puppeteer is extremely charming with its humor, set design and self awareness that managed to capture my attention when i was a kid that makes me kinda sad i didnt enjoy it as much as i thought it would. i think puppeteer is beautiful in its presentation but fails to allow players to stop and smell the roses in terms of appreciating its set design, storytelling and dialogue. there's so many fun quips and background details to focus on but most of the stages require you to zip past them in a way that, at least for me, made me zone out instead of truly enjoying my time with it. it is very fun though, and later on i might replay for finding secrets like all the heads i missed during my gameplay. i just wish i could've enjoyed my time with it more.

I last played this game nearly a decade ago not too long after it came out. I got it for cheap on PSN, though for the life of me I can't remember what prompted me to pick it up in the first place, or how I even came to know about it. That was probably the case for most people, really, since late 2013 was quite a busy time for big releases, and Puppeteer just got lost in the shuffle despite being so good. It's something I've been meaning to replay for a while, and now I finally have~. This is yet another game that doesn't count your playtime, so my rough guess is that I spent like 7 or 8 hours beating the main game, and then I spent about that same amount of time achievement hunting because I just didn't wanna stop playing x3

Puppeteer is the story of a little boy named Kutaro. The moon was once a peaceful place where the souls of children went when they embarked on their dreams, but that was before the powerful Moon Bear King stole the dark moon crystal, smashed the light moon crystal, and sealed away the moon goddess. Now the moon is a frightful, totalitarian place run by the Moon Bear King and his generals, where they steal away the souls of earth children to eat! Kutaro is one such child, although he escapes the fate of all the other lost souls even once the MBK eats his head! He's given a new head by the helpful Ying Yang the cat, and with the help of the moon witch, he steals the MBK's magical scissors Calibrus, and sets off on a quest to set the moon kingdom right again.

Puppeteer has the plot of a children's story book, and that's absolutely intended. The whole thing is literally laid out like a puppet show, with little wooden you running across a stage as you interact with other craft-made characters, enemies, and objects as you hop from scene to scene. It's a very tongue-in-cheek silly story full of wacky characters for Kutaro and his pixie friend the sun princess to bounce off of. Some of it sadly does wander into the area of casual racism and homophobia, but it's of the very casual "culture as a costume"-approach for world/level design that so SO many games do, so it's not really experience ruining. It doesn't really have any larger themes its exploring, and is mostly just here to give a good silly time, and it does a pretty bang up job at that.

The gameplay of Puppeteer is a platformer that a lot of my friends who saw me play it compared immediately to Little Big Planet. I think that comparison is quite apt, though Puppeteer differs in that there are no planes to swap through and it also controls much better. There are a couple dozen quite long levels to go through with very generous extra life amounts and checkpoints present. There are also lots of fun boss battles that are really well put together as well. You snip and fly through the air by comboing hits with Calibrus, and it makes for a really fun and quick-paced way to fly through levels if you're so inclined, and it makes for a really snappy action-platforming experience that's admittedly much more platforming than it is action at the end of the day.

The story and mechanics of Puppeteer are fun, but the presentation is one place it shines very VERY well. Very much like one of the more recent Paper Mario games, the attention to detail in bringing a world to life that still looks like its made of stage props is SO well done it does an amazing job of really bringing the whole "stage play" aesthetic to life. The voice acting is also really campy and well done, and adds a ton to that pantomime-esque feel as well~. Many of my friends were surprised to hear that it was a PS3 game with how nice it looks, and the music is also absolutely excellent to boot.

Verdict: Highly Recommended. A lot of people slept on Puppeteer because of when it came out, but that's a darn shame! It's a really excellent action/platformer with really fun writing and a great aesthetic. It's pretty easily picked up for cheap these days too, so it's totally worth tracking down if you want a memorable and fun way to spend a weekend on your PS3~.

Usually I wait until I finish each game I review, but wow this game.
I brought this because it was an exclusive ps3 only hidden gem, and went in blind.
I was very impressed with what I saw... The unique setting, great graphics, quirky gameplay and an amazing sound design.

When I finish the game I'll do an actual review with a score, but my first impression was very positive.

In the 2013 video game Puppeteer, a breezy and simplistic yet charming 2.5D platformer that justifies its 2.5D more than the bulk of games in that style ever have with its stage show aesthetic, your character Kutaro is a wooden puppet. A big part of the game is collecting puppet heads which act as hit points

There are a total of 104 heads to collect across the whole game. Every single one of these heads has a unique animation associated with it if you can hold onto it in the right spot. Could be a unique contextual moment within the game to take a shortcut, get rewards, skip a boss phase, or reaching a bonus stage. Beating the game will give you a head that can perform the contextual action of any other head to see the work put in, but there’s still that desire to find which heads you missed to see their distinct sense of character.

That is a level of soul and dedication you really only see from developers incredibly passionate about their craft and appreciating their effort a decade later it’s a damn shame to see Japan Studio shuttered now when it could be the perfect gap material between Sony’s mega blockbusters.

An incredible game that is just so charming, well written and is a blast from start to finish.

The narration, dialogue and soundtrack are superb. The level design is fantastic overall (some levels may drag on a tiny bit too long) and incorporate the perfect amount of horizontal and vertical traversing in a 2D platformer.

Some mentioned they disliked it, but personally I loved the witty banter between the characters (especially the narrator, pikarina and the villains) and the 4th wall breaking moments were excellently done too.

While I'm sad that this game is stuck (and probably permanently so) on PS3, I do genuinely think that this was the perfect swan song that celebrated a console that put creativity at it's forefront (littlebigplanet, modnation racers, PS Home, etc)

Misturar um jogo de plataforma com um espetáculo teatral me pareceu incompatível a princípio, como se o jogo oferecesse pouco de ambos os temas. E de fato, Puppeteer não tem um início tão atraente, são fases longas e pobres em mecânicas. Mas assim que as coisas se tornam interessantes, o jogo brilha até o fim.

A ideia de simular uma obra teatral foi levada muito a sério aqui, não se trata apenas da estética, toda a jornada é comentada por um narrador e os personagens agem como se houvesse uma platéia os assistindo. Puppeteer é um jogo muito rico em diálogos, e aqui entra uma de suas maiores qualidades e defeitos: absolutamente tudo é comentado, todas suas ações são narradas, isso deixa a aventura muito mais viva, algumas cenas até arrepiam de tão empolgantes (principalmente com a excelente dublagem brasileira). Mas por outro lado, você é forçado a jogar no tempo das falas, se quiser ouvir tudo que os personagens dizem. Infelizmente é comum que uma frase seja cortada por outro diálogo que você acabou de acionar, isso acontece diversas vezes durante o jogo e acaba estragando um pouco o ritmo das coisas.

Apesar das fases serem longas, é muito interessante como todas elas são introduzidas, são 3 fases para cada ato, mas são únicas o suficiente pra terem seu próprio desfecho, sempre apresentando um início, meio e fim. Todos os personagens são extremamente carismáticos, desde o narrador até aqueles que fazem uma breve participação. O esquema de coletar cabeças e usá-las para descobrir segredos é bem divertido, o mesmo pode-se dizer sobre o gameplay e seus elementos de plataforma.

A mecânica com a Calibrus, sua tesoura, é criativa e prazerosa, as lutas contra chefões são de deixar os olhos brilhando, assim como boa parte dos cenários, acompanhados de uma excelente trilha sonora, e narrados de forma épica. Puppeteer é realmente, no sentido literal da palavra, um espetáculo.

9/10

It took me three attempts to beat this game; I kept bouncing off the game as it never clicked with me. I think the reason for this is because the game wouldn't shut up and let me play. Characters are frequently talking and bantering with each other as I progressed through the level, which frequently got interrupted as I progressed through the levels. Some of the cutscenes feel like they go one for some long minutes too. I get the game wants to give context with what’s going on/what’s happening, but I think brevity would have allowed me to better enjoy the first few opening levels.

However, I did really warm up to the game and found myself having a good time. Once I progressed far enough to have unlocked all the mechanics, I had a fun time making my way through the different platforming challenges. I like the concept of collecting different puppet heads that unlock secrets throughout the level, but I wish they did more with it; it would have been cool if there was a selection of heads that mixes up the way that you play, like a power-up mechanic.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Puppeteer and I’m glad that I’ve finally done a full playthrough of it. I can see myself revisiting the game to unlock the remaining trophies I have yet to earn. Scanning through the reviews on Backloggd shows there's a lot of people who really liked this game, so it’s a shame that the game never got a port or remaster for the new PlayStation consoles.

They never let the gameplay breath with nearly constant dialogue. It makes it incredibly hard to focus on the platforming and combat when these characters won’t pipe down. It’s remarkable for how much they talk, how stale the actual narrative is and where the story goes.

The art style is decent but it clearly was meant to sell Sony 3D tv’s given how often shit flies at the screen. It’s pretty cheap visually and hurts the presentation of the game. The music is good but many songs repeat.

The boss fights were hit or miss. Some were recycled earlier ones and others were unique and interesting. The rat boss fight with the trees stood out.

The scissor cutting mechanic was very satisfying with how it reacts to your cuts in an accurate way. But there wasn’t a lot of depth to it. The gameplay also doesn’t evolve in meaningful ways past act 3. It’s too easy most of the time and relies heavily on these spam square button moments and qte’s to make it more cinematic. Swapping heads was a gimmick and was there to extend the runtime by requiring backtracking and tediously holding onto them until the precise moment they’re needed. I liked all the unique animations for them though.

The whole game was a mixed bag. Some gameplay areas were really cool, others are boring. Same goes for music, voice acting, story, and art. A lot of cool ideas here, just terrible execution.

Simply grand. A puppet show themed 2D platformer with an incredible attention to detail in its production values. It's constantly playing with the levels and characters as "hysical" beings. The stage is ever-adorned with curtains, there's a "live audience" that chimes in with reactions to events, a charming narrator who speaks directly to the audience as if the show were pure fiction.

The game's constantly playing with the physicality of its elements, leaning into the idea that this IS a puppet show. Stage elements drop from the top of the screen and SLAM to the ground with a little bounce and jiggle as they settle onto the stage. It's not a "realistic" puppet show—screens don't transition like this in real life!—but this fantastical version is grounded by this attention to the physical properties of every bit of level design, every enemy, every character. And the game's presentation keeps playing with this. During vehicle segments the "vehicles" have a visible stick underneath them, as if they're being puppetted from beneath the stage. It's the kind of attention to detail you could only get when a major platform owner pours resources into a game with a dedicated single-player appeal. You know, back when that existed in full?

The writing is whimsical and light. It's all presented like a fantastical children's story, but with a little bit of edge not dissimilar to, say, a Dreamworks picture (although not nearly as winking or as smarmy). There's just enough of that comedic edge there to be charming but not annoying.

As for play, it's just fun. it's a good laid back platformer. It never challenges too much, but it's got a good feel to its platforming and some unique systems that dig into the puppet show conceit. There's the health system, where your puppet can carry up to three different "heads" with each head being one hit point on your health bar, so to speak. The heads vary from robot heads, to octopi, to train cars, to dragons. Each one also has a unique use—you'll spot areas in each level where a specific head is called for. Having the right head can bring about a variety of effects ranging from a few extra gems, to unlocking a bonus stage, all the way to making a boss fight easier just because you had the right head on your shoulders. Then there's the scissors, prominently featured on the box art, that you'll use to snip across the game's fabric world. From climbing a castle's walls by cutting along its seams to chopping up bosses in extravagant finishers.

It's a real shame this game is stuck on PS3 and fetches exorbitant prices in the used market. But if you have a way to play it, I highly recommend checking it out. It's a highly polished, super cute, charming game that any fan of platformers should play.

One of my favorite PS3 games, I really hope this game someday gets a remastered treatment in future PlayStation console or even better, a sequel.

Puppeteer features one of the most impressive presentations in terms of art direction and setting, with theater features that really make you feel like another spectator. The game is colorful yet it contains some darker tones depending on the levels.

Gameplay is interesting combining platforming elements with some interesting progression movements done by using your scissor companion. Backgrounds can be dynamic and offer a lot of variety in terms of level design.

Overall, Puppeteer is a true "hidden gem" for the PS3 that excels in its presentation and is one of my favorite experiences for the system; and is a must-play for platforming fans.

Back at it again with SCE Japan Studio. Figured I would cave in and buy this one before the PS3 store is shut down forever. Didn't really know what to expect going into this title, but this one ended up drawing me in something fierce, like all of Japan Studio's titles.

Puppeteer loves playing with the foreground and background. The ever-present curtains, floor and ceiling on the sides of the screen provide a constant frame of reference for these shenanigans. Puppeteer wastes no chance to make its presentation even more genuine and charming. The sets shift in and out of frame as if they're elaborate pieces of machinery. In the 2D platforming segments, there are rotating gears in the bottom corners, signifying that the set is being scrolled in real time. There's an audience that cheers and gasps at whatever's happening at that moment. There's always a spotlight aimed at the main characters. Every character looks like they're made out of practical materials, like wood and paper. Their movements are all spindly, y'know, like they're being puppeted. I feel like the only thing they're lacking are the strings that puppets usually hang from, but in all honesty, it's probably all magic anyhow. I was willing to suspend my disbelief so they could show me more fantastical feats, things that wouldn't be possible when being tied down by strings.

Another element I have praise for is the soundtrack. It's a fully-orchestrated one, composed and arranged by none other than actual Hollywood talents Patrick Doyle and James Shearman. I don't know how these professionals were brought on board, but their compositions fit the tone of the game perfectly. It's thrilling, adventurous, tense, and so much more.

The tone of the writing is like a mix of Disney's whimsy with a healthy dose of humor that feels reminiscent of something like Monty Python. The game plays itself pretty straight as a wooden puppet show with the spectacle of a theatre performance, plus a little bit of magic sprinkled in there. The narrator describes all the antics and happenings in eager detail as you progress through the stages, and characters give off witty dialogue. The one outlier to this is the brash pixie princess, Pikarina. She's a good supporting role for Kutaro, but she has got a mind of her own, and she tends to bicker with the narrator. It's still quite funny, but it can be a bit much at times. It feels like she's going "off-script", if that even makes a lick of sense.

The game's a 2D platformer with emphasis on collecting heads, interacting with the background, and cutting things with your magical scissors, Calibrus. When Kutaro gets hit, his head bounces around temporarily like rings in a Sonic game, and you aren't allowed to run around like a headless chicken; Kutaro's gotta have something where his noggin goes. Fortunately for our hero, heads can be found in all kinds of places. By having Pikarina investigate all kinds of back/foreground objects, you'll reveal a plethrora of secrets, including various heads. Aside from serving as your HP (you can carry and swap between three heads at a time), each head has a "head action" associated with it. When used at the right time/place, magic happens. You can activate unique scenarios, reveal even bigger secrets, gain access to bonus stages, and even neuter/skip entire segments of levels and boss battles. Kutaro's main weapon is a pair of magical scissors. The regular enemies are pretty much fodder, the real fun with the scissors comes from the platforming. There's a certain rhythm to the action of snipping through objects, over gaps and around obstacles.

Admittedly, I finished this game weeks ago, but I ended up going after most of the trophies. The reward was never the trophies themselves, but the fact that they encouraged me to seek out all the cool details and writing that they packed into the game, easily missable if you don't do some very specific context-sensitive actions. The game gave me this message after finishing it, and while I appreciate the coy humor, they shouldn't belittle themselves like that! All these people came together to create something truly one of a kind. I never see this title get talked about when SCE Japan Studio is brought up, so I'm guessing this is the black sheep of their lineup, which is a damn shame. I also fear it got overshadowed by other titles that year, like Grand Theft Auto V. You can still get this title digitally for $15, and I recommend you do so while you still can. Bring some popcorn too.

This game is amazing.

Cute, charming, special.

It's a crime that this is stuck forever on the PS3.