Kula World

If the humble non-stick frying pan, velcro or even the paperclip hadn't yet been invented and were all simultaneously released tomorrow, it's very likely that all three (even in today's ridiculously advanced world of paper-thin laptops and mind-reading vending machines) would be hailed as genuinely remarkable advancements worthy of recognition in every regard.

Playing Kula World gives the same sort of feeling. The game is so simple in concept and so spot-on in execution that, though it's nearly ten years old, it could be released exactly as it is as a new UMD game tomorrow and still be relevant, fun and almost certainly worth a purchase.

It's a 3D platform-based puzzler where you play as a Kula beach ball which, rather than bouncing around in its natural habitat, is trapped in a linked series of 3D mazes of increasingly devilish complexity. Escher would need to grow a pair before even thinking about setting foot inside Kula World's assorted twisted geometrical nightmares.

To begin with, the collecting of coins and fruit for points as well as keys to open exits is the extent of the challenge. But soon hazards such as platforms that move and disintegrate, pills that simulate the effect of inhaling petrol fumes, and hourglasses that drastically reduce your time limit all need to be avoided.

The real star of the show, however, is the ingenious use of a simple 3D space with simple rules to create puzzles that are non-linear, enduringly challenging and full of deliciously oblique solutions; the sort that make you kick yourself for taking so long to see the path that was staring you in the face all along. Kula World pulls off the miraculous trick of frustrating you to the point where giving up feels like the next step, before revealing its secrets just in time to boost your score, your confidence and interest.

The complement of modes is rudimentary, with just Arcade and Time Trial variants, but there are two 2-player modes, Copy Cat and Time Trial, which both do exactly as you'd expect and to a competent degree (even if switching between players requires some fiddly menu navigation via the Home button every time).

There are bonus levels thrown in too, which resemble an abortive Rubix Cube autopsy set in a disco, where the object is merely to collect all of the bonuses against the time limit as opposed to finding the exit. It's more fun than it sounds.

It's all pleasingly presented, and though you wouldn't assume a puzzle game about a beach ball could convey much in the way of character, Kula World's subtle skin and background changes maintain the mood.

If there's one major failing it's that Kula World's music is a little on the incidental side, consisting mostly of blandly inoffensive bongo drum driven meanderings that, though they don't intrude on the experience, could have added to it had they been a little more stylised and distinct.

Even so, Kula World is an excellent game that has barely aged a day since its original release, and as a budget title it really shines. Indeed, considering how difficult it is to find re-sell copies of Kula World these days (it's classed as a rarity and can fetch as much as £60) its appearance on the PSP Store is all the more welcome. So basically, its a bargain and it's great, do you really need another reason to buy it?