of video games. All the big hits. The sequels, the shooters, the...shooters. The holiday

season is the season, for the gaming industry. But if the world were fair, and if we bought

what was fun instead of what was hyped...you'd hear less about sequels and shooters and more

about games like this.

It won't be in your little shopper's guide, and it doesn't have unlockable testosterone

rifles or squad-based kill sessions. But Puppeteer is creative, it's cool, it's memorable. And

it's fun.

That still counts for something, right?

And you know, it's also pretty straightforward. At least, in terms of its mechanics. This

is a platformer in that classic 2D style. You're jumping on platforms, mashing an attack

button to dispose of the bad guys...there's nothing you haven't seen before. Only you've

never seen anything quite like Puppeteer. It takes the familiar and gives it a whole

new spin.

So if you like games with style, you're gonna love this. You play as a little wooden boy.

His name is Kutaro, and right off the bat, he loses his head. No, literally, his head

falls off. When some evil Oogie Boogie lookalike tears him apart. And so poor Kutaro sets off,

with only a strange floating cat thing to keep him company...to find a new head.

Or heads, I guess. If you look hard enough.

In fact, that unfortunate accident sets up Puppeteer's central gameplay element. You

can use lots of things—skulls, bugs, bananas, even guillotines—as heads. So you can store

up to three heads at a time, each of which gives Kutaro a special ability and, more importantly...act

like hearts. Or lives. Lose a head, you better chase it down. Otherwise? Down to two.

Lose that head, and you're down to one. Lost that one...no more heads.

And so, in addition to just being awesome, the cool thing about the heads is that...there's

an element of management there, as well. Certain heads are going to be more useful than others

at certain times. So you might stumble across a giant panda in the background. At which

point, it'd be a good thing if you had the panda head.

Wearing the right head at the right time unlocks secret areas, so you want to be careful which

heads you're using and which heads you're saving in the inventory. The...inventory of

heads.

So it's largely familiar 2D platforming, plus the whole heads thing...but there's also another

element to Puppeteer. And that's Kutaro's magic pair of scissors. So he can use them

as his weapon, right? You mash the attack button, you slice fools up. But the scissors

are also an important means of transportation. If you see something you can cut, whether

it's cloth or magical leaves or whatever, you can slice through and ride the scissors.

And Puppeteer's puppet-show theme means there's lots of different material. It's all over

the place. In fact, it kind of reminds me of Kirby's Epic Yarn. There's always something

to slice.

But you know, as fun as the gameplay is...it's the theme that really steals the show. It's

the aesthetic. Puppeteer really looks like a puppet show. The characters are all wooden

puppets, with buttons sewn on and cloth stitched to their bodies...and the game takes place

from the perspective of an audience. They laugh, they applaud...and each level is like

a new act.

It's just an incredibly cool concept, and it looks absolutely gorgeous.

This game isn't doing anything crazy. What it does do...is take what is arguably gaming's

most familiar genre, and dress it up with a style so creative and elegant, you almost

don't recognize it. It's a game that's as fun to look at as it is play...and holy crap,

is it fun to play. Platforming fans will love that there's actually some clever platforming.

Tim Burton fans will love the game's style...it's like if Beetlejuice were a puppet show.

And fans of games, the ones with creativity instead of hype, will love Puppeteer.