I have to admit, I'm a bit of a fanboy when it comes to the Baldur's Gate games. I always make the mistake of comparing Bioware's other games and RPGs in general to Baldur's Gate and haven't found one that measures up to the BG trilogy for me. Initially I thought what made it so great was the characters and story, however as time has gone on and I have experienced other games that I thought would live up to it and failed despite have great stories and characters themselves (arguable better in some cases), I realised that actually it was how all parts of the game come to together. It has that perfect blend of story, character, open-world and side-quests that just makes it what it is. The BG games have side quests coming out the ying-yang, yet unlike Oblivion and the other TES games they are accompanied with their own stories and characters that you may often remember better than even the (awesome) main quest, with their own twists and decisions. It truly made you feel like an epic adventurer in my books. Which brings me to the music: truly epic. I'm listening to the BG soundtrack right now, good memories. None of Bioware's other games ever had music that felt as dramatic and downright awesome as their Baldur's Gate games had. Of course, no mention of Baldur's Gate would ever be complete without a mention of Minsc and Boo. Hamsters and Rangers everywhere rejoice! There are (bizarre) stories of some people finding them to be too fourth-wall breaking or downright stupid, but they are mere lies spread by evil whose buttocks need a good kicking! Overall, Baldur's Gate 2 is better than the first, though to be fair as it's the sequel and BG was the first Infinitiy Engine game made it had to be. One thing I always missed but at the same time was glad they got rid of in BG2 was how in the first you had to travel through intervening lands to get somewhere the first time you visited them, it was a bit of a timesink but it also gave the impression of being travellers and allowed to encounter strange things on the way. Both BG games though do manage to (in my mind) portray that feeling of size and travel, something I didn't feel so much in DAO, which feel more like a series of boxed rooms linked together than actual towns or villages. It has aged quite a lot, which isn't surprising considering that it was never a graphics whore of a game to begin with, though there are a few mods that help alleviate it slightly like the widescreen mod. I do recommend the BG Tutu mod as well, to run the first game in the second game's engine (and to add banterpacks, though sometimes I lust for a vanilla game), though the main reason for me to use BG tutu is not because I dislike the engine but because the first game just ran so damn slooooow! Seriously, I knew people who would try and equip their entire party with boots of haste just to avoid dying of old age before they made it across the map, for some strange reason Bioware thought it was a great idea to make your character walk incredibly slow. This wasn't due to hardware limitations, but intentional. They changed it vastly in the second one, in BG2 your character shoots across the screen. Anyway, I have spent a hell of a lot longer than I intended to writing this, and I highly doubt anyone is actually gonna bother reading it, you might want to wipe some of my dribble off you from all my fanboy gushing...
Psychonauts is one of those games that you hear was awesome and think about trying some day but never seem to get around to it. I was like that too, but once I did try it I regretted not playing it sooner. While I am no fan of platformers in general Psychonauts was a true joy to play, a true gem of a game that transcends what it is to become something more. Though the controls were designed for a gamepad, I had no trouble playing it with a mouse and keyboard, and while the platforming sections can get quite hard I found the difficulty curve perfect, something I don't usually find. Combat is pretty straightforward, and while you have to keep reassigning the three psychic powers you want to be usable at a time (you can only have three powers assigned to the controls at any one time), it is quite easy to do and pauses the game while you do so. I'm not big on wanting to collect everything in the game, but seeking out the extra stuff in the game is quite fun, and ranking up your psychic powers can unlock alot of interesting stuff. The story, though clearly not intended to be taken seriously, is really good, the characters colourful, if you have ever played one of the old LucasArts point and click adventure games expect the same sort of story, jokes and absurdity (which is unsurprising considering it was made by one of the creators of Monkey Island, Tim Schafer). You will love the detail put into your fellow campers, and if you are like me you will be compelled to see all their conversations and what they get up to despite having no bearing on the plot or how it turns out (try using Clairvoyance on them once you get the power to see what they see you as!). Everything's not perfect of course (nothing ever is), there is a part early in the game where I found it fails to explain to new players how to use the inventory nor that the item they need is there, but that is more an issue with having things properly explained. Overall, a classic game that truly warrrants the title 'Good Old Game'. and if you are on the fence I would heartily recommend it.
