Simon Canning | August 12, 2008
FOR more than half a century, the works of Dutch artist MC Escher have at once perplexed and entertained people, using a two-dimensional medium to create impossible three-dimensional scenarios.
For those who get Echochrome, it may be impossible to put down
Escher's works were ground-breaking in their nature because they turned perspective on its head.
It seems only fitting that one of the latest releases by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable should be equally innovative.
Echochrome owes its legacy to Escher's work, taking his style from the printed page to the interactive environment of the portable games system.
As with its predecessors, Echochrome is disarmingly simple: the player guides a mannequin through a series of mazes based on line drawings.
Where the latest games feature ever more complicated and lush graphics, Echochrome is little more than black-and-white line drawings in which the complexity is limited to the design of the maze. The challenge is the mazes' three-dimensional drawings of stairs, passages, gaps, holes and launching pads.
As the game begins, the mannequins start walking and the player must rotate the picture, so a path is created.
For instance, the player may be walking along a plank towards a gap. By rotating the image and obscuring the gap with a nearby column, you can guide the mannequin to walk straight through. Holes must be aligned, so the player falls through to another level below. As you move through the game, more levels are achieved and more mannequins are added to the confusion.
Like Sudoku, Echochrome is not for everyone. But for those who get it, it may be impossible to put down. It is a delightful tribute to Escher's legacy.