Do dreams
come true? At this stage in my life I’d say yes, but I’ll have to get back to
you in 20 years to give a final answer. For Raz, a troubled boy with psychic
powers, dreams are not necessarily what he hopes will come true. His home life
is really messed up. Damaged by a curse, his living family lives in fear,
hoping the curse isn’t real, hoping that it dies a myth.
Raz’s father
hates the idea of his son being a psychic. He pushes him toward the family
business: circus performance. Raz hates it, and eventually runs away to a
psychic training camp for kids. This is where the game begins. The story
behind each character is slowly revealed through entertaining dialog and
hilarious scenarios. There’s a dark element, too – a dark and twisted element
that has a layer of hilarity baked right in the center.
From the
moment I met Raz, his teachers and the students, I knew that there was
something different about this game. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it at
first. Slowly I began to realize what it was: these weren’t new faces I was
looking at; they were soon to be old friends.
Psychonauts
is a massive, unexpected game that knows exactly what it wants to be: a good
time. It’s got all the ingredients an action/adventure needs: scavenger hunts,
enemy-pummeling, platform-hopping, et cetera. This is where other
action/adventures stop. Not to discredit the competition, but since Jak &
Daxter was released, how many games have said, "A and B are fun
– let’s add X, Y, and a little Z. A dash of E, a
pinch L and whatever else we can muster!" Games don’t do that. Not in
this genre. They stick with A and B and finish the game as is. That’s fine.
I’ve enjoyed a lot of those. They’re now buried in my closet and may never
resurface. Psychonauts will not suffer the same fate – it has the whole
alphabet.
X:
Riding. Raz’s arsenal of psychic powers is weird at best. A transparent
balloon that lets you levitate? Not exactly. The balloon is generated from
within Raz’s brain (you’ll learn all about this in the game – brain power is
deemed the ultimate weapon), and with it he can roll around, jump several
times as high, and flip it upside down for a secondary effect.
Y:
Gliding. Free-falling through the air? Grab the balloon and hold on tight. Raz
glides to save lives (his own) and to complete objectives, but you’ll want to
glide whether you have a task to complete or not. The more psychic powers I
earned, the more I wanted to explore the game’s enormous worlds.
Z:
Rail sliding. If it’s long and skinny and isn’t a rope, hop on and Raz will
slide across it. Fast, seamless, and extremely fun.
E:
Levels that are catered to fun. I’m not sure if the psychic powers were
designed around the levels or if the levels were designed around the powers.
Both are a perfect fit, dispelling frustration before it has the chance to
form.
L:
Never a dull moment. In Psychonauts there’s always something cool to do. I
almost cringed as much as Raz at the thought of "learning" a new trick, but
these short missions turned out to be another venue for entertainment.
Everything else they can muster:
Raz’s power is based on a rank system. He cannot reach the status of a
Psychonaut and use every special power without achieving a higher rank. (His
rank is also connected to certain items, preventing their use until the listed
rank is reached.) Collect the right items and complete the necessary
objectives and his rank will rise.
Scavenger
hunts are usually the most boring part of an action/adventure. Smart
developers hide the items well, and at the same time risk falling into a trap
that will kill the replay value. Donkey Kong 64 is a prime example. Big
worlds, lots of items, little fun.
Again,
Psychonauts is superior to almost every game on the planet by hiding hundreds
(thousands!?) of items in every location imaginable. You can survive by
finding the obvious items. Your rank will be lower, your psychic power arsenal
will be smaller and the game will be harder, but you’ll still survive. For
those who wish to venture deeper into the game, there’s an abundance of items,
both integral and trivial, to search for.
When you do
finally uncover these items, you’ll be excited by the gameplay that follows.
(I’m inching closer to spoiler territory – let’s just leave it at that.)
Raz is
equipped with the awesome ability to burn things with his mind, leading to
some hilarious dialog with one of his teachers. He can lift things (objects,
monsters, people, etc.) with his mind and toss ’em around, though he’d be best
to use this power for good, not evil. To destroy enemies from afar, or to
destroy monsters that could explode on contact, Raz can shoot a laser from his
mind. These are just a few of the powers he’ll acquire. They’re just a couple
of reasons why you won’t be able to put this game down.
It’s these
tiny but thoughtful pieces that made the action/adventure genre the best genre
for over a decade. Psychonauts doesn’t have the same control restrictions that
other games have. It takes us away to a place that we have never visited
before. You haven’t either. No one has. Psychonauts isn’t quite the Grand
Theft Auto of the genre, but it might as well be.
|
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Gameplay: 9.0
Usually I stress
the importance of great controls, great level design, or great objectives.
Most games have one or two of those elements. The one that’s missing never
fails to be the one that stands out the most.
Psychonauts
has all three elements, each of which was executed beautifully. I don’t know
what to say now except THANK YOU! to everyone on the development team. You’ve
renewed my faith in the genre. Maybe no one else will do what Double Fine
Productions has done. The fact that they did it is enough.
Graphics: 7.9
On one hand
Psychonauts has big levels, shiny eyeballs (inspired by Munch’s Oddysee, I
presume), and decent facial expressions (from Raz only). On the other hand the
environments are somewhere between Dreamcast and first-generation PS2 games.
They’re acceptable for a game of this quality, but my jaw’s not dropping.
Sound: 9.0
What’s this? An
appropriately eerie soundtrack mixed with hilarious (and well performed)
dialog? You’ve got to be kidding me! I must be dreaming. But wait – there’s a
controller in my hands. And the TV is turned on. AND my eyes are open! This is
no dream! This game is funny, the voice actors can act, and the characters are
likable! I’m stunned.
Difficulty: Medium
Solid all the way
through.
Concept: 9.4
The concept of
fun. One way to describe Psychonauts is to call its world a giant playground.
You can climb trees, slide off rails, jump on trampolines, and glide through
the air holding a transparent mind balloon. It’s a fantasy you’ve never had; a
dream you’ve never seen. When the journey came all this weird stuff started
happening, I never wanted to leave. It’s easy to find enjoyment in a polished
action/adventure – all things considered there have been a lot of those. But
to find a game that truly gets the genre, a game developed by people who know
what it means to have fun – that’s priceless.
Overall: 9.0
I was tempted to
go overboard and give this game a 10. Then I thought, "If the developers
achieved perfection now, why would they make a sequel?" 🙂 Truthfully this
game isn’t perfect, but it’s the most fun I’ve had with an action/adventure
since the original Jak & Daxter was released. It’s got all the mechanics of a
great adventure game plus the best parts of Psi-Ops (levitation); Mario
Sunshine (gliding/hovering); and Tony Hawk (grinding). If you don’t have this
game by Christmas put it at the top of your list. Psychonauts isn’t merely a
game to watch, or a game you don’t want to miss. It’s THE action/adventure to
get.
