Patchwork Heroes for the PSP launched today. I haven’t played it, but I did play the demo a couple weeks back, and I have to say it’s worth at least trying. It’s one of those weird, quirky games that just feels right on a handheld.

So here’s the premise. You’re a tiny team of 2D heroes fighting off big 2D airships in order to defend your town. Your only weapon? Saws! The idea is that you cut chunks off the airships (by holding down a button and running, but the saws only work for a few seconds then they need a brief recharge), getting points depending on how big a chunk you cut off in a single piece. You’ll also find some of your friends are captive on the deck of the airships, so you need to save them (before you cut off the area of the ship they’re on). The air ships have gun emplacements, so you’ll be dodging incoming fire, and past the earliest levels there are repair units that will patch up the cuts you made.

And that’s really it. Oh, and there’s a time limit. Don’t cut up enough of the ship fast enough and it will bomb your village into rubble. Which leads me to a another strange facet. So you’re like 4 pixels tall, and you travel in a group of friends. If you get hit my gunfire, one of your friends will die and up pops a message that says something like “Billy Died, Age 14” {going from memory, as I said I played it a while ago}. That weird little pop-up makes the game feel personal. These aren’t little blobs of pixels, they’re kids! You can’t squander their lives!

The gameplay scratches that lizard-brain itch that loves popping bubblewrap, peeling and shredding the label off your bottle of beer, or (more directly) taking a piece of paper and a pair of scissors and just clipping it into little pieces.

The full game is only $10 but again, I urge you to try the demo first, because it’s a really weird game, and honestly I found it pretty challenging.