[PSP & PS3] echochrome demo

Renzo

PSP echochrome demo. mastery of japanese not necessary.

http://www.pspfanboy.com/2008/03/06/echochrome-downloadable-demo/

Analog Stick - move the stage
Triangle - Slow down the character (think)
X - Speed up the character, Skip tutorials
Start - Pause, Unpause

It's short, and much of it shows you how to solve each stage before you gain control. Feel free to press X to skip the solution and just try it for yourself. The music is great, and I really like the simple aesthetic.

Or you can find both the PSP and PS3 versions using a japanese PSN account.

Willeth

I will download this when I get home. Cheers.

Unco-ordinated

Edit the title, it's available on both the PS3 and PSP. Both can be downloaded on the Japanese PSN account.

bsjezz

awesome, i've been waiting for this. last time i gave the japanese account a spin was for the gt5: prologue demo...

Lunker

Hell. Yes. I'm gonna try this right now.

The sad news is that the last I'd heard, Sony was still tracking this for a Western PSN release but wasn't sure if they were going to bring over the PSP version .

Lunker

The demo is really short, but the whole experience is just so elegant and serene. It's pretty much what I expected, but that's very good. It requires 3.90 firmware, just so people know.

It starts with about four mini tutorial scenes, like the basic ones shown in the trailer from last year. Just basic scenarios that demonstrate how you can block out holes and otherwise use perspective to help your wooden figure move around. After that, there are around three more regular puzzles, which don't give you the solution beforehand and which have you moving around to collect shadows (also shown in the trailer). Maybe took me 10 minutes to do and left me hungry for actually challenging puzzles. This just gets you familiar with how to move the camera and listen to that beautiful music.

EDIT: I'm not even sure I'd call this a demo; more of an "interactive trailer." Still well worth a download, though.

bsjezz

yeah, i really liked it. the mechanics kind of reminded me of playing portal. there were more than a few moments of 'hit and hope' where you titled the angle to strange degrees and hoped the dude would fall in a good spot after jumping or dropping through a hole, but they'd probably clear up after you played for a while and got a better handle on the physics of it all

presented perfectly, though those footsteps would get irritating after a while...

Threepio

The jumping was the only thing I didn't get consistently. The holes turn white on the bottom if you're on the right angle.

It's a fascinating little ditty and I'm interested. Have they announced a pricepoint for it yet?

Igort

Been excited since they announced, and thankfully wasn't disappointed.

The only problem I'm seeing is that there doesn't seem to be too much re-playability. I'm hoping there are a ton of puzzles (and maybe future DLC) to make up for it.

Willeth

Oh this is excellent.

Lunker

Igort wrote: »

Been excited since they announced, and thankfully wasn't disappointed.

The only problem I'm seeing is that there doesn't seem to be too much re-playability. I'm hoping there are a ton of puzzles (and maybe future DLC) to make up for it.

Last I'd heard, there are 100 puzzles in the PSP version and 50 in the PSN version (with the PSP version being touted as "Echochrome Plus"). Though it's still up in the air if the PSP version will make it stateside, but honestly I don't see there being any real barrier to import here if that's the (sad) case.

Dirty

Wow, this is the shortest demo ever. Probably the first time I spent more time getting the demo than playing it. But its still really awesome. Though I agree with the above post about there being no real replay value.

I'm sure the extra 50 stages from the PSP version will find their way to the PS3 via DLC. And hopefully it will sell well enough for them to make more packs after that.

Lunker

Dirty wrote: »

Wow, this is the shortest demo ever. Probably the first time I spent more time getting the demo than playing it. But its still really awesome. Though I agree with the above post about there being no real replay value.

I'm sure the extra 50 stages from the PSP version will find their way to the PS3 via DLC. And hopefully it will sell well enough for them to make more packs after that.

Oh yeah -- it hasn't been mentioned here, but I'm pretty sure both versions of the game are going to come with a stage editor, so you can make your own stages and (I'm sure) share them with other people. In that case the replayability extends toward infinity, but aside from that I think "no replay value" is kind of the same for all puzzle games like this. Ultimately you can always go back and replay to get a faster time, fewest jumps, more optimal route, etc., but other than that, yeah, it's a pretty straightforward A to B experience.

EDIT: Appropriate linkage. I don't know if I've seen any official statements confirming it, but it makes sense to me.

Willeth

Either I have an awful memory or the demo had different levels the second time I played. What?

Unco-ordinated

I finally got around to playing the demo last night and it was most excellent. The camera seems to be pretty slow but holding down R1/L1 speeds it up. I forgot that triangle slows it down though, so there were a couple of times I was panicking, trying to move the camera around and get it in position quickly.

The falling/jumping part still kind of confuses me though. I move it to one place, then I'm not sure if it'll work so I keep on adjusting it.

Most definitely bought'd when it comes out.

bsjezz

Lunker wrote: »

Dirty wrote: »

Wow, this is the shortest demo ever. Probably the first time I spent more time getting the demo than playing it. But its still really awesome. Though I agree with the above post about there being no real replay value.

I'm sure the extra 50 stages from the PSP version will find their way to the PS3 via DLC. And hopefully it will sell well enough for them to make more packs after that.

Oh yeah -- it hasn't been mentioned here, but I'm pretty sure both versions of the game are going to come with a stage editor, so you can make your own stages and (I'm sure) share them with other people. In that case the replayability extends toward infinity, but aside from that I think "no replay value" is kind of the same for all puzzle games like this. Ultimately you can always go back and replay to get a faster time, fewest jumps, more optimal route, etc., but other than that, yeah, it's a pretty straightforward A to B experience.

EDIT: Appropriate linkage. I don't know if I've seen any official statements confirming it, but it makes sense to me.

you know, i thought the same thing, but then my girlfriend went through the demo and had some completely different solutions to me. my first run through i didn't use the 'joining two platforms method' once - there are certainly multiple ways to solve a puzzle, and it's fun to get creative with it

Mr_Grinch

Playing this now. Awesome fun but I'm really struggling with the jumping perspective.

osietra

Its like Crush done for autists.

Mangaroo

"Playing" this game, felt like i was doing homework again