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sdornan's Psychonauts (XBX)
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| [April 24, 2009 04:41:36 PM]
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Psychonauts is a third-person platform game from the mind of acclaimed game designer Tim Schafer. It was
developed by Double Fine Games and published by Majesco Entertainment for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and PC in
2005.
The game takes place at summer camp for psychic kids - kids who dream of becoming Psychonauts. You play as
Raz, one of the campers, who grew up and ran away from a circus as a child. At the camp, strange events began
to occur, culminating in the theft of all of the campers' brains, except yours. Throughout the game, Raz
enters and explores various characters' brains in hopes of confronting whatever dark force is behind the
brain thievery.
The third-person gameplay found within is traditional platforming affair; you run, jump, solve puzzles, and
attack things using various abilities. The gameplay revolves around various Psi Powers that you obtain
over the course of the game, whose use is necessary to defeat the various enemies and puzzles you encounter. The Psi Powers are generally enjoyable to use, though it is annoying having to pause the game and bring up the menu in order to swap powers between your three button assignments.
The real meat of the game is found in the various characters' minds you invade, while the campgrounds serve as the "hub" in-between levels, giving you access to various characters and items necessary to enter the next person's mind. The minds you enter are spectacularly designed. Each of them stands out in its own way, and it is one of the few games where it is hard to imagine any elements of one level being transported to another level without looking completely out of place. There were many times in the game where I was dumbfounded at the sheer cleverness and creativity on display.
Sometimes the game focuses a bit too much on item collection for my liking, a problem that plagues games in the genre. In the various minds you enter, you find what are called "figments." These are used to rank up and gain psychic powers in addition to the ones obtained through the progression of the story. There are hundreds of these scattered throughout the game, similar to coins in the Super Mario series. The coins in Mario games are secondary; they are there to collect, but they are only used to gain lives and don't really have much of a purpose otherwise. In Psychonauts, the collection of figments allows you to rank up and gain new Psi Powers, and at least a portion of them are necessary to proceed past certain points in the game. Unfortunately, these figments sometimes distracted me from whatever obstacle I was faced with at the time causing me to wander to remote parts of the levels to pick up yet another figment.
Psychonauts stands out from similar games thanks to its setting, story and characters. The game is filled to the brim with personality, which is evident from the get-go. One level takes place in the logical, organized mind of a scientist, another in the mind of a paranoid and delusional postman, and yet another in a city inside of a giant fish who is unwillingly possessed. The game's dialogue shines and is frequently laugh-out-loud funny, while the voice acting of the various characters you encounter is spot on, each character possessing a unique and identifiable voice.
Ultimately, Psychonauts is a very unique and well-designed game. The game's personality and charm hooks you from the onset and does not let go until the end. It is a shame that it did not sell very well because a Psychonauts 2 could have been awesome.
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sdornan's Psychonauts (XBX)
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Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Friday 24 April, 2009
GameLog closed on: Friday 24 April, 2009 |
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