Project P-100 is a chaotic, superhero-themed brawler that is silly and fun, if a tad confusing. In the game, you control a crowd of everyday citizens turned super as they fight of an alien invasion. And while Platinum Games’ E3 2012 demo superficially resembled Pikmin, I found it more closely resembled brawlers such as Viewtiful Joe or the classic Ninja Turtles games.

As the leader of the crowd, you leverage your fellow heroes by commanding them to perform various attacks using the GamePad’s analog sticks and touch screen. Pressing A while performing gestures with the analog stick (circular motion, straight line, etc.) triggers special attacks, while drawing formation shapes on the touch screen can result in morphing the crowd into various weapons (e.g., a sword) or tools (e.g., a giant hand) to attack or progress through the level.

The single-player demo I played was a bit chaotic, and at times it felt like a button masher, but the brisk pacing and visual flair kept the primary combat amusing during the course of the demo. The demo was not entirely focused on combat, however. At one point I was asked to solve a simple observational puzzle to unlock a door; other sections of the demo required mild platforming skills, such as during a sequence in which the cityscape was collapsing underneath the crowd.

Unfortunately, I found the touch screen and analog stick gesture system to be somewhat finicky outside of combat. As with so many Wii an DS games, this demo failed to adequately communicate or register some of the expected gestures (I cannot tell which), resulting in befuddlement and frustration. Part of my confusion may have been because the game asked me to confirm my touch screen input with the A button, when I instead expected it to register as soon as I stopped drawing. Whatever the root cause, I found the controls for these non-combat abilities to be disorienting and detached. During both the main stage and the boss battle, I failed because I did not understand how to properly create a chain or line of citizens to traverse a gab. I also had great difficulty successfully recruiting denizens of the city by drawing on the touch screen (as directed by the Nintendo representatives).

It’s too early to pass judgment on P-100, especially having only played the game in single player, but this E3 demo was a pleasant and unanticipated surprise.