Frantix is a "Plain Jane" 3D puzzler for the PSP that doesn't really take advantage of the system's capabilities, offers soulless gameplay (at least there's lot of it) and doesn't offer any kind of backstory or character development. What's left without all these extras? 180 puzzles that aren't really all that exciting.

In Frantix players travel through small levels that are usually mazelike where you collect gems, avoid traps and solve simple puzzles involving things like moving crates and avoiding environmental hazards, dangerous objects and enemies. The puzzles -- at least in the early parts of the game -- are somewhat fun, but what the game is really missing is some kind of soul. Why are you collecting these gems in these bizarre worlds (there are six of them)? Where did you come from? In Frantix you just don't know because there's no backstory in the game. Nadda. Nothing. Zip. All we know is that you're a hero solving puzzles to move onto the next puzzle, and so on.

The puzzles scattered across the six "dream worlds" in the game are sometimes inventive and fun, despite the lack of story or real purpose. Players will find themselves moving blocks around, hitting switches, shoving bombs, making bridges to cross gaps, etc. After collecting the gems in each level you find the exit and your done - that's the game. Each level takes between 30 seconds to a minute or so, and beating an area allows you to return to it later if that's your thing. There around 180 puzzles to solve of varying difficulty and for awhile they are somewhat entertaining. The problem is that that fun eventually wears away.

Frantix is 3D and it looks alright, but not fantastic. A lot of the objects in the game are transparent when you get behind them, which makes them a little bit difficult to see on the PSP's display. The worlds don't differ all that much as you progress through the game, which means that you'll see a lot of the same objects and level components over and over again.

Movement and the view angle also could use a bit of reworking. Movement is like those classic arcade games of yesteryear where moving the thumbstick once moves you one space. Since there's no other types of movement in the game (jumping, climbing, etc) the whole movement scheme comes off as too simplistic. The one step movement also makes it easy to overshoot where you're trying to aim your character, which means that you'll often times finding yourself in a spot you never intended to go in the first place. The movement just feels square.

Similarly the view angle is very simplistic. You get top-down and far behind and up close. You can also hit the R button to rotate the camera 90 degrees, which can be more confusing than helpful. Since this is a fully 3D world the camera should be more free roaming but Frantix locks it down in a way that just doesn't work well for the player. Ultimately the best view proves to be top-down because you can see everything properly.

Finally there's one decent extra - the Acedmy Award winning animated short, The ChubbChubbs! While the short is nice and fun to watch, it's inclusion as an extra is kind of puzzling. The short doesn't have any kind of connection with the game and it's a small 4 minute distraction from the game. . Other than that, there's no real extras in Frantix, no multiplayer and no storyline to speak of. In the end Frantix is a 3D puzzler that feels a little too old school to be a good thing. There's a ton of puzzles to solve, but most will want to move on to something with a little more soul. Frantix is a no-frills puzzler in dire need of a personality transplant. You can find better things to waste your PSP's battery on, but if you're not convinced give it a rental and see for yourself.