Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy

"A very solid action game with a freshing twist in the power available. Get those bodies flying, smashing and burning!"

INTRODUCTION

PSI-OPS: The Mindgate Conspiracy, was a game that was released back in 2004 that made use of powers/abilities that hadn't really ever been in any other game; that of lethal and useful powers with your brain. Funny enough, Second Sight was also released around the same time, of which contains similar abilities, and of which is a game I I have heard to be very good, with certain aspects better or worse then of this game, some of which I will touch on in the review, but of which I cannot firmly give my opinion on, as I got both games recently, but only played Psi Ops.

Anyway, I'm going on and on. Back to business.

STORY - 5/10

PSIOPS' story isn't one that I felt was very original at all (or that good). I won't spoil it, but it basically involves a character in the game, "The General", stealing a powerful object, and it's your mission to stop him and save the world (very original). You play as Nick Scryer, who is a soldier that was in the US government's psi program, and who was given a range of psychic abilities, that he later forgot he had, but which are "awakened" as the game progresses. I will explain these later on, but for now, they consist of telekinesis, remote viewing, aura viewing, pyrokenisis, MIND CONTROL (now that's original!) and mind drain.

I've been told that Second Sight's main plot is much better then that of this games', and even if I haven't played it yet, I can see why. The character development has been said to be better in Second Sight, and I have to admit, it wouldn't be that hard to top Psi Ops anyway. You aren't given much detail on any of the characters, and are just thrown right into the action, with short cutscenes showing what has happened to you, and other cutscenes throughout tracking back, going through the story, and your character in particular. Either way, expect no Metal Gear Solid length cutscenes.

As might have picked up already, Psi Ops really should be judged on its story or character development (and which I won't either). Long story short, it's just a generic story that is ment to keep you going, keep you defeating enemies and bosses to end The General's evil plan for the ultimate power, and world domination.

GAMEPLAY - 8/10

Ah, now this is what makes this game. PSI powers aside, this is quite a solid action game, with good controls, guns and rag doll physics. You have good control over Nick, and are able to move him where you want most of the time, move his crosshairs very well and accurately, of which also is coloured, meaning that a locked on enemy will make the crosshairs go red. Camera control is also very good and accurate, meaning that the camera will rarely bother and disturb you. There are a decent range of weapons available, with an assault rifle, machine gun, silenced pistol, shotgun and sniper rifle for you to use, as well as a flamethrower and rocket launcher if you control an enemy wielding these weapons. The game can be played as an all out shooter, or with the use of stealth for large parts of the game. The choice is up to you.

Now onto the games' strength, the psi powers. As mentioned above, you are given 6 powers over the course of the game, but start with none (don't worry, they come very quickly!). I will go through each power in the order that Nick learns it. The first, and arguably most useful power you learn is telekinesis, the power to control objects and enemies with your mind. Just a quick side note; the way you learn how to use these powers is very good I felt. You are taken away from the action of whatever level you are on, into a training room, with checkpoints and areas to pass before being put back into the action. You are told what to do, how to do it, and are given real enemies and situations to learn with for each power. For example, you will be given boxes you can pick up with TK (telekinesis), and will have three holes in the wall, of which are at different heights. This is useful, as the amount of pressure you put onto the TK button relates to the height of the box. Getting these boxes onto the other side of the wall will teach you how to use TK. The same goes for all the psi powers, meaning that you will leave the short training rooms fully able to use your new acquired powers.

All your powers are controlled with a single PSI bar/gauge, which depletes depending on the power you use, and the amount of time you spend using it.

Anyway, back to the wonders of TK. I felt that this power was brilliant, as it allowed you to take out scripted enemies in scripted environments in new ways, differing to the methods you'd use in other games.

Have you ever been placed in a large area with lots of cover, many patrolling enemies, and a target to reach at the other side of this large area? Ever wished you could move your cover around? Or even better, ever wished you could remotely pick up your enemy and smash his head against a brick wall, all from behind the security of that box in the corner of the room? Well now you can! This wonderful power allows you to create new methods of moving about levels, disposing of those pathetic enemies along the way. In fact, for the early parts of the game, you will feel like a god compared to your enemies. The variety of methods you can use to kill in these 6 powers is remarkable. You are able to pick up an object/enemy with L1/the left shoulder button, and keep them hovering helplessly in the air for as long as you psi meter allows you.

Letting go of the button and quickly moving the right analogue stick in the direction you choose will throw your victim in that direction with quite some force. This is highly satisfying, as you can be quite ruthless and nasty with your ways of killing. That explosive barrel can be picked up and hurled at your enemy, burning them instantly (no need to waste bullets!). The blood stain left on walls is also gory and satisfying to see. There are however a few annoying points about TK, such as the complicated way the game makes you use to raise boxes higher up 3 metres, which makes you quickly press the button again, which doesn't work well. Or the "box surfing", which allows you to stand on a box and move it, moving you, which just doesn't work either sadly, as there is potential for fun in this.

Remote viewing is the next power you learn, which allows you to leave your body, and move around in spirit. This makes you invisible and able to penetrate locked doors. It is quite useful, depending on the style you choose to play. If you prefer to see and analyse your enemies route of patrol, then this will come in very handy. However, it ironically makes things difficult to see. The game chooses to go heavy on the supernatural blur, meaning that certain parts of a level will be hard to see in this view, and with a depleting psi bar, it can be quite annoying.

Mind Drain allows you to suck the brain energy out of your enemies, and replenish your PSI bar in the process. It can be used on both live and dead enemies. Sneaking up behind and enemy and holding the MD button will make your enemy levitate, and electricity will come out of hand, sucking all the energy out of them until their head (literally) explodes. This can therefore be used as another method of killing your enemies, which just so happens to be both handy and highly satisfying. You can develop certain methods of killing, by combining powers to your advantage, making you very efficient at disposing enemies. I for example, liked to TK enemies towards me, which forced them off their feet, and made them quickly fly towards me, landing at my feet, only for me to then end their lives with Mind Drain, giving them no chance to fight back. This also costs me nothing in terms of Psi energy, as it replenishes as a result. Enemies that you have killed can also be MD'd, but will not provide as much energy to your PSI bar.

Mind Control, as the name suggests, allows you to take FULL control of those patrolling enemies. Yes, you read that right. Now this is something very fresh and new. You will be able to control enemies into doing what you want. To kill other enemies for you as you would, open locked doors for you, snipe enemies from a roof you can't access easily. There are many set pieces and non-linear methods you can use this power with, of which can be explored throughout the game. MC allows you to control your enemies like puppets. They (you) can move about without being noticed, until you start to use "friendly" (haha) fire, when your former soldiers turn their attention to your soon-to-be-dead ex friend, you risked his life to help you kill. The real you, Nick, will be left helpless until you exit MD, so be careful who you take control of, and where you are when you do so.

Pyrokenisis (PK) allows you to shoot power from your mind. Yep. For the price of a chunk of you PSI bar, you are able to send a large fire ball in the direction of you choice, as long as it's the same height as you. This power again depends on how you play. It will take out enemies if they are close together, and can also alight boxes, which can then be thrown. The problem is that it can't be controlled that well in terms of height. It can only be sent out if it's level height with you, meaning that it is near useless on many occasions with enemies too high up.

Last up is Aura View, which you learn quite late on, and for good reason; it's the least fun of the powers. It allows you to detect for broken walls, footsteps, and those damn aura beasts, which are nasty, forceful and energy hungry beasts, killing you with a hit on many occasions. Think of AV as a night-vision type view, which detects these things, which are unavailable to the naked eye.


Anyway, to the rest of the gameplay, with all these powers and other aspects taken into consideration. The game, on the whole, is not bad in this section. I really enjoyed the first part of the game, as the powers allowed me to do things that you can't normally do in games like this, which in essence, are just action games, were you go through the level, killing enemies, going through doors, and solving simple puzzles, and Psi Ops is no different, but which obviously makes use of these psi powers, paradoxically, making it different.

The levels themselves are good on the whole, but that depends on your taste, and what you like your levels to be composed of. They are quite generic levels, many of which I think have been taken from other games, and so will feel familiar. The first level has you in a laboratory type building, then you are in a Splinter Cell type military office type area, then in a boat port, MGS2 type future building... you get the idea. You must go through them, and then fight a boss at the end, before moving on to the next major level, which usually takes place somewhere else entirely.

The boss battles themselves are also quite challenging and unique, as each boss is a master of one of your powers, meaning that they will have more power and moves then you, which so often is the case. This therefore means that each boss will attack you differently, meaning you must adapt to this to survive. You fight and kill about 5-7 bosses in total throughout the game, and although I won't ruin it for you, I felt that some of the bosses and their battles were better then others, and that there was almost a lack of fluency in the general build up and difficulty between bosses, which is reflected in the game. The first boss battle is with an undeveloped character, and I personally felt that it was a bit of a boring task to defeat him. Maybe this was because he was the first boss, but the point still stands; that Acclaim did a hit and miss job with some of these bosses. As you'd expect, the bosses and their difficulty will increase throughout the game, but the bosses in the middle will be the best in terms of power, and the later bosses will be ironically easier and less of a challenge for Nick to defeat, as their attacks are quite simply too obvious, and quite frankly, rushed. The final boss battle with The General illustrates this perfectly. It was quite mundane to defeat him, and for this to be the final boss, as well as the final section in the game, shows just how Acclaim rushed the game towards the end.

I must admit that the second part of the game was worse then the first, for me anyway. The game and its powers were all fresh and new in the beginning, then the levels seem to change too often, with mediocre levels, of which seem to slow you down rather then giving you more, in an attempt to make them seem longer. The gameplay is very good on the whole game though.

Graphics - 7/10

Not much to say here. The game does have good, solid graphics. Things look as they should, enemies are detailed, as are the levels, but nothing amazing. Take into account that I'm reviewing this in February of 2008, so forgive me if I'm being harsh.

Sound - 7/10

Again, not much can be said. There are changes from silence to background music throughout challenging sections (mostly boss battles), but for the most part, it's pretty silent, but it does the job when required.

Replayability - 6/10

Tons of extras are unlocked throughout, giving you the chance to replay training sessions, bosses, levels, and well as new levels. Artwork and early designs of characters are also unlocked, so if you enjoy these types of achievements, they are in abundance for you in Psi Ops.

Buy/Rent

Again, reviewing this in 2008 meant that I bought this game for the price of a cheap lunch. It's worth a buy, but it can be easily finished in an intensive rental, if you can find it for rent that is. Even if you could, the price of the rental would buy you the game.

Overall

The game varies between good and very good. It is at heart a solid and sound action game, offering a unique feature in the form of the powers your character possesses, opening new doors for you as a player. On the whole, it will be a good experience, with some sections more enjoyable then others. Minor tweaks to powers and levels however would have made the game better, especially towards the end.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/26/08, Updated 02/29/08

Game Release: Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy (EU, 10/01/04)