Psychonauts

A pretty well made game. I'd never heard of it before seeing it here on GoG, but was pleasantly surprised. There are definitely some areas that could have used a bit more attention to detail, but the game flows well, is quirky and a bit irreverent at times (which I like) and has enough challenging extra's to the game to keep it interesting throughout. It does get a bit repetitive at times, but the ever changing areas and good storyline keep the interest alive to the end.

The game is a port of the N64 game. There are times when this means the controls are a little wonky, especially with the camera. If you remember Mario 64 and other games you can remember how bad that can me. Those are my only complaints. The game is amazingly fun. You have all sorts of interesting mechanics. The sheer amount of variation of what people say is incredible. You have a lot of various powers, and each character says something unique for each power you use on it. None of the "arrow to my knee" crap of recent games. Here are some things you can expect in this game: Enter the dreamscapes of the people at the psychic campers, becoming the Mighty Goggolor rampaging over a city of fish, find emotional baggage to clear up in the Meat Circus, uncover the conspiracy behind the milkman and set squirrels on fire. I am the milkman, my milk is delicious.

There's a great deal to say about Psychonauts, so I'll get straight down to it: in this game you control Raz, the kid on the cover, after he breaks into a summer camp for psychically gifted children. Caught, he has only one day before his dad comes to pick him up, and he plans to use that day to the best of his ability to prove himself to be worthy of joining the Psychonauts, a group of psychic secret agents of sorts. Controls, at least until you get the Levitation ability which is nothing like you're imagining, are standard platformer far with the eventual inclusion of psychic attacks, and with Raz's circus training you'll be using almost every thing beam as part of your free-roaming trapeze. The game is divided into multiple areas branching off of a hub, but not in your traditional fashion in that every area is actually inside the minds of other people, and the geography reflects that. Mental environments make for great gaming - if you've met the Scarecrow in Arkham Asylum you'd probably agree, and if you've played Dreamkiller let me reassure you that that was as fluke. Since normal rules don't really apply, the mental levels are unlike anything you've ever seen, even the ones that may, at first, seem to be. The short, militaristic camp counsellor that gives you the opening stage presents you with a war-torn battlefield dominated by grandiose tools of war and cardboard depictions of the enemy, and there's no beating the Milkman Conspiracy for level design, perhaps anywhere. Level design and story (which goes far beyond the hook I repeated up there) are why you want to play Psychonauts, but if you're, perhaps, a fan of Rare's platformers (Donkey Kong and the like) you'll be pleased to know Psychonauts has an emphasis on collecting things in well hidden but reasonable places. Multiple lists of items are given to you not long into the game, and poking around the hub and mental worlds will prove richly rewarding, both in the case of background content and upping Raz's "level", unlocking new abilities and power ups (though you only the first few of these to beat the game, which thanks to the ever-present Figments of Imagination will probably be harder to avoid than to miss). The game has few flaws, most central of which is the required collection of the Cobweb Duster, the most expensive item in the game's shop, despite the fact that the best way to get the money you'd need is to buy a divining rod and use it, a process that is incredibly boring. The reward for reaching Level 100 is disappointing (especially considering you have to either beat Coach's cutouts game multiple times or grab every figment on Mia's infuriating race to do so, two tasks that would both be better off left aside) though there's a fair enough reward for getting to 90 and 95, so there's no reason to stop before the point where things get frustrating. The game also features an infamous sequence just before the final boss where you have to complete an obstacle course while... well let's just say "on a timer". Unfortunately, this is also the only section in the game to include a cylindrical climbing net, which is introduced hand in hand with gaps in the net and rotating columns of fire, creating an unnatural spike in difficulty. But the benefits outweigh the negatives by miles. The only real regret you'll have is that the game ends before you're ready for it to end - not because it's too short (unless you're comparing it to Mario 64 or Galaxy, I suppose) but because each new mental world and each new corner of the hub world gained its own feel, and you'll want to keep exploring them, even when the game is wrapped up and, regretfully, put back on the shelf.

I never write reviews, but here I feel compelled. Psychonauts, for me, is one of "those" games. By "those" games, I mean a game that I knew would be great, I knew I would love it, but for whatever reason, I never got around to playing it because of reasons so uninteresting they are not even worth mentioning in a video game review. Point being, I avoided this game for the longest time, just like I'm still avoiding numerous other hidden gems that would uncompromisingly eradicate much of my free time due to their seemingly effortless ability to suck you in, make you a willing participant for their journey, and force you to compromise with the other components that make up your everyday life. Psychonauts is, in every sense of the word, a flawed masterpiece. If you like character driven, whimsical, comical, cartoonish, yet surprisingly dark fantasy universes, stop reading and just buy the game. This is honestly better than most movies in the genre. And really, it's better than most movies, period. This game, its world, its story, and its characters strike a blend of comic genius, satire, character drama and seriously dark undertones that you'd be hard pressed to find something like it in the movie world, especially if you're more of a casual movie goer. It really is that good and that is without factoring in some of the clever gameplay mechanics that are incorporated into some of the levels. It embraces its design so well and so passionately that even if a particular mechanic isn't necessarily pulled off without a hitch, you can't help but respect the idea behind it and the fact they tried. This leads to my (unfortunate) criticisms. Yes, Double Fine Productions has definitely come a long way since Psychonauts in terms of its technical prowess, but Psychonauts itself contains some problems due to some unpolished gameplay. Granted, I played this with a mouse and keyboard, the worst configuration from what I've read, but it was all I had. Still, I could tell that even with a more ideal setup (I really wanted to play this on PS2) there are weird issues regarding some of the physics/graphics/controls. The camera is unforgiving (Meat Circus level, I'm looking at you), the combat is spotty, and the overall feel is floaty. Raz just doesn't have that weight that characters in other platformers have. Mario games are a good reference for what I mean; pretty much all of them, even the 3D ones, just feel right. Momentum comes into play, the camera intelligently whips to an ideal view (usually) and enemies react to your attacks with their own physics. Psychonauts...well, it just feels odd. I also had some problems switching between my powers. You have to press a button on the keyboard, use your mouse to select the power using a hotwheel, and assign said power to a quick key on the keyboard. This design was obviously created for a controller and I'm sure it works much better there, but on a mouse and keyboard it's just clunky. I would rather cycle through the powers with one key and use a couple other for vital powers when necessary. The system that's there works, but for my setup it was not ideal. Brutal Legend, Double Fine's most recent game as of this review, is leaps and bounds above Psychonauts in terms of technical execution. This is by no means a slam on Psychonauts or the technical teams behind it, they accomplished a lot of ambitious ideas and overcame a lot of technical hurdles to incorporate some of the "out there" ideas this game holds, but simply put, Psychonauts comes up short when compared to contemporary, or even past, platformers in terms of gameplay. If you are squarely focused on gameplay and expect something akin to Super Mario Galaxy 2 in terms of gameplay, you will be frustrated and disappointed by this game. But wait, do not let "rough gameplay" equate to "shitty gameplay" with regards to my criticisms. I had a lot of fun playing this game, outside of the story elements. It has a lot of variety, a ridiculous amount of collectibles, exploration, and some truly nifty powers that it's hard to not enjoy it. The combat is basic, but there is a small amount of strategy involved and its adequate considering the goals of the design. It's not perfect, or polished in a way most gamers are used to, but it still is fun. The imagination that goes into the levels and the ways the player interacts with those levels goes a long, long way. Really, unpolished does not equal unenjoyable. Which brings me to my praises. Aside from the technical issues I already discussed, this game is a masterpiece in both storytelling and overall design. The voice acting is absolutely perfect (I cannot emphasize that enough, it's perfect. Like, really perfect). The cut scenes are great and well choreographed. Animations and expressions are great, even by today's standards. Music is great (I still remember a lot of the tunes and I haven't played it in a while). Art direction is sublime. The sound effects are great, but I had problems with some of the sounds on my PC. I've heard it on the PS2 and other rigs, and the sound is great, so that is an isolated case. Still, worth noting if that's an issue with you. The thing that got me the most overall about the game is how the gameplay, design, story and overall universe came together and incorporated itself with the actions of the player. Yes, there are cutscenes where the player does nothing, but not long after, you ARE doing those things in the cutscenes. You're stomping your way through a city, you're hopping between a strategy board game and actually fighting among the pieces like they are real, you're directing stage rehearsals of a play to solve a puzzle and you can't jump into the fake water waves or you'll drown. There's so much creativity put into the design of the levels that it actually floors me that the idea behind the level actually comes into play during the actual game. That is what makes this game stand out to me and that's what I'll remember for the rest of my gaming days. I've always wondered this: what would happen if the creative and top-notch storytelling geniuses at Double Fine (and Schafer, of course) ever united, or had a whiz-bang team behind them, with the likes of Nintendo EAD Tokyo, the Galaxy team? Double Fine can do pretty well on its own, but imagine if they actually had the kind of success a Mario game has without trying? I can't. I can't imagine that. But I want to. Maybe someday, Double Fine will have a breakout hit and Psychonauts 2 will come out with the same caliber presentation it had before combined with the incredible gameplay mechanics of a flagship series. This is highly unlikely, but it's good to dream. Otherwise, it will never happen. In short, buy this game. I prefer a traditional controller or the PS2 version. If you have a good PC capable of running this at the highest quality with one of those XBOX 360 PC controllers, that would probably work pretty well. Just buy this game if you even think you'll like it. You will.

As everyone knows this game didn't get the sales figures it deserved. But in nowadays it is commonsense that this software is a masterpiece. I disagree. It is a very good, smart and funny Third-Person Action-Adventure. But nothing more. It has all the disadvantages the wohle genre got and some more (e.g. much repetition).