Review by: Mike Thompson

It's got to be tough to be a puzzle game that's released while people are still playing the hell out of Portal 2. It's got to be especially tough when that game has more in common with Monkey Ball than anything that's come out in recent memory. That's the situation Puzzle Dimension finds itself in, now that it's arrived on the PlayStation Network, and it's all the more surprising that it turns out this little title is as good as it is. Puzzle Dimension is a puzzle platformer that requires players to roll a ball across a series of floating tiles in order to collect a pre-determined number of sunflowers and then roll through a warp gate to get to the next level. This sounds easy enough until you start considering all the variables that the game throws into the mix.

Each map contains different tiles that affect the way a player has to go about solving things. Cracked tiles will only let the ball sit on them once before they fall away into the vast nothingness surrounding the floating platforms. The ball will continue to move without stopping if it hits an ice tile. Flame tiles can only be touched once before their grilles light and they become deadly to the touch. There are a total of ten different types of these variables, and they all can be maddening.

On top of that, gravity is relative and switches constantly, based on the ball's position. Basically, the ball will always fall "down", even if that was another direction just a few seconds ago. The way this works is that when the ball rolls, "down" is relative to the platform it's currently on top of and as a result, the platform structures will often have players rolling up walls and across ceilings. However, if the ball rolls off a tile, it'll plummet and (if there's no tile to land on below) the level is failed and you have to restart all over again.

This might sound intimidating, but Puzzle Dimension actually does an excellent job of familiarizing you with how its gameplay works. The tutorial explains the basic mechanics and controls and the difficulty gradually increases until you find yourself attempting levels that look insane at first glance. But the game teaches how to plan ahead, and to use free-camera mode to examine map layouts so you can plot your course; in many of the levels, one wrong turn at the beginning will mean eventual, unavoidable, failure. It's brutal, but entices you to keep trying.

The production values are surprisingly stunning. Even though the premise and setup is pretty simple, the graphics start out with a kind of Minecraft 8-Bit style, but they transform as each level is mastered. However, when the ball is either on top of or adjacent to a tile (and any object on a tile), they morph into fully-detailed 3D objects that look absolutely lovely. The music is equally simple and charming; it's always in the background but never grows tiresome or obnoxious. The one real drawback to the game is that its controls are a bit sticky and there seems to be a little delay with them. This isn't anything that's really bad, but it'll take a few minutes to get used to.

Puzzle Dimension is one of those puzzle games that is perfect for fans of the genre. It's full of charm and challenge, and some levels are so difficult that it's an incredible rush when they're successfully solved. This is not a game for those looking for a casual mind teaser, but it's just about perfect for those who prefer the difficulty level turned all the way up to eleven.