GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

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Simple
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ingenious
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Challenging puzzles
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Solid style/presentation

Cons

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Little replay value
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Gameplay ideas presented at once
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Steep learning curve

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The core idea behind Crush is phenomenal. Your goal is to navigate each level - made up from a series of platforms and hazards - while collecting enough “marbles” along the way to open up the exit. And the sexy twist? At any moment, you can “crush” the game world into 2D. The camera can be spun through 90-degree sweeps or flipped to a top-down view, with each particular perspective offering a differing 2D result upon crushing. So, within each 3D stage, there are dozens of configurations just waiting to be packed together. It’s a sports massage and a half for that bit of your brain that gets off on spatial awareness.

There’s even a back story that’s not, well, crap. You play Danny, a troubled youngster who’s dogged by insomnia to the point that he’s now entrusted himself to an oddball professor and his virtual-reality creation “Crush” in a bid for a cure. Crush enables Danny to roam his own psyche, unclogging his neuroses with each of the 40 levels completed, which explains a visual style that’s not too far removed from Psychonauts’ dark, dreamy wallpaper.