point is that if the mannequin unintentionally falls through a hole, you can still catch it by rotating the level and managing to catch it through the second law of echochrome’s world. While watching, and playing, these levels, you are treated to the same soothing orchestral music that has appeared in the trailers.

Though echochrome has yet to receive a release date for North America, it is nearly on store shelves in Japan, which will happen on March 19. Importers should have little trouble understanding the game if the demo’s English narration with Japanese subtitles is any indication of how the full game works. It seems that a summer release is likely for echochrome to makes its way across the Pacific, but we may have to wait for E3 for an actual announcement from Sony.

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