Psych is a minimalistic psychedelic game

Psych 1

When I was a kid, I loved playing Frogger. Jumping between lanes, trying to avoid cars and hopping on logs, trying to avoid crocodiles was intense and exciting. Psych uses a similar mechanic of hopping from one moving platform to another, but uses minimalist graphics to create a 21st century gaming experience.

Players are tasked with moving an arrow across the screen from one moving platform to another. To hop across, tap anywhere on the screen.

Psych 3

The platforms rotate in a circular pattern. Once you get past the first nine of them, gaps start to appear and the platforms rotate in opposite directions. Precision timing becomes imperative.

The further out from the starting center you move, the weirder and crazier the game becomes. In Stage One, players face opposing movement of platforms, but in Stage Two, the platforms go all wobbly. By Stage Three, things are warped and distorted and you start to wonder if you are even still on the right path. I haven’t made it past the third stage yet. So, who knows what comes next.

If you attempt to hop to a platform and miss, your arrow will be thrown back a few rows and you must move quickly in order to avoid being sucked into the center. Oh, that’s another thing. The whole time you are jumping from one platform to another, the center is sucking everything back into it. If you wait too long or get thrown backward because you missed a platform, you’ll be sucked in as well.

Psych 2

The game moves fast. Your only break comes at the beginning when you can hop across the first nine rows without facing any obstacles. The screen changes colors along with the changing movement of the platforms. The whole thing feels quite, well… psychedelic.

Psych is free to download. You can unlock three different looking arrows and remove all advertisements with an in-app purchase of $1.99, but if you want to play for free, you’ll have to deal with ads.

The ads are full-screen and appear between every game.You can close the screen and move on without effort, but since the game is hard to play, you will see a whole lot of ads.

Psych is available on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Download it in the App Store today.

Do you see the similarity between Psych and Frogger? Let us know in the comments below.