Puppeteer is an enchantingly dark fairytale that plays out like an interactive pantomime in the form of a 2D platform adventure.

It’s one of the strangest but also the most charming and captivating games of the year, a little gem to play through before the arrival of all those autumn blockbusters.

Designed by Sony’s Japan Studio exclusively for the PS3, the beguiling game is set within a puppet theatre production.

One of the most wonderful things about Puppeteer is how the action is viewed from the audience’s perspective, so you get the curtains opening and closing around each segment along with cheers, laughs, applause and gasps depending on what’s happening during the ‘performance’.

The game is a side-scroller of sorts but in keeping with the theatrical concept, much of the game takes place within one screen at a time. The staging rapidly transforms before your eyes from one scene to the next.

Your Local Guardian: Puppeteer

The story boils down to a good vs evil tale which features various familiar ingredients from children’s fables such as a dastardly villain stealing children’s souls, an interfering witch, a trapped princess and an heroic little boy who just wants to return home. The elements may not be original on their own but they are brought together in a unique way, wrapped up in delightful presentation.

The lost little boy is Kutaro, who is captured by the villainous Moon Bear King and turned into a wooden puppet. If that wasn’t bad enough, Kutaro then has his head torn off and his body tossed away.

For seemingly no other reason than because he’s the protagonist, Kutaro comes back to life and acquires a substitute head thanks to help from Cheshire Cat-like accomplice Ying Yang and sets off an epic quest to escape the king’s castle, defeat the evil ruler and make everything in the realm right again.

It’s a fantastical plot which merges darkness and cuteness, and it’s as sinister as it is whimsical. It manages to blend just the right amounts of scariness and weirdness to appeal to children and adults alike.

These contrasting qualities are present throughout the whole game, such as in the quirky cast of puppet characters and the beautifully realised visuals.

The colourful work of imagination has similar levels of eccentricity and bonkers charm to LittleBigPlanet, which is praise indeed.

Your Local Guardian: Puppeteer

Puppeteer's graphics stand out for their distinctiveness but also their high quality - my wife thought I was watching a Disney animation when she walked in.

Praise must go the game's audio too, with the voice work and orchestral soundtrack being top-notch and really adding to the theatrical atmosphere.

The narration and character interactions are very well scripted and, along with the audience participation, it really feels like being at a panto – just one which you get to control to some extent as well as watch.

The game does slightly overdo the cutscenes but they are where much of the story unfolds and so are worth sitting through. Is Puppeteer the usual case of a story providing context to a game or is it more a fantasy tale with gaming elements weaved in? Frankly, it’s hard to be sure. Part of its appeal is how the story and gameplay are married together.

Your Local Guardian: Puppeteer

After Kutaro sets out on his adventure one of the game's cleverest tricks is revealed as the young hero acquires magic scissors known as Calibrus.

These enchanted shears have a couple of major effects on the game as they act as Kutaro’s main weapon and provide a means for him to get to places otherwise out of reach.

By cutting through fabric objects such as leaves and vines or by travelling along seams, Kutaro is able to climb and fly.

The clippers can also be used to attack, such as cutting through the cloths of enemies during boss battles.

Along the way Kutaro gains other tools such as a shield and abilities such as being able to drop bombs.

Your Local Guardian: Puppeteer

In many ways Puppeteer is a standard platforming game in that the main aim is to get from one end of each level to the other by running, jumping and avoiding pitfalls.

But it’s elevated to a much higher status by the ingenuity of those scissors – they are a gameplay gimmick which adds a lot. Of course, that beautiful presentation I’ve described helps greatly too.

Another interesting part of Puppeteer is the interchangeable heads for Kutaro which are given as rewards or found throughout the stages.

Your Local Guardian: Puppeteer

While mostly cosmetic, ranging in appearance from a crown to a hamburger and a spiked iron ball to a guillotine, there are points in the game where the heads become useful in helping to unlock bonuses.

The different noggins, which the boy puppet can carry three of at any one time, also act as a kind of health meter. If you lose all three heads you have you’ll need to return to the previous checkpoint.

lthough the health system and checkpoints are on the generous side, I’ve still had a few frustrating moments when I’ve succumbed to cheap deaths. These have usually occurred when I’ve suddenly been presented with a fast-moving sequence to get through and it’s taken a few attempts to figure them out.

The boss battles are another area where Puppeteer falls slightly short of being the perfect production.

These usually come down to performing the same task or following the same pattern of actions three times to trigger a quick-time event which finishes the foe off.

The clashes are functional and satisfying enough but, considering they are meant to be pivotal moments, they lack some of the excitement and creativity found elsewhere in the game.

Overall, Puppeteer is a refreshing and unique experience. It’s bursting with original and playful ideas presented in a dream-like style. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, take your seats for one of the most engrossing and memorable video game performances of the year.

8.5 out of 10

Out now for Sony PlayStation 3