Posted November 12, 2009
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.
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.