The best way to experience it is fresh. Go buy it, it's a $20 budget title. Or hell, come over and play my copy. You can load my save, skip right to the final level, and get 90% of what the game's worth playing for in less than one hour rather than in six.

Here's how the game works: you are a rolling ball of junk. As you roll into things that you are sufficiently bigger than, these things stick to and become a part of you. The game developers have created a truly remarkable catalogue of things, all of which you can collect. For instance: thumb tacks, dice, lipstick applicators, mice, carrots, crabs, milk cartons, telephones, potted plants, cats, beach balls, campfires, bicycles, people, street signs, vending machines, cows, cars, fences, soccer goals, bulldozers, telephone poles, cottages, boats, giant octopuses, clouds, bridges, skyscrapers, mountains, and rainbows.

There's a bit more to the game than that. Some of the highlights are the genuinely interesting writing, wonderful visual design, and music that could easily be on the radio but was all written for the game.

The main problem I had with the game was with the physics. With such heavily physics-based gameplay and with the player constantly changing shape, it would be a miracle if there weren't any physics problem. Fortunately, if you get stuck, you start losing parts, and eventually you'll become small enough to get unstuck. Unfortunately, that can sometimes take a very long time and cost you a good percentage of your accrued bulk. This has only been a problem for me once in about 8 hours of play; make of that what you will.

On Twitter: @mogwai_poet