I’m going to be honest, I genuinely can’t remember a game that has made me laugh as much as Sony’s latest PS3 exclusive, Puppeteer.

It first appeared on my radar last year after Sony’s press conference at gamescom. This charming platformer takes a pinch of Nintendo’s Mario, a dash of Travellers Tales Lego series, and a great spoonful of Media Molecules Little Big Planet games, mixes it all together and comes up with an end product that is not quite like any of them.

In Puppeteer you play as Kutaro a boy who is snatched away from his home one night one night by the evil Moon Bear King. The Moon Bear King then devours Kutaro’s soul and changes him into a wooden puppet. To then add insult to injury the King then rips Kutaro’s head off, swallows it and chucks Kutaro away.

Kutaro wakes up to find himself deep in the dark places of the Bear King’s Castle where he meets the cat Ying Yang. Yang introduces Kutaro to the Moon Witch, Esma Potts, who explains that in order to defeat the Moon Bear King and restore Kutaro to human form, he’ll have to collect the pieces of the Moonstone that the King has given to each of his generals, in order to do that he’ll first have to steal the magic scissors, Calibrus, from the Moon Bear King.

First Kutaro needs a new head and thankfully in Puppeteer these are remarkably easy to come by. There are in total 100 different heads for you to collect and they can be found in the most interesting of places. Each head will give Kutaro a small animation when used, but not much more than that. They can be used at certain points, and you’ll usually gain access to additional moon sprinkles or get access to a Bonus Stage, but other than that the only purpose they serve is your life bar. You can hold up to three heads, if you are hit it’ll send a head bouncing off, if you don’t retrieve it in time then it’ll vanish. When all your heads are gone you’ll lose a life. Luckily extra lives are plentiful – collect 100 Moon Sparkles and you’ll get one, and there are a lot of Moon Sparkles. As with Modern Mario games I finished Puppeteer with around 60 lives in the bank.

The other major draw for Puppeteer is the style of game. Puppeteer is set on a stage in a theatre, this isn’t a game; it’s a performance. The characters are cast members; the levels are scenery which clunk and thump in and out of view. The cast interact with the audience watching the show which includes you as a player so in some ways they are talking to you. This gives the game an opportunity to do something that many games can’t – be self aware. There are a lot of moments when the cast will address you, it’s all very pantomime, but it’s great fun. Puppeteer is also a very modern game, Kutaro’s companion for most of the time spent playing is a pixie called Pikarina. You’ll either love her or hate her, she’s clearly based around the Beverley Hills girl stereotype, and I actually found it charming. Her passing comment of ‘First World Problems’ had me chuckling for a good few minutes.

Director Gavin Moore has really poured a lot of love and attention into his first major title. Puppeteer isn’t just a joy to play, but it’s a sight to behold. Having a fixed stationary camera has allowed the developers to focus on the art, the drawings and the lighting. You’ll be able to tell the difference between the different textures of paper, cloth, wood, or steel, the theatre spotlights follow Kutaro and other cast members around the stage faultlessly, and even the way the audience begin to whispers if you leave the controller, or the way Kutaro sits on the floor cross legged listening to characters as they reveal more of the story of the Moon and it’s residents.

Puppeteer isn’t without its faults, the function of the heads is woefully underused, it’s a great idea that should have been capitalised on more, also the controls are sometimes a bit over sensitive, and moving using Calibrus can be tricky to master, but the game is more than makes up for some minor failings in other areas.

The only other thing I’m curious about is the localisation, Pikarina’s south beach style aside; this game comes across as very British, from the narrator voiced by Stephen Grief, to a lot of the humour. It smacks of the British Pantomime that might not transfer as well to other cultures. It’s not a negative, it’s just a thought.

Puppeteer is a charming, beautifully made, game that will charm you and make you laugh, smile and look at the Moon with a slight sense of wonder.

Puppeteer is available now exclusively to PlayStation 3.

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