Sega, Kuju Announce Original PSP Puzzler Crush

Officials from Sega have announced Crush, a unique puzzle game for the PSP that marries 2D and 3D gameplay, in development by U.K. based Kuju Entertainment (Battalion Wars). Currently scheduled to ship in summer 2007, Sega notes that the game is designed to be appealing to a large, varied audience. Crush is set within a 3D world that has players using the game's unique crush mechanic to "crush" the environment and transform it into a more simplified 2D platformer. Once flattened, players can utilize the 2D space to move to new areas to solve the game's challenges and unlock various secret items that were previously unobtainable in the 3D environment. Players can then "uncrush" the 2D environment and return to the 3D world. "Crush introduces a fascinating new gameplay perspective on the PSP that encourages players to stretch their imagination in a whole new way," said Scott A. Steinberg, Sega of America's vice president of marketing. "The spatial concept of the crushing mechanic is something truly unique that encourages users to think back and forth between 3D and 2D objects and environments to engage different parts of their brain, and see beyond what is literally in front them."