Frantix [PSP]

Frantix is a third-person, objective-based 3D puzzler with theme-based environments, where players jam their little animated character through mazes full of traps, switches and hazards in order to reach the exit in the best possible time. No real story, no real reason to select a particular character over another--just pick up the PSP, bang out fifteen or so, and you're good until the next time the mood strikes you.

Though far from genre-shattering, Frantix is easy on the eyes with vibrant environments. The levels, of which there are over 180, are well-constructed and alive with functional detail (sink-traps, switches, moving crates, altering barriers, temporary impromptu bridges and more).

Differently-themed worlds include those old standby classics--the desert and winter levels--plus crumbling ruins and a Zen garden motif. All of which make up the touted 180 levels, 22 of which are based on the strange animated world of The ChubbChubbs.

(For those who haven't seen it, ChubbChubbs are the deadly/cute monstrosities featured in the same-named Academy Award-winning Sony Pictures CGI comedy short. In it, we meet an aspiring Karaoke-star creature named Meeper who crosses paths with the ChubbChubbs. The short is included as an extra on the UMD. The ChubbChubbs appear as non-player entities, and even Meeper is a bonus player-character. Doesn't rock the player's world or the game's score, but it's a very nice touch.)

In every level (many of which are very short), you want to find a workable path through to the exit, collecting the required number of gems in the process (and getting to the gems in the first place can be the challenge); you're under the gun of the timer and that ultimately means a fair amount of trial-and-error situations. Once an optimal method of finding the exit is found, players can attack the level again and again for better times, tackling switch-based doors, activating helpful explosives and occasionally avoiding the hostile creatures that might be roaming about.

Levels are not completed in a forced linear fashion (e.g., Zen Garden 2 leading directly to Zen Garden 3) but rather via a theme-hopping method that unlocks levels in other world-sets; it mixes things up a bit and lets players take on fresh challenges according to their whim, rather than just grinding away at one area until they're frustrated.

One of the major gripes about Frantix is the control; not that it's bad, but rather that it's awkward and inappropriate for timed challenges. You're constantly jamming your character in one of four directions on a rectilinear grid at a rate not always conducive to solving puzzles on-the-fly, and it's all too easy to panic your way into a hazard you know you should be avoiding. The 3D environs can be rotated so you can see everything, but one of the camera angle/distance options is so close-in that it's almost pointless (alas, the only one where your choice of character makes any aesthetic difference).

There's just not a lot more to say about Frantix, for good or bad. Once you make peace with the control, you've got a wealth of engaging, good-looking puzzles until...well...until you don't anymore, and that's that. No multiplayer, no trove of bonus modes, no culmination to a story that's nonexistent in the first place. At least the ChubbChubbs will still be your friend, for as long as you can enjoy watching them. After that, you'll be looking for your own exit.