Seemingly (Sony couldn't confirm anything) on the way this spring to PSN and PSP (the latter of which hasn't technically been announced for the U.S., but has a Japanese date in March), Echochrome is coming along conceptually, though the nuts and bolts still need some work. The basic game mechanics are dictated by five laws: Perspective Traveling, which essentially means that changing your perspective can create new paths; Perspective Landing, which ignores depth when moving from one height to another; Perspective Existence, which dictates that gaps don't exist if you can't see them (covered up by rotating pathways in front of them); Perspective Absence, similar to Existence, but ignoring obstacles and jump pads by covering them; and Perspective Jump, which allows jumps and falls to work on a 2D plane, landing on platforms that are lined up visually, regardless of depth.
It all makes more sense in practice, though it doesn't make getting through the levels any easier. A tutorial of each of these laws and three actual levels were on display for us to venture through, but it took a good five tries and a couchful of editors to best them. Part of the problem, currently, is that the game doesn't always seem to stick to its own laws; there's a frustrating sense of surprise when things don't unfold like you think they will based on what you understand of the game's reality. It doesn't have so much of a learning curve as a necessity to completely understand your options at all times and be able to find them within each level.
The other problem we experienced with this new build was an absolutely sluggish camera (it didn't feature any inversion options either, which didn't help the awkwardness). In a game that's about finding solutions, not the process of executing them, we expect fully responsive and intuitive controls. And considering that's really all you have control over, it needs to be perfectly polished by the time the game hits. You do have a few other options at hand to improve the navigation though: You can hold X to speed up time to retry mistakes more easily, or hit the Triangle button to enter a "Thinking" mode, which freezes time while you rotate the environment/camera (hard to tell which, really). It's actually a very useful tool, as pausing in between each movement and decision leads to much smoother progression through the levels.
As for the actual navigation and lining up of the paths you traverse, many pieces "snap" together when you're close to putting them together. It's a mixed blessing from what we experienced -- it takes the last step in fine-tuning precise movements you have in mind but also pulls your view into slight unwanted angles from time to time. The Circle button is assigned to "snap," which should theoretically toggle it off, but it didn't seem to be working and its function couldn't be confirmed for us at the time.
