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Puppeteer |OT| $40, No Strings Attached

VanWinkle

Member
Well now...even more so than Rayman Origins/Legends?

In a different way. I've said before that Puppeteer is one of the best looking games I've ever seen. That takes into account the technical aspects too. Rayman Origins/Legends is amazing looking too, but that's not really taking into account technical stuff (basically, Legends runs perfectly on...say...the Vita, but Puppeteer would NEVER translate nearly as well).
 
I guess it kinda depends on aesthetic preference, but I personally prefer the 70's/80's stop motion/Pixar-ish/dark Muppet-y look of Puppeteer, though the Rayman games are nothing short of beautiful too.

In a different way. I've said before that Puppeteer is one of the best looking games I've ever seen. That takes into account the technical aspects too. Rayman Origins/Legends is amazing looking too, but that's not really taking into account technical stuff (basically, Legends runs perfectly on...say...the Vita, but Puppeteer would NEVER translate nearly as well).

Yep, sounds like it's even more stunning in motion on a big screen TV at full resolution. Youtube videos were never going to be justice, but to think it's surpassed even the Rayman games is just.... mind blowing/meltingly awesome.

Damn, now I'm really bummed that I have to wait another day before playing. Goddamn you, Sony. You cruel bastards.
 

Andrew.

Banned
There's hidden heads?!

Awesome!

Can't wait to play some more tonight.

Well certain secrets in levels can only be found after you have specific skills acquired. For example, in 1-1 there is a pot with a weird looking drawing on it. Turns out, a couple levels later you learn that that drawing is the bomb symbol after you gain the ability to toss bombs. Go back to 1-1, toss a bomb at the pot and BOOM! New mask!
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
!!! that's great news, i love me some world maps. none of that boring level select screen crap.

It's not really a world map though. It's not like you walk around on it, you select levels from what is basically just a level select screen. The map just shows visual representations of each act of the game. It does look really damn nice, though.
 
Well certain secrets in levels can only be found after you have specific skills acquired. For example, in 1-1 there is a pot with a weird looking drawing on it. Turns out, a couple levels later you learn that that drawing is the bomb symbol after you gain the ability to toss bombs. Go back to 1-1, toss a bomb at the pot and BOOM! New mask!

Oh shit, I had no idea you could do this....

Jesus, this game might see off GTA5 as my most played in September.
 

atomsk

Party Pooper
Just finished Act 4

When it started throwing out
Jim Ross lines during the bull fight/wrestling match
I knew the game was something special.
 

JoeFenix

Member
Quick impressions after playing up to act 3-2

+ Amazing visuals, truly some of the best ever. Both Artistically and technically. Cloth physics.
+ Story is alot more engaging then I expected it to be. Smiling alot while playing. Love the Generals (Rat is hilarious).
+ Controls are tight and every action feels good, cutting in particular feels perfect.
+ World map and collection/bonus screens are perfect. Love the hints when looking for missing heads.
+ Audience adds alot to the game, runs with the whole puppet show concept right from the title screen.
+ Little secrets and visual gags galore.
+ Constantly changing backgrounds keep things fresh from a visual standpoint.
+ Music is fantastic.
+ Level of craftsmanship is through the roof, you can feel the passion, blood, sweat and tears that went into making this game.

- Heads abilities are essentially just a key that opens up a secret/area. Cool but could have been more.
- Gameplay is solid but I'm already starting to feel like things are becoming a bit stale.
- Not challenging enough. Patterns are too timid and slow, could really use more intensity in terms of basic rhythm.
- Levels are very segmented, hard to get a good flow going in pure gameplay terms because of that.
- Bosses are fun but feel a bit too simple in terms of patterns, not enough sense of evolution and escalation during fights.
- Quick time event finishers look cool but could have been dropped in favor of more exciting gameplay focused Boss finales.
- As much as I like the presentation I can really see the game dragging on during replays. I haven't really gone back to previous chapters yet so I'll reserve judgment until then.

Overall I'm still REALLY enjoying it and it does feel like a very special game but I can't deny that it's not nearly as exciting to play as it is to watch. All that said I'm looking forward to finishing it, the game definitely has my attention even with all my complaints. Nin Nin!
 

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
I really really wanted to get Killzone Mercenary, and had the credit on PSN to do so, but ended up buying this instead. I found the demo utterly charming and creative and want to support more of this kind of game. Looking forward to Friday for release.
 
Just defeated General ''Don Mattrick'' Rat. The levels in Act 2 are certainly more sidescrolley. Man the team must have needed to do a ton of assets since it indeed introduces new stuff constantly. Also the music is fantastic. I really didn't get a feel for it in the demo but now I really appreciate it.

As for my biggest complaint it would perhaps be just a tad too much calibrus sections and too few places using traditional normal jumping platforming. I look foreward to the ''mine cart'' sections.
 

antibolo

Banned
Does this game have an European demo, and if so is it the same as the Japanese one?

I played the Japanese demo and was left totally underwhelmed by how it barely scratched the surface (watched lengthy promo movie they placed at the beginning for some reason, moved around with the scissors, and then BAM! demo ends). And there is no demo at all in North America for some reason.

I'm really interested in this game but I need some tangible gameplay demo first.
 

TripOpt55

Member
Played a bit of this today (a level). Seems pretty neat. Presentation is super cool, but otherwise I haven't dug in much. Scissors seem neat though.
 
Does this game have an European demo, and if so is it the same as the Japanese one?

I played the Japanese demo and was left totally underwhelmed by how it barely scratched the surface (watched lengthy promo movie they placed at the beginning for some reason, moved around with the scissors, and then BAM! demo ends). And there is no demo at all in North America for some reason.

I'm really interested in this game but I need some tangible gameplay demo first.

It has EU demo that is different from JP demo but EU demo is huge. Like 5 gig huge.
 

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
Neat game so far.

Very aggravating when you replace a head you think is unneeded only to discover the very next screen uses it for a bonus. I have had such poor luck on occasion with this. "Crown?? That head is so last act. I'm sure i can get rid of it. Oh shit a crown logo here? Goddamnit..." It's beyond aggravating and completely superfluous, choosing heads is like playing Russian roulette.

Control is wonderful and precise. After being aggravated with ducktales and castle of illusion's gameplay whiffs, here comes a platformer that is an actual delight to control. So responsive and polished. Just a shame the actual platforming is light. Probably will ramp up, but its been a slow burn through act 1 and early act 2.

Wish the cutscenes were a bit more involved with the gameplay I suppose. Too often I am watching more than playing when certain sequences could have been little contextual challenges. Still enjoyable but a bit overbearing.
 

Andrew.

Banned
Seems like most folks in here wont nab this til Friday or the weekend so I hope that this thread starts bumpin' by then. This game really, really deserves it.
 

ascii42

Member
Just finished the first act. Charming so far.
- Heads abilities are essentially just a key that opens up a secret/area. Cool but could have been more.!
It's probably a good thing that it's the case, for the following reason.
Very aggravating when you replace a head you think is unneeded only to discover the very next screen uses it for a bonus. I have had such poor luck on occasion with this. "Crown?? That head is so last act. I'm sure i can get rid of it. Oh shit a crown logo here? Goddamnit..." It's beyond aggravating and completely superfluous, choosing heads is like playing Russian roulette.
 

Himself

Member
Damn, this game wastes no time completely immersing you in it's world. So whimsical! The animation both on set transitions and objects being interacted with is incredible, the audience's reactions are great. This in no way feels like it could have worked as a downloadable title. Production values are through the roof.

The first Curtain was basically a tutorial so I can't say much about the gameplay other than it feels good. This is probably the type of game where one can forgive shortcomings in the gameplay department because it's just so damn charming, but I am hoping there's a bit more to it.

The only beefs I have so far is the cat's voice is kinda annoying and the powers of the heads don't seem to have much significance from a gameplay perspective.

Can't wait to play more!
 

Roko

Member
I haven't paid much attention to this thread, but has anyone else not gotten the preorder stuff from Amazon?

I know they say it's usually 2 days after, but until now I've always gotten the codes on release day.

I haven't gotten mine yet and I'm a little concerned. Hopefully it comes through soon!
 

JoeFenix

Member
Act 4 was really really cool. Game is absolutely MENTAL, I love it!

Can't believe this is 40$, the amount of art assets alone must have cost them a fortune to create.

Also pretty impressed with how the Bonus stages have been treated, the Act 4 ones have been really clever.
 

Jigolo

Member
Act 3 curtain 1 has been my favorite level so far. Just finished it BTW so let's see if anything can top it later.
 

olimpia84

Member
Just finished Act 2 C1, really fun boss fight at the end. The graphics and presentation in this game are out of this world. Please go out and buy this game if you're on the fence about it.
 

Ken

Member
So this knight head in act1 curtain 2. I tried to cut all the souls but missed 2 and now I don't know how to proceed.
 

Ken

Member
Should be a bouncy thing in the middle of the room, I think.

I don't see one. The knight head is just sitting on the floor and I can't seem to interact with it or anything. Bouncy things are still on the sides of the room and the 2 remaining souls went back into his body so I can't cut them.
 

olimpia84

Member
I don't see one. The knight head is just sitting on the floor and I can't seem to interact with it or anything.

There should be a bouncy platform to the left of the screen. I missed one soul and had to jump on the platform, then cut through the zipper and hit the knight one more time to pop the final soul. If that doesn't work then it might be a glitch.
 

Ken

Member
There should be a bouncy platform to the left of the screen. I missed one soul and had to jump on the platform, then cut through the zipper and hit the knight one more time to pop the final soul. If that doesn't work then it might be a glitch.

No souls above him. How do you hit the knight directly? With Calibrus? He doesn't seem to have a hit box.

Edit:

Restarted the fight (thank you resume act midway) and yeah it was bugged. Knight head didn't fly back up so I had no way of getting the last remaining souls.
 

Remf

Member
I was going to wait, but I couldn't resist the temptation any longer...downloading now!!!

Hopefully I can get my wife into this game as well since she used to play the hell out of some Mario brothers.
 

VanWinkle

Member
Losing my mind over how much I adore this experience. I want to call it an experience, and not just a game, because everything being thrown at you is done in a way I have never seen before. About to begin 3-3 and I can already tell you, 3-2 was one of the best gaming moments I've ever had.

Yeah, 3-2 was great.
 

Ken

Member
Do head powers ever play a more active role in combat or gameplay or are they merely just there to unlock extra goodies.
 
Do head powers ever play a more active role in combat or gameplay or are they merely just there to unlock extra goodies.
There are 4 special heads that give more combat oriented abilities.

Some boss fights can be affected with a regular head tho. For example General Tiger
uses the mace on his tail to attack. If you happen to have a mace head you can transform his mace into cotton ball or some shit that wont damage you and Yingyang laughs at him.
 

Andrew.

Banned
Do head powers ever play a more active role in combat or gameplay or are they merely just there to unlock extra goodies.

Just secrets. I do wish they had an attack or skill like Kid Chameleon but the animations for their "move" make up for it.

Edit: or maybe there's more...
 

VanWinkle

Member
Whenever I'm between playing, I've been listening to the parts of the soundtrack that I'll already played through. It's so great. The song that plays in Act 4 Curtain 1 is one of my FAVORITES. Song is called "Across the Plains".

Do head powers ever play a more active role in combat or gameplay or are they merely just there to unlock extra goodies.

The regular heads are just for extras and fun and collection, but the hero heads are the ones that alter gameplay.
 

iratA

Member
Ok I'm at about 50% through this and I can say without question this a hell of a game!

Quick thoughts:

~ The image on screen at times is such that it "pops" off the screen. I can't even imagine how mind blowing this would be in 3D.

~ Some of the best use of colors I've ever seen. Some of the multi-colored stage lights and colored sets are in a word "dazzling"

~ As others have said the amount of individual art assets and the detail on them is absurd. What budget did this game have? How come this is $40? It just does not compute! Don't even get me started on the amount of custom or unique animations (mostly from all the NPC's)

~ Fantastic voice work and music (sooooo glad I got the pre-order pack with the OST)

~ The story is traditional Fairy Tale/Disneyesque fair. Its charming and whimsical but so far not the games strong point.


On a cost versus quality basis, this game is possibly the ultimate underdog, its punching well above its weight. Basically if this game gets passed up by too many people and we don't get a sequel, I'm gonna be shouting the mantra "this is why we can't have nice things"
 

Lunzio

Member
So I've already managed to beat this game... I think I liked it ;)

By far, my favorite set-piece was 7-1. The game absolutely reminds me of another one of my favorites, Asura's Wrath, for some odd reason.
 

iratA

Member
So I've already managed to beat this game... I think I liked it ;)

By far, my favorite set-piece was 7-1. The game absolutely reminds me of another one of my favorites, Asura's Wrath, for some odd reason.

At the bolded part? Why? Other than the fact it has the odd QTE, I just don't see it. Its far closer to LBP than Asura's Wrath.

LBP comparison only comes about because of its similar 'Craft World' asthetic and it being in the same platforming genre. Outside of that, their similarities end where controls are concerned as Pupeteer leaves LBP behind.
 

Lunzio

Member
At the bolded part? Why? Other than the fact it has the odd QTE, I just don't see it. Its far closer to LBP than Asura's Wrath.

LBP comparison only comes about because of its similar 'Craft World' asthetic and it being in the same platforming genre. Outside of that, their similarities end where controls are concerned as Pupeteer leaves LBP behind.

To clarify, I don't mean to say that the actual mechanics remind me of Asura's Wrath, moreso the feeling I get when I play it. There's something similar in these two titles for me that are probably triggered by my enchantment in each separate visual style. On a broader stroke, each game is rather simple and takes me along for an enjoyable ride in the form of anime/puppet show.
 
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