Move Mind Benders Review (PS3)

In the year or so since PlayStation Move launched last year, some of the peripheral's best titles have hit PlayStation Store, and although the console's online connection rate is pretty high there's still a chance Move owners might have missed out on some cracking titles. That's why it's a good job Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has put together Move Mind Benders, a compilation of PSN puzzlers all on one disc.

The pack contains Tumble, echochrome ii and an exclusive Move-enabled version of Lemmings: although Lemmings is available on PSN the download version does not currently support the motion controller, so if you want to get a Move on this compilation is your only hope.

If you've never tried to guide the little green-haired chaps to safety, this version kicks off with a few tutorials introducing the skills you'll need to survive. Using a single Move controller, you point to select which skill to bestow on the critters, and pass it on by highlighting the lucky recipient and pressing the Move button. There's a useful zoom function for those times when you need precision, as well as fast-forward and the ability to pan the level, but otherwise it's all point-and-click action.

While we've seen Move used as a mouse replacement in plenty of instances, it's particularly well-suited to Lemmings; moving a reticule with a thumbstick just doesn't feel the same. However in later levels the amount of pointing and selecting — and speed required to succeed — makes us wish for the option to add a Navigation to cycle through Lemming skills: in those crucial split-seconds it's all too easy to pick the wrong skill and send a poor dude falling to his death with a miner's hat instead of an umbrella.

Lemmings is and always has been a classic, and the new elements added here — transporters and cloning machines — add an extra level of cogitation to matters, though some may feel they over-complicate a pure puzzle concept. The 40 levels here might not seem a lot, but some are so devious and exacting that they'll take brainpower and dexterity to finish, and that's what counts.

The other two games are already available, so for more detailed appraisals be sure to read our Tumble review and echochrome ii review. Suffice to say they're still excellent and involving puzzlers that prove Move's capabilities: Tumble's manipulation of 3D space is still fantastic to behold today, and echochrome ii's application of light and shadow is similarly impressive. It's a testament to their quality that Lemmings — a timeless puzzle classic — comes off looking second-best.