Unfortunately, for every step Putty Squad takes forward it takes (at least) one back. It’s a clever idea that puts a premium both on going after stars and being judicious/varied with your attacks. Attacking depletes the meter, however, meaning overuse will cause your weapon to downgrade. Collecting them fills a meter on the left side, and every time it fills all the way you gain access to a different default weapon - for instance, arrows or wind-up bombs. In fact, every time I reached a new level the first thing I did was enter Map Mode (push L2) to start planning my path.Ĭrates containing health items and power-ups will help you along the way, but more important than that is grabbing stars. What’s interesting about the game is that it’s more focused on strategy and decision making than quick reflexes. At a basic level, that sums up what you can expect from Putty Squad.Įach stage contains a specific number of red blobs scattered around, and it’s up to you to bypass and/or defeat all the enemies that stand in your way en route in rescuing them. An assortment of gun-wielding carrots, floating gurus, military dogs, robots, chattering teeth and more stand in the way. About the only reason not to mute is the beeping that indicates you’re about to die. The soundtrack is forgettable and enemies tend to make annoying noises particularly the screaming birds. There isn’t much to be said about the game’s music or sound effects. The longer I played the more attuned I became to threats, but it never truly gets any better. This phenomenon is a byproduct of two things: 1) smallish, hard to distinguish projectiles, and 2) your blob’s absurdly short reach on melee attacks. And I don’t mean the actual visual cue of the blob’s face, I mean I’d think I’d moved through a section relatively unscathed only to look up and see I’d lost 60 percent of my health. What really hurts Putty Squad, though, is how hard it is to tell when you’ve absorbed damage. It’s not pixilated or ugly, but it’s utterly generic in both character and level design. Given that the game allows you to deploy projectile power-ups in either direction with one button, the decision to favor a two-button attack system is bizarre.Įven with some graphical polish, this could easily pass as a PlayStation One title thanks to its simple, cartoony look. It’s an archaic system that frustrates far too often, causing you to take more damage than you otherwise would.
Rather than have a single button, both shoulders are in play with the direction pressed on the controller corresponding to the direction attacked on the screen (read: left bumper strikes to the left). Where Putty Squad really feels its age is with your blob’s basic attacks. Scrolling through them on the fly via the right stick isn’t the cleanest setup I’ve seen, though.
#PUTTY SQUAD PLAYSTATION 3 FULL#
The ability to float is a great equalizer from the not-so-precise jumping (albeit at the cost of a health drain), and the levels are chock full of power-ups just waiting to be sucked up and used. Perhaps the best aspect of having so many options at your disposal is that there are a number of ways to approach most situations - both in how you reach areas and what you do once you get there.
Not only can you jump (tap for standard, hold for higher), but you can also extend your blob to reach different areas, inflate it to float through the air or deploy a nearly dizzying array of power-ups to help clear levels.
Considering the 20-year-old source material, it’s quite surprising how involved the setup is. It is a retro gem? Or should it have stayed buried in the past?Īfter initially detesting the way the game handled, I found certain aspects improved with time and practice others, however, did not. Published by Maximum Games, Putty Squad has landed on Sony’s PlayStation (3, 4 and Vita) as an upgraded version of the unreleased Amiga 1200 edition. Originally released on the Super Nintendo in 1994, it was developed for other systems as well but never saw the light of day, until now.
Mm-hmmm, it’s a new vibration… gooey blue persuasion.įew games have travelled a more interesting path to home consoles than System 3’s Putty Squad.
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