Homemademech - Playstation 2 Psychonauts reviews

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Psychonauts

There just isn’t very many original games worth talking about this year.
With the notable exception of God of War and LEGO Star Wars it seems most of the good games are sequels of something or another, with the notable exception of Psychonauts.
Psychonauts, the brain child of Tim Schaffer (who is better known in the “Point & Click” genre of gaming for such games as Grim Fandango) takes you to a wondrous place where the very limits of platforming is explored, and you are treated to a story that is as good as the gameplay.

Yeah, yeah, I know, if you’re only experienced with the demo for the game then you might not be sold on the thought of playing Psychonauts, but mind you the demo does not extoll the true virtues of this game.
You play as Rasputin, a psychic whose family life is not the most serene. He lives in a circus, and his family is well known acrobats (which explains why he is just so gosh darn agile in this game). His father seems to hate psychics, though Rasputin suspects he might be one himself, and it’s this hatred of psychics (and Rasputin’s growing power) which has driven him away to this summer camp for up and coming psychics run by these “heroes” of the psychic world known as the Psychonauts (when they were all that and a bag of Ruffles).

Well Rasputin is told in no uncertain terms that he’s going to be sent home, but he (and you) are going to have a chance to prove your mettle in the short time your there by learning Basic Brainage, picking up powers in the form of merit badges (which is actually a lot cooler than it sounds) and solve a bit of a mystery. Mystery? Well while you’re there learning the ropes you’ll find that your fellow campers (each of whom have this really well developed personality that makes them all like this perfectly dysfunctional family that you’ll enjoy being around) are having their brains stolen and it may have something to do with a dark thing hidden in your mind.

Somehow you are linking with the “mastermind” behind this, and what you see in your mind is happening in reality as this “entity” is stealing brains and using them to arm psychic tanks and other bad weapons!
Hmm… four Psychonauts and only one of them has a military theme… wonder who’s guilty.

But the real thrill of the game isn’t the camp. Yeah, the personalities of the camp is just swell and the tests done by your “teachers” is OK but the game doesn’t take off until you pick up that psychic door left behind by the brainy “counselor” and use it on others… and I don’t mean your fellow campers, I mean adults whose minds contain the most bizarre worlds you’ve ever seen.

Once you start “brain diving” into these minds, each a step towards completing your mission to save your friends’ brains, and the girl you seem to be well on your way to “making out” with, you’ll enter some very weird worlds in each of these minds. Each time you say to yourself “It’s not going to get any weirder than this”… it does. My only complaint though is that there isn’t enough of this fun. It’s good, and each world becomes weirder and weirder, but it doesn’t last and before you know it you’ve seen all the slices of weird and the game is almost over… bummer.

Each world of the mind that you is vast, and there’s plenty to collect and plenty to do.
You have mental images to gather (floating things that look like neon sign images), mental baggage that needs to be locked down (with the usage of tags and locks), and the ever important safes that hold secrets which will give you a good idea about the kind of person you’re in, and how some of them ended up the way they are. You can’t miss these things, they look like a combination between a giant cast iron safe and a dog… really. And if it’s not enough that there are lots to do in each “world” of the mind, there’s more to do as you unlock more powers. As you gain more powers and abilities (or a gadget or two like a good cobweb duster to help dust away those annoying mental cobwebs) you are encouraged to revisit worlds you have already went though, mostly because you’ll be able to open new areas in each world and gather more things which helps you build levels. This first helps you earn merit badges which gets you powered up, then it levels up your already gained powers and makes them more effective and gives them more kick.

There are downsides though, I will admit that.
The game is not particularly long. You should be able to beat it in about 15 or 20 hours.
Also while the game is fun and I would consider playing it again I guess you could say it doesn’t have a real big replay value. Still considering how well made this world is I wouldn’t mind revisiting it, in fact I’m thinking of revisiting it now. Really.

Another downer is that there isn’t enough of the fun that is brain diving.
It takes awhile to get up to speed before you really start to brain dive (you should do as much of your skill gathering, arrowhead picking (for “money”) and so forth in the camp to earn merit badges before you start brain diving so you have as much advantage as possible before you begin.
And once you start diving into brains that don’t belong to the camp counselors you’ll find there just isn’t enough and you’ll be wanting to dive more once you reach the end of the “road”.

Ok. Breakdown time.

Psychonauts Breakdown
What’s Hot?
It’s good. The story is solid, the characters are well written and everything is just done nicely. And while a certain loser who I won’t name (who calls himself “The Game Dork” and is a so called “award” winning writer) calls the characters “booger children” I think they’re done well and are not booger children.
This coming from a booger male who seems to be disappointed if his female date won’t give out on the first date… loser.

There isn’t much platformers out there I can rant about.
I’m wary about Ratchet : Deadlock’d since it looks more like a 3rd Person Shooter than a Platformer.
I can’t believe enough people liked the Tak games (PS2) enough to actually merit a 3rd game (coming soon… believe it or not). And while I’m at it I can’t believe somebody actually (bleep)ed out TWO godawful Charlie and the Chocolate Factory games! TWO!
But at least there’s Psychonauts. If nothing else at least we have that.

What’s Not?
There are a few things. The game could be longer, there could be more “brain diving”, and I hope there’ll be a sequel one of these days… I can stand a sequel if it’s good, like this would be (or the upcoming Sly 3 : Honor Among Thieves) so please make one.
There are a few downers, but there isn’t enough here to speak out against this game.

Moments to Remember?
How good is the brain diving missions once you get into it? It’s sooooo good I can’t tell you the secret of what worlds await you… it’s sort of like The Crying Game, only without the genderbending.

What to Ignore?
Nothing… maybe some of the campers, they’re a little weird even by my standards… ah, nothing.

Overall?
It’s good. It’s solidly done. It’s from one of the premiere names of the old Point & Click genre (which is now known for more loser games like Moment of Silence than good games like Syberia) so you really have to be excited to check this out. Yes, it’s not long (you’ll beat it within 20 hours) and there should have been more worlds of the ID to check out but I still like this one.
It’s one of the few original games I really enjoyed, and wished there was more out this year like this.
And on the bright side it’s something Majesco can point to in some sense of pride, mostly in an attempt to make you forget about their faux pas with that whole Advent Rising Xbox million dollar download fiasco that recently happened… maybe if they promise another Tim Schaffer game I’ll even promise to never mention their goof-up ever again.

Playstation 2 - Psychonauts

Playstation 2 Psychonauts Reviews

Psychonauts

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