Psychonauts

Cover art for the PC version of Psychonauts

Release Date: April 19, 2005

Console: PS2, Xbox and Windows on launch date; has been ported to Xbox 360, PS3, Linux, and       

              OS X since then.

Creator: Tim Schafer

Publisher: Majesco Entertainment (NA), THQ (EU)

ESRB Rating: T

           It is an unfortunate truth that things get under or over-hyped. It is inevitable. Over-hyping has been especially obvious lately with the whole Destiny hullabaloo late last year; however, under-hype is just as bad, as good games get passed over simply because not enough people heard of them. Here is a game that has managed to do both.

           Psychonauts is a single-player 3D platformer game, and cult "classic", if ten years counts as classic, that was brought to the world by Tim Schafer, famous for his work on the actually classic game, The Secret of Monkey Island. The main character of Psychonauts is Razputin, a.k.a. "Raz" and is voiced by Richard Horvitz. You may recognize his name, as the voice behind the titular character in Invader Zim, Billy in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, and the original Alpha 5 in several versions of The Power Rangers. I swear, this guy has a knack of turning up in cult classics. Talk about being typecast! But I digress.

           Raz is a psychic. He runs away from his carnival family to fully develop his psychic powers. He goes to Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, which strives to develop the psychic powers of the campers, or "Psycadets", and turn them into Psychonauts. He is soon wrapped up in a plot to take over the world (naturally) and is the only one who can stop it. Unlike many games, almost everyone in Psychonauts feels fleshed out, and every character, no matter how briefly they appear, has a distinct personality, even if it is fairly simple. And despite a fairly cliche villain, the story is quite original, and so are the characters.

           Levels take place inside the minds of people Raz meets. He inserts himself in their mind, and usually leaves having solved some problem the person had. Every mind does a good job of reflecting the character it belongs to, like paranoid Boyd’s mind, where it is filled with government agents and hidden cameras. Inside the mind, you find objects that help Raz level up, such as “figments of imagination”, and emotional baggage, which is literal baggage that sobs. As he levels up, his powers gain secondary abilities, such as his levitation power being able to damage enemies when you hit them at full speed, so the leveling system isn't completely pointless, like in some other games.

           The gameplay is fairly simple. If you’re on a PlayStation 2 or 3, you press "X" to jump, "O" to cancel, square button for melee attacks, and triangle to interact. As you progress, you unlock new psychic powers to aid you, such as telekinesis, pyrokinesis, levitation, etc. and you may equip up to three at a time on the L2, R2, and R1 triggers; surprisingly, the "Psi Blast" power, which serves as the game's "gun" power, is one of the most useless, requiring the player to use more strategy than “go in guns ablazing”. If I could have added a power, it may have been one to heal automatically; the only ways to restore health are to destroy destructible objects and defeat enemies; however, each only drop one or two things, and they are always what the game thinks you need most. So I've had times where I'd be three hits from dying, and each enemy I kill gives me more ammo.

           I played Psychonauts for around 13 hours before beating it, and I have no intention of playing it again, at least for a while. The game has what has got to be the worst difficulty curve I've ever seen. Pretty much every level up until the end was simple enough to beat, with the only deaths being the fault of a missed jump, or a swarm of enemies that I didn't have the psychic energy to deal with. But, near the end of the game, you find that the levels are built so that the jumps are almost impossible to land, or the child you escort in one of the minds later in the game runs away, and starts taking damage while you are trying to climb up to him. I hesitate to call the game unfair, though; the jumps can be made with precision timing, and the kid is bulky enough that you can usually save him before he dies.

           I said earlier on that Psychonauts is both under- and over-hyped. During the lifetime of the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube, Psychonauts didn't even sell 100,000 copies. This is especially bitter as the mediocre Shadow the Hedgehog game sold ten times that amount in the same year. However, around the late 2000’s people were still talking about Psychonauts. At this point, so many people have been praising this game that it has become over-hyped. With all of this in mind I want you to know I do not think Psychonauts is a bad game. Far from it, it’s a great game, but the fan base it's gathered has made it seem like a game that's so amazing it could cure cancer. I've seen reviews for this game, or comments online, that would make you think that this game is the second coming of Christ, and while the game is definitely above average, it isn't truly amazing. The dialogue is cheesy, the music is unnoticeable, the animation doesn't hold up, and despite many people praising Psychonauts for its comedy, I didn't really laugh at anything in the game. Although, the last one isn't a truly controllable factor, as everyone has a different funny bone.

I want to stress again that Psychonauts is not a bad game. The level design is unique and consistent, the controls are smooth (especially for the first 3D game Tim Schafer ever made), and the story progresses nicely. I also want to emphasize, however, that it is not the best game of all time. All in all, it is a good game that should have made more back in 2005, and has probably compensated for it now through Steam sales. Basically, if you like games with a unique concept, good gameplay, and a decent story, you should buy Psychonauts while it’s still only $10 on PSN.

- Kadabra Guy

Final Rating: 8/10

Gameplay of the PC version of Psychonauts.