‘Puddle’ Can’t Seem To Make A Splash

When we first heard that an award winning independent game (GDC 2010) was being released to the public for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, we were pretty excited to check it out. Unfortunately, They should have held on to it until it was solid.

In Puddle, you control an anamorphic body of water. More specifically, you control the screen where you can tilt it left or right so your puddle of liquid can ooze one way or another. You can use the L2 or R2 buttons, your Sixaxis motion controller or the PlayStation Move. The goal is to try to get as much of your 'puddle' to the finish without sizzling up by fire or evaporating under the hot areas of each level. You may also lose a few drops here and there as they stray off the path never to rejoin.

Although the graphics and visuals in this title are amazing, the physics in this game are frustrating. Even though you're tilted as far as you can on one side, the momentum of your puddle keeps going uphill so it's hard to stall and pool your puddle together. Everything seems to be working in slow-motion as well so you'll need a lot of patience to play this title.

One nice thing about this game is you get "Whines" to let you pass the level. Similar to using the Eagle in Angry Birds, if there is a level that you just can not pass, you can "Whine" and it will get you to the next level. The problem is the next level is usually a harder, more frustrating level. All in all, we recommend you use a personal 'whine' and pass up on this game completely. There is a demo available for download so you'll definitely want to play the demo of this game first before you buy it.

RATING: 5.5/10

Puddle is rated T for Teen by the ESRB and is now available for download on the PlayStation®Network for $9.99. Puddle is also available for Xbox Live® Arcade for 800 MSP.