Psychonauts

"The Greatest Platformer of This Generation"

Psychonauts
XBOX Review

Psychonauts, a game 4 years in the making. A game who's publishing rights where dropped by Microsoft because they finally decided having new and original games on their console isn't anything gamers would want. Where they right? It seems so by seeing how poorly this amazing game is selling. Could the sales end up being better on Sony's PS2 when the game is finally released? Only time can tell, but let's hope so. Missing this game should be a crime for anyone who loves an amazing platforming game or a game with a well written and acted story.

The story begins like this. You are Razputin, or Raz for short. You ran away from your life in the circus to Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp. Raz's father does not want his son to be a psychic. He would much rather his son practice his acrobatics than practice his psychic abilities. You see a rival circus family, a psychic circus family placed a curse on Raz's family. The curse is that every member of Raz's family is doomed to die by drowning. It is because of this Raz assumes his father dislikes psychics. Despite the general negativity towards psychics in his family Raz knows he has a gift and he wants to pursue it. Raz wants to become a Psychonaut. Luckily Raz comes across a pamphlet for the camp, and decides to run away.

While at the camp you study under Psychonauts Coach Oleander, Sasha Nein, and Milla Vodello. After your first day at camp a strange thing starts happening. The brains of your fellow camp peers start disappearing. It is up to you to find out what is happening to the kids. Is it the fabled 'Lake Monster'? Is it someone else? It's up to you to find out.

From the start you can tell this is a Tim Schafer game, well that is if you have ever played a Tim Schafer game. The worlds are weird, the characters are wacky, and everything feels like a breath of fresh air. I'll start by talking about the graphics.

The graphics are technically nothing that will blow your mind. There are games with more graphical polish out there. What you get though is a nicely rendered and good looking game. What really saves this category is how everything is designed. The game is beautiful in the respect the the world is alive and everything is unique. The characters all look like they are from a classic Nickelodeon cartoon. The worlds are all entirely different and wacky in their own way. You never end up seeing the same sights twice. This game really shines in the graphics department just for how amazingly weird, unique, and good everything looks as a package. I'd take more games like this than the bland high-resolution worlds we have all seen a thousand times before. The graphics overall get an 8.5/10.

The gameplay in this game is also a place where the game shines. Does it really do anything new? Psychic powers? Swinging? Jumping? Basic Combat? It's all been done. What makes Psychonauts not like all those other games with the same core gameplay is that it is all well done, and there isn't one weak point in any of the different things you do. It's all solid. You can Jump, Swing, and use Pyrokinesis on that enemy over there smoothly and easily. All the psychic powers are assigned to a hot keys of either 'R', 'Black', or 'White'. Yes there are points when you have to open a menu to switch hot keys, but it will open automatically with a press of 'Right' on the digital pad. You'll be presented with pretty simple to figure out puzzles and enemies that aren't much of a challenge, but the overall solid fell to the gameplay is what makes you want to keep going on as well as the story. Gameplay overall gets an 9.5/10.

Control on this game is the same as on any other platform game. As is the pattern with this game it does nothing new, but rather is just uses what has been done before, and polishes the hell out of it. 'A' is your jump. 'X' is attack. 'Y' is to interact with people and objects. 'B' puts items away. 'L' centers the camera/locks on to enemies/activates PSI Float(once you get it). 'R', 'W', and 'BL' are psychic power hot keys as mentioned above. The left stick moves Raz. The right moves the camera, which is really great, it's rarely a problem. The digital pad is used to open your item and psychic power inventory menus. The control over all is standard platformer fare, but it works very well and is responsive. It gets a solid 8/10.

Finally the presentation. This game is full of amazing voice acting, and funny moments. You actually start to care about the characters, that is if you took the time to get to know them while you could. I know I'll never forget the short but sweet bit with Mr. Pokeylope the turtle at the end of the game. It's my favorite moment of the game. The way it looks, the way it sounds, the fact that each character is as unique as each world makes this game almost flawless in presentation. Overall I give it an 9.5/10.

Psychonauts as a whole isn't original by any means in terms of gameplay, but it does what has been done before better than what has preceded it. This over all is the best platformer of this generation and one of the best overall games of this generation. I proudly put Psychonauts in my top 10 list of greatest games. It should be a crime to not play this game. So I beg of you, if you want a game with an original premise, and amazingly solid gameplay play Psychonauts.

Overall Scores:

Graphics: 8.5
Gameplay 9.5
Control 8.0
Presentation: 9.5
Total 9.8 (Not An Average)

I loved this game to death. Hopefully you will too.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/09/05