On paper Sound Shapes would have been a mammoth task to undertake. Imagine the pitch if you can, I want this game to have elements of Loco Roco, Parappa The Rapper, The .Bit Series and Little Big Planet. I know what you’re thinking, a recipe for disaster right? Well no, not at all. In fact quite the opposite.

In sound shapes you are an eyeball type thing that moves freely around it’s environments either by sticking to them or rolling over them. When speed is needed just hold down the square button and watch your speed increase instantly.

The levels are broken down into 5 albums each with a different theme and graphic style. The first being very much like the early stages of Loco Roco. Deadmau5 has contributed to the game by providing levels based on the arcade games of old. The only thing is he seems to think the games have all gone to hell because that’s where this seems to take place. It was the most punishing of the 5 albums thanks to missile launching faces and laser powered tracking cameras.

So far you must be wondering why this game is called Sound Shapes, well it’s because through all of your rolling, dropping and climbing you need to collect little Icons. Once collected they release a sound sample which builds up the song. There are a set amount for every level and, if you are a little bit competitive, you will need to collect them all to qualify for a position at the top of the community leader board.

Okay so that’s the game play covered but how does that include elements from the games mentioned earlier? Well Parappa, The record design and sound samples. You can hit various objects repeatedly to release sounds at the speed you want which allows you to personalize the song. The .Bit Series, Releasing sounds when you interact with objects is a staple of the .bit franchise on top of that the 2nd stage shares the graphic style. As for Little big Planet,

Little Big Planet has a lot to answer for, it has kick started a surge in user generated content from Infamous 2 through to Gran Turismo 5 there have been mission and level editors that strive to match the community response that Sack boy and his friends have enjoyed. Sound Shapes has a level editor which is incredibly easy to use. Like LBP, you are required to complete the campaign to unlock all of the features for the level editor but unlike LBP all of the items can be gained with just one player. Thanks to the simple tutorial even the least creative mind would find it difficult not to create levels for the community to enjoy. I am mostly excited about this aspect of sound shapes.

Once you have finished the campaign and mastered the level editor (and realised only 1 trophy has been unlocked) you will be presented with two of the hardest challenges known to the gaming universe. The Death mode and the Beat School. The death mode is a timed stage where you have to collect a number of sound samples before the timer runs down and Beat School gets you to recreate a sample using a blank canvass using nothing but your memory of the sample. Both are not for the faint of heart and will cause many cases of gamer rage.

Sound Shapes is another gem in the increasingly impressive year of releases for the PlayStation store, with it’s beautiful level designs, rage inducing puzzles and instantly accessible level editor there is no excuse for any PS3 Hdd or Vita Memory card to be without it.

92/100

Sound Shapes is available from the PS Store on 15th August for both PS3 and PS Vita.