At last year's E3 trade show in Santa Monica, California, Sony were more than a little pleased with the number of people whose gaze was drawn to their new puzzle title Echochrome. The game not only looked striking, but its visual style was fundamental to the way it played, owing more than a little to the optical mind bending of Dutch artist M. C. Escher. Now, with its release just around the corner, Echochrome is shaping up to be one of the top PSP titles of 2008.

On appearance, each of the levels in the game looks very simple; a white background acts as a blank canvas onto which the outlines of a series of 3D platforms have been drawn. On one of the platforms there's the small figure of a mannequin, whose body has been sketched out in the same basic way as the structures. Your job is to help the mannequin out of each level by first collecting the shadows (or 'echoes' as they are called) of itself that are scattered across the platforms and then lead it to the exit point.

The first problem with achieving this is that you have no direct control over the mannequin; it marches along in the direction it is facing at an unchanging pace, turning only if it comes up against the edge of a platform. The second problem, which makes the first seem kind of trivial, is that, upon first inspection, there doesn't appear to be any possible way for the mannequin to complete each stage. Often this is because of huge gaps between the various structures, but it's also sometimes down to a hole in a platform, which will send the mannequin falling through it, or the jump spots, which will send it hurtling up into the air and away from its target.

To help you overcome these difficulties, Echochrome unveils the incredible trick to its gameplay, which is to give you the most powerful sleight of hand ever. Rather than controlling the main character you are instead in charge of the camera position on the action, and by changing this you also change reality - which is only ever as fixed as your view of it. For example, if you want to get the mannequin from one platform to another but the two are a distance apart, if you can make the platforms look like they are touching by altering the view of the level then they will be touching and your little friend can step from one to the other. Similarly, if you can cover up a space between two platforms by moving another structure in front of the gap to hide it from view then the gap no longer exists and, once again, the mannequin can walk from ledge A to ledge B unopposed. Working with a similar principle, covering up jump pads or holes in platforms means that they no longer have an effect, while switching the perspective so that it seems that a platform is directly below a hole, or above a jump, will allow you to reach it as the mannequin drops or flies directly to the desired spot.

With such delicate manipulation required to achieve success, a lot of weight is going to fall on the ability of the developers to get the sensitivity of the controls spot on. It will also be interesting to see how far they push the ingenuity of the gameplay beyond the original idea of the basic optical illusion. Some more difficult skills that need to be mastered in later challenges, tight time limits and an extensive level creator all suggest that Echochrome's field of depth may be greater than it may appear at first sight, and with such originality on its side, Echochrome is sure to be like nothing you have seen before.

Echochrome is scheduled for release on the PSP in the UK on 4th July 2008. A version for the PS3, with its own exclusive levels, will also be available for download via the Playstation Network.

Previewed by James Hamblin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).