Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy

"Innovative but a bit short."

Story: You're Nick Scryer, former Psi agent of the US Mindgate program which was dissolved in response to public outrage from tax payers. You've been memory wiped and given a facial change in order to get past the Psi probes and infiltrate The Movement, a terrorist group made of disgruntled Psi agents from around the world.

Graphics - 10

These are quite possibly the most detailed graphics out for any game (ok, so not really). However, they still are extremely detailed, the fires look extremely realistic as well as all the other particles in the game. The ragdoll physics are also among the best.

Sound - 7

The sounds here are pretty convincing, the weapons, though not real, still sound believable. There's not much to comment here because it's nothing special.

Control - 10

There's really nothing wrong here, all the Psi powers can be used in a flash and the camera angles are fine, the only problem is that sometimes it can be hard to look when moving something in Telekenesis, but that's not really the fault of the game as the joystick normally used for looking moves the object instead.

Gameplay - 8

The core of the gameplay is not through use of your weapons (except in the first level), but using your Psi powers, you've been given 6 powers, Telekenesis - the ability to move and throw enemies/objects with your mind, Pyrokenesis - the ability to launch flames from your hand, Mind Drain - being able to drain the minds of dead and unsuspecting enemies (the ladder also killing your enemy if done long enough) to replenish your Psi energy, Mind Control - Being able to take over the minds of enemies, Remote Viewing - being able to see out of your body, a bit like a spy camera, and Aura View - seeing things that can't be seen with the naked eye.

Replay Value - 7

There isn't a big variety of enemies nor weapons, however, the sheer amount of things you can do with your Psi powers makes this game somewhat different everytime you play, there are also a special amount of things you can do with Telekenesis such as double lift - being able to lift objects as high as you want, and TK surfing - standing on an object then moving it. There's also a co-op mode, though no death match.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/29/04