PlayStation Move Heroes is set to hit PlayStation 3 Tuesday, March 22, in an attempt to move (pun unashamedly intended) PlayStation Move units by combining the rosters of Sony's three most popular first-party franchises from the PlayStation 2 era - Ratchet & Clank, Jak and Dexter, and Sly Cooper. The characters meet in an action-adventure amalgamation of game and character types, with gameplay featuring the PlayStation Move controller.

PlayStation Rewards Select members received early access to the demo for the title on Feb. 23, following closely by PlayStation Plus subscribers at the beginning of March. The demo offers five challenges, and one character to try for each of them. As it appears by the characters locked out on the screen, these challenges will all be playable in different ways by choosing different characters, but for the time being, it offers a sneak peak at what Nihilistic Software has to offer in the rest of the game.

The first challenge in the demo offers players Sly Cooper, and the introduction of the whip. The level asks players to fend off waves of enemies, and teaches the mechanics of the whip along the way. The controls aren't quite up the 1-to-1 capabilities of the PlayStation Move, but using the controller as the handle for the whip works well, and responds to directional controls. The modifiers to charge the whip and grab enemies help bring some variety to the action.

The second level in the demo, also featuring the "Metropolis" setting from Ratchet & Clank, gives players control of Jak. This one features a take on bowling, in which the player tosses a ball like a bowling ball, but then controls its post-toss movement by tilting the controller. The ball breaks objects along the way, and breaking certain items progress the player through the level. Jumping station to station and getting them all is required to complete the stage.

Next up is more of a traditional Ratchet & Clank experience, featuring Ratchet himself. Ratchet must collect little creatures called Whibbles, and bring them back to their mothership. To do so, he must destroy some robots along the way with his wrench, and of course the aid of a series standby, the disco ball.

The fourth game may have been the most interesting, placing Bentley (Sly Cooper) in a situation where he has to collect discs and toss them like Frisbees to take out targets and collect things along the way. The challenge comes from the limited nature of the discs, and the fact that hitting things other than collectibles or targets causes the discs to explode, depleting the count by one each time. But moving Bentley around in his hovercraft offers better vantage points and additional pick-ups. The Frisbee toss initially controls a lot like Disc Golf in Sports Champions, but players can also control the disc after it is released in this scenario.

And the final level of the demo features Clank. Similar to Ratchet's level, he is tasked with collecting Whibbles, but instead of doing it with a wrench, Clank has a gun. The action is similar to run-and-gun games. Clank can't lock on, but just keeps moving and blasting. The level design is well done, and moves well from one section into the next.

Overall, the mini-games are fun in the demo setting, but with no tease for the story itself, or how these elements will come together to make a game, it is hard to judge what to expect from PlayStation Move Heroes. It finds itself in an awkward spot where, thanks to its Move controller, it is more advanced than the casual fare offered by Nintendo's mash-ups, but at the same time not offering the substantial content for hardcore gamers.

Nihilistic also offers no indication, in the demo at least, of really trying to sell the characters present, like say Nintendo does with its Super Smash Bros. lineup. There should be more excitement and play between the characters offered. But it is fun. The controls in all mini-games work fairly well, although on a more simplistic level than some might hope. The bowling game is the only one of the bunch that feels a bit funky in its controls. Still, only the rest of the frame of the game will tell whether the efforts have paid off, and whether it warrants the fiscal support of longtime Sony fans.