Insomniac Wanted: Inquire Within

For the past two weeks I have not been able to put down my PSP. I think I have about 12 hours of play time on one game.

"Crush" is a one-of-a-kind game. Categorized as puzzle game, it pushes the player to think outside the box. I've been playing games for a while now, and it is rare to find an original one that can get you hooked. I could even go out on a limb and say that this game is up there with "Lumines."

"Crush" is not just made up of solving puzzles in a 2D or 3D world. It has a story line that keeps you interested.

2You are engulfed in Danny's life, and he has a problem: he can't sleep. His insomnia is so bad that he is sent to an institution. Here he meets Dr. Reubens, who says he has a cure. Dr Reubens tells Danny he has built a device called C.R.U.S.H., which stands for Cognitive Regression Utilizing Psychiatric Heuristics. However, Danny points out that it should actually be called C.R.U.P.H.

The mad scientist device will allow Danny to travel into his own damaged psyche. By him doing so, he is on a quest to get to the root of his problem and help fix his damaged psyche. Danny has this power when he is hooked to this device to turn the 3D world into a 2D world.

The game has certain rules that he must adhere to while in this hypnotic state and certain objects that he can use. There are five different block types. The solid blocks can be stood on, but not walked through. Danny cannot crush against solid blocks. The hollow blocks can be stood on and walked through. These are the only blocks Danny can cross in a top-down crush. The ghost blocks can't be stood on but can be walked and fallen through. Ghost blocks will appear as holes through the ground in a top-down crush. The moving blocks are useful to get to otherwise inaccessible parts of levels. Sometimes hidden switches will activate moving blocks, so Danny must keep an eye out for them. And fragile blocks will appear to be a cracked and pitted solid block, but will crumble away quickly if Danny puts any weight on them.

3Danny also has boulders and the power to push them around levels. There are a variety of them: balls, rollers, octaballs and octorollers. The rollers and octorollers have ghost variations and can be crushed to create 2D tunnels through solid objects.

There are 40 levels in the game and 10 training levels. There is also time-trial levels and concept art, which is a good reason to revisit levels, too.

The game is rated by the ESRB as E10+.