Echochrome Impressions: Including Controls Translation
A PS3 and PSP demo for Echochrome is on the Japanese Playstation Store. Along with first impressions, I’m here to help you out with how to control the monochrome world that guides your elegant mannequin.
It must be said that the size of the PSP demo is so minuscule (3.7mb) that it’s hard to believe there are 5 tutorial levels, 3 full levels and music contained within. If Kojima-san could fit this much content into every 4mb’s of a 50gb Blu-ray, we’d be playing Metal Gear Solid 4 until…well, until my house was under the sea.
The PS3 demo is a more beefy 37mb, with the only discerning difference being that it’s in 1080p and has a saucy female voice-over.
The five rules of Echochrome are simple to understand, but their employment requires more concentration and a little bit of trial and error.
Controlling the canvas itself instead of the mannequin is at first an odd sensation, but with the ability to stop your lil’ fella in its tracks and enter a “contemplation mode” (press triangle) you can give yourself time to complete the puzzles in a more focused mindset.
You’ll begin to train your eye to Echochrome’s game world, placing paths above and below other paths, or hiding broken routes to allow your mannequin to continue. To read up on the five rules of Echochrome, please visit our previous coverage.
Using the right or left analogue stick to rotate the levels works well, if not a little twitchy. It feels like the game is trying to “click” you into the right perspective. This may be helpful, but it does make things a bit harder to feel in control. The alternative Sixaxis motion controls are well thought out–hold down L1 to use the motion controls, where you can rotate the world as you please, until you lift your finger off of L1.
The rules are suitably easy to implement as you attempt to create a safe path and pick up the echoes (little shadowy figures). The complexity increases towards the third and final level of the demo, where it’ll give you just enough difficulty to intrigue you; tilting the world 180 degrees to line up paths you never thought would join, taking your mannequin to the end of the demo.
Controls translated:
Left or Right Stick: Spins perspective.
Hold R1: Spins perspective faster.
Hold L1 : Activates motion sensor to spin perspective.
Press Triangle: Goes into “thinking mode” (You can still spin perspective while mannequin stops.)
Hold X: Puppet walks faster.
Square: Snap the edges together to get a clean path connection.
Select: Toggles timer/control instructions.
Start: Pause.
It’s hard to tell if Echochrome will be one of the great puzzle games, but the demo suggests that it’s going to be addictive and intriguing. Watching the title screens run through a much later level shows that the game has a lot more hidden up its sleeve.
