Bound (PS4)
By: Sony
YOU'VE blasted holes through Nazi aliens with hot lead and punched some manners into Johnny Foreigner, but Sony's latest arthouse effort lets players let rip with the greatest power of all – interpretative dance.
Previously reserved for annoyance, Bound invites players to spring, pirouette and jete their way across gravity-defying environments that look like an Escher painting on acid, occasionally interacting with hulking Del Toro-esque creatures.
Yet Bound's world is no Mushroom Kingdom – its plot and imagery are rife with symbolism and, without giving too much away, there's another very emotional yarn being spun away from the surreal landscapes.
You'll know by now whether Bound is up your 'rue'. And if cutting a virtual rug with your tiny dancer doesn't get the blood pumping, its parallel tale of a pregnant woman standing on a beach will have you desperately stuffing GTA into your PS4.
Our heroine, a masked princess, trips the light fantastic through landscapes that twist and transform before your eyes, the balletic moves of your private dancer warding off barriers and enemies.
Behind the pretentions, however, Bound features a well-worn platformer move-set, with our princess running, climbing, shimmying and pushing blocks.
Its two hours' worth of levels can be played in any order and each introduces a new element to the overarching story.
Devoid of combat chops, our heroine must dance through her obstacles like a virtual Louie Spence, and the game does all it can to help.
So long as you leap in vaguely the right direction, you'll stick your landing, and even when stumbling, the game restarts where you perished.
With incredible motion-captured animation and eye-popping level designs, Bound is stunning to look at, and will also work with your PSVR when Sony's virtual reality gizmo launches in October.
Especially fitting at a time when female, mainly Dutch, Olympic gymnasts are never off my telly (in the spare room), Bound is less a videogame than an interactive work of art.
It won't challenge your marksmanship, pixel-perfect leaping skills or ability to escape a dungeon, content instead to merely force your jaw to the floor with its visual flair and hopefully along the way make that atrophied brain of yours squirt out something resembling an emotion.
As much a leftfield experiment as it is a game, Bound will have you stroking your chin along with gyrating your thumbs in the year's strangest console experience.
