[UPDATE] While we're not backtracking on our opinion that Echochrome has the potential to be one of the sleeper hits of the PS Network, we've just found out that the game was far from Sony's "original" idea. The game has existed as a tech demo for PC here since last year, described as an "interactive optical illusion" and coded by one Jun Fujiki. It appears Sony has been given permission to develop this free game for the PS Network, only with preset levels - the downloadable version simply allows you to create your own.

So, original? Yes, definitely. But Sony's idea? Apparently not.

Echochrome is exactly the kind of game we've been lusting after for PS3's download store. While twin-stick shooters and retro regurgitations have been leading the charge, stylishly abstract and imaginative rivals to titles like flOw have been too thin on the ground.

So, says Sony's Japan Studio, here you go: Echochrome is an elegantly twisted puzzle game, based on the manipulation of 3D objects that make up each of its levels. A simple matchstick man scampers along these objects, and needs to be guided to safety using the power of perspective. Hazards are overcome by rotating the camera so that they become obscured.

Make any sense? Imagine PSP Crush meets Escher - Cruscher, perhaps - or just watch the footage below. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this trailer saves us from having to write a book.

July 12, 2007