Superbly crafted in every way. This is the most unique platformer I've played in ages. I've finished Mario Odyssey and Astros Playroom and Psychonauts 2 and I would rate this game easily as high as those if not higher. I can't believe I missed this game when it first came out. I'm currently playing it on an LG OLED C9 using an mClassic and I'm very happy with how it looks on this screen despite its age. If you can somehow play this game, do it. Please do not mistake this game for a little big planet. That would be as tragic as mistaking Yakuza for Japanese GTA.
Puppeteer is proof that the current console generation is going out with a bang. This dark and murky fairy tale adventure is a true pearl amongst platformers. [Oct 2013]
Puppeteer does a really nice job of overwhelming us with so much well-executed eccentricity, not much else matters. And frankly, there’s nothing else like it.
Puppeteer is Sony's best pure platformer on the PS3, delivering the kind of tight mechanics and pin-point controls usually only found in games starring plumbers or apes.
Where Puppeteer stumbles, the player's hands can catch its fall. As a child, you might find puppet shows at least mildly entertaining and at the very least something to zone out on before naptime. To me, the prospect of playing the puppet yourself was always more enticing. Even in Kutaro's world that rings true.
A charming game to play with a young kid on the second controller. Their character is invulnerable and allows them to pick how involved they want to be at any given moment. If they’re a beginner, they can stick to just collecting the shiny crystals that dot the levels, but as they get mor confident they can poke around at the lovely and interactive backgrounds to discover more crystals, new heads for you, and cute little vignettes. And if they’ve got the inclination and some mastery over the controls, they can help you directly by hitting switches, pulling levers, and carrying bombs around. They can also pick whether to play with the controller’s thumbsticks or with the more intuitive motion controls. Personally I didn’t let my kiddo (4 years old) know about the motion controls because I wanted her to learn the sticks, and it was a great way for her to do that.
As for the primary controller, I enjoyed playing through the game and found it relaxing and engaging without being too difficult. There were one or two places where I had to sit up and pay attention but for the most part if you’re experienced in platformers you’ll breeze through it.
The character designs are charming and the story seems good - I say “seems” because my kid skipped every cutscene. But there’s plenty of context at the beginning and end of each level for you to understand what’s going on: collect the shinies and defeat the evil Moon Bear King to rescue the Moon Goddess. That was all my kid needed to know.
Overall, 10/10, will probably play through again.
I enjoyed this game, the gameplay was very unique and fun, but to be honest I didn't care much for the story or characters. Overall this game is a very unique experience and I fell in love with the gameplay; a great diversion from the games I usually play (shooters). Puppeteer is actually really action packed which was good, to compare it to LBP; it's less charming/no user created content/no multiplayer; but it has a real emphasis on gameplay with fast paced action. Gamers who only play shooters or whatnot should open their approach to video games, this one is quite good tbh. The only reason I'm giving this a 75 is because honestly platformers aren't my cup of tea.. but if you can get this game for cheap( or free), definately check this game out.
I liked the original idea and the whole theater play concept, but the same way the real theater has tendencies to bore you to death sometimes, Puppeteer left me unentertained in a similar way. It's still an ok and unique platformer with decent amount of variability, creative boss fights and appealing overall concept, but it slowly becomes more tedious than entertaining, it's trying to be funny too hard and fails, characters and voice acting is annoying and the overall feel is way too infantile. I still enjoyed Puppeteer quite a bit for what it is, but had to force myself to finish this and was glad that it's over, that's never a good sign. It's a pity that this interesting concept wasn't used for something more than just another half-annoying kiddie platformer. 6/10
If you're looking for one of those "kiddie" platformers, play Puppeteer. Otherwise, stay away.
If you are, like me, on a quest looking for a more adultish platformer that you can love both the gameplay and the plot (Brothers maybe?) it's not there.
This game is clearly reusing the Little Big Planet game engine, which if you've played you will know has horribly floaty physics and stodgy controls which makes for a very unsatisfying platforming experience. To some extent LBP got away with this because that game gave the players an almost unlimited amount of creativity in the level editor. Puppeteer has no level editor and so I have to judge it on it's own merits which are few.
Now the thing that attracted me to this game was the highly original concept of the game being presented as a an interactive puppet show. Presentation wise everything is fine, music, art style, well the graphics aren't the best there a bit dark and gloomy but still alright. However the last time I checked it was the gameplay that was the most important thing and it's just not good enough.
It plays just like a series of Little Big Planet levels except with horrendously long interruptions from cut scenes and the games narrator who never shuts up. Boss fights all play out the same and finish with a lazy quick time event. Power ups are none existent, you instead collect heads which are supposed to have powers but you can only use them at a specific part of the level and confusingly the game always seems to give you the wrong head.
The script is supposed to be funny but I don't think I cracked a smile once. The characters in this game never shut up even when your trying to concentrate on what your doing they just go on and on giving you more information about the story which you stopped caring about a long time ago.
SummaryPuppeteer is a brand new franchise developed exclusively for PlayStation 3 by SCE JAPAN Studio. Set in a magical puppeteer's theatre, this title introduces you to a strange and fantastic world, where the environment is constantly changing. Players experience a rich, dark fairytale where surprises lurk around every corner.