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.

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Tags: demo, echochrome, first_impressions, mannequin, monochrome_world, Playstation, playstation_store, PS3, PSP

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6 Comments » Geoff H on March 6, 2008 11:47 am It’s fantastic to hear you can pause your character. I’m really intrigued by this game, but I was concerned that it might get aggravating if you’re character was always in motion. Really glad this is coming to the PS3 as well. Patrick Steen on March 6, 2008 11:55 am You can stop your character and have a look around, or speed up the rotating of the perspective, or even speed up your character. All works pretty well and takes your eye a while to get used to the illusions. I would ask for shadows off of paths (to show whether it’s above the other) but then that would remove both the fun and the difficulty. I definitely want more, especially when you can create your own levels (only confirmed for PSP version) Geoff H on March 6, 2008 12:07 pm Very nice. J H on March 6, 2008 4:24 pm Played this a minute ago. Try playing it with only motion controls is really hard! Way easier to control than expected and pretty fun too :) Mykul on March 7, 2008 3:57 am You can also get this from the Hong Kong PS3 online store in English. Played it last night, very mellow game… I like it. Bring on the full game :) madpuppy on March 8, 2008 6:40 pm looks pretty cool….. RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.