Kahoots Review (PS Minis)

From the home-made graphics to the musical tutorials — it's all rather lovely.

What do you get if you take Lemmings, add a dash of LittleBigPlanet, and season with Zoo Keeper to taste? No, it's not a joke; it's Kahoots — a charming PSP Mini from British development team HoneySlug.

Kahoots is every inch Lemmings. You use the placement of blocks to guide your Kahoot to the level's exit. Blocks can be swapped in a Zoo Keeper like fashion with those directly adjacent. As the levels get more difficult, you'll have to swap the blocks in a more challenging fashion. For example, jump blocks can help you hop over spiked blocks; reverse blocks can change the direction your Kahoot walks, and so on. It's simple at first, but it ramps up pretty quickly. Simply guiding your character to the exit will ensure you pass the level, but you'll need to eat all the level's cup-cakes before it's truly completed.

Kahoots has a very organic art style to it. According to HoneySlug, the game's graphics were developed on a £30 budget. That results in levels where Milk Tray chocolates are used as blocks. The Britishness of it all is compounded by the tutorial wailing Pegbeast - a character made of wool and pegs - who sings instructions to you. There's a hint of LittleBigPlanet in the game's whimsical approach, which is all rather lovely.