"PixelJunk Eden"

For: Playstation 3 via Playstation Network

From: Q-Games/Sony

ESRB Rating: Everyone

Price: $10

S erenity and hair-chewing madness collide in unprecedented ways in "PixelJunk Eden," a game so completely in its own world that downloading the demo is probably the only way to even remotely understand it.

The object of "Eden" is to restore Eden, which you do by collecting Spectra, which you get by swinging and leaping between plants that you grow by utilizing pollen, which you collect by defeating enemies. Huh? Absurd though it sounds on paper, "Eden" captivates -- in part due to its minimalist, vector art-laden visual style, but also because it's so uncompromisingly different in its approach to gameplay.

"Eden's" objectives make sense once you start playing, but the unconventional control scheme, floaty physics and rather unforgiving approach to level design and progress indication will take longer to appreciate -- if you even can appreciate them at all. The easily frustrated will not: "Eden's" relaxing exterior belies how maddeningly (and sometimes unfairly) difficult it can be even early on, and those without saintly levels of patience should just avoid this one altogether. Q-Games' latest is addictive, original and refreshingly stubborn, but only if you take the time to understand its philosophy and forget, at least temporarily, everything you know about game design's status quo.