UK, May 25, 2007 - Videogames have quite the reputation for treading an often bizarre path. Over the years we've made a little yellow man gobble dots, rolled up entire islands with a cosmic royal from outer space and battled creatures with little monsters contained in tiny balls. Videogames are seriously weird. But, until you've played CRUSH, which features the most bizarre gameplay and storyline we've seen, you don't know what weird is.

From the moment CRUSH kicks off, things immediately take a turn for the strange. You play as a young lad called Danny that's having trouble sleeping. But instead of having a nice cup of warm milk before he goes to bed to cure the problem, he gets hooked up to a peculiar contraption that allows the user to delve into their subconscious. As you get further into the game you learn more about the troubled past of Danny and venture deeper into his skewed mind.

CRUSH may be difficult but it's never frustrating or irritating.

Danny's subconscious actually takes the form of 40 different platform-style puzzle-filled levels that you must navigate your way through to reach the exit. Scattered throughout each stage are Danny's marbles - yes, we get the joke - which you must collect before the exit opens up, ready for you to explore the next part of Danny's frontal lobe.

However, the ingenious twist in CRUSH is the way you go about collecting the marbles and reaching the exit on each level. Although stages can be navigated in 3D and feature typical platforming gameplay elements - including jumping across chasms and pushing objects around to reach higher areas - levels can also be flattened into 2D using Danny's 'crush' ability… and this is where the fun begins. Unfortunately it's also where the game gets complicated, so bear with us.

Crushing into 2D sends a nice tingle up our retro-loving spine.

Although movement is controlled by the analogue nub, pressing a direction on the d-pad flips the camera 90 degrees around where Danny is standing or selects an overhead view. Depending upon the angle you've selected, crushing either flattens the level sideways, which compresses faraway platforms into one 2D Mario-style platforming level or, if the camera is above Danny, it flattens the entire stage so you can easily walk across platforms that were previously at different heights when in 3D.