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Review by: GenoForPrez
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Reviewers Score:
10 / 10
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Posted: January 09, 2006
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Psychonauts
System: PS2
Genre: Adventure
Overall Rating: 10/10
Packed with creative gameplay and ingenius characters.
Review:
Storyline: 10/10
You are Rasputin, otherwise known as Raz. At a young age, you realize
that you have psychic powers and are immediately obsessed with the idea
of becoming a Psychonaut. The Psychonauts are international secret
agents that use various psychic powers to foil diabolical plots.
Unfortunately, Raz's father does not approve of the use of psychic power
due to a curse a "mentalist" put on their family years ago,
dooming them all to die in water. Raz hears about a Junior Psychonaut
training camp, though, and soon runs away from home to join the ranks
among the other children. But shortly after arriving, strange things
start happening. Raz notices peculiar activity beneath the surface of
the lake and also that a few of his fellow campers are acting... odd.
Soon he discovers that a diobolical plot has unraveled within the very
camp! And all the official Psychonauts are out of commission! It's up to
Raz to investigate the campgrounds and get to the bottom of the strange
happenings and to extinguish whatever sinister plans might be lurking
beneath them.
Gameplay: 10/10
Wow... this game is unique in more ways than I can even begin to
describe. There are essentially two parts to this game. There are
certain things that must be accomplished by investigating the
campgrounds and other things that must be accomplished by going inside
of other people's heads. Raz acquires a special item that allows him to
penetrate and explore other people's psyches. You will have to do this
to quite a few people in the game, most of which are completely insane
(and I do mean insane in the medical sense), so the levels are pretty
mind-blowing. For example, have you ever wondered what the mind of an
eccentric conspiracy theorist would look like? Now you can find out. All
the levels are completely bizarre and unique and always require you to
use your psychic powers (levitation, telekenesis, astral projection,
pyrokenesis, aura shield, PSI blast, confusion, clairvoyance,
invisibility). Trying to figure out when and how to use your psychic
powers gives you a sort of "detective" feeling as you play.
It's especially fun in boss fights because very few of the bosses can
simply be hit and damaged (though some can). Instead, you have to tumble
and parry for a while and try various psychic powers on them until you
find a strategy. For those who aren't so good at puzzles, don't fret,
because you can always call HQ for advice on a situation if you're
struggling. You will also come to appreciate the use of gravity in this
game. There are a lot of places in this game where, say, you'll be
walking down a hallway and suddenly the hall will twist and the floor
will become one of the walls. In one level, you are exploring a peaceful
neighborhood, but the streets are all twisted and looped like a
rollercoaster. You can stop and look at a house that is dangling
upside-down at a 45 degree angle above your head, and then simply jump
up and land on your feet on the roof. What was once the ceiling, is now
the floor. It can be confusing at times, but it's not overdone and adds
to the overall creative insanity. Good game. Good game.
I will issue a warning about this game, though, since I've complained
about this in one of my other reviews: there is a lot of "doo-dad
collecting" in this game. But it's different in this game and
here's why: usually when you have to collect doo-dads in a game the idea
is to collect all of something to win. You either have to collect them
as an objective or to win something needed to complete another
objective. In this game though, the doo-dad collecting is mostly
optional. But the various doo-dads you collect act as experience
points that allow you to level up your psychic power/abilities.
Think of it in terms of an RPG. You're a mage and there are thousands of
experience points just laying on the ground. All you have to do is find
them. Wouldn't you? Of course you would! I mean, it's not quite that
simple, but essentially that's the idea. Some doo-dads factor directly
to your exp, but others have to be "cashed in" in various
ways. There are other currency type doo-dads that allow you to buy
helpful devices and upgrades. But just the same, the doo-dad collecting
is mostly optional. It all depends on how strong a psychonaut you wish
to build.
Audio: 10/10
There is a lot of voice acting done in this game, all of which is done
by extremely talented people and in most cases is absolutely hilarious.
I have played a lot of games, but there have been few games that have
given me serious laugh-out-loud moments like this one did. It was
fascinating to me that they would script entire conversations for NPC's
to have that were only for ambient sound. You can literally just walk up
next to a few characters and stand there and listen to them talk, and
most of the time they have an extended conversation---extended sometimes
to a full two minutes of non-repeating dialogue. Just for ambient sound!
You can leave if you get bored, but usually what they have to say is
hilarious, so I listened to probably every conversation in the game. The
music was also excellent and very professional and the style always
matched the environment. For instance, when you're in the mind of
someone who enjoys parties and pop culture, you will hear rave/dance
music. In the mind of someone who is obsessed with bullfights, the music
is all flemenco, etc.
Graphics: 9/10
The graphics in the game are decent, but they aren't smoothed to the
point that a lot of PS2 games tend to be. Not to say that the graphics
are rough, but a few things in a few places are a bit etchy. I think
that maybe that was done on purpose though, since the art style in the
game can be a bit bizarre (imagine a cross between the old nickelodeon
show "Aaah! Real Monsters!" and a Tim Burton film) and other
things, like Raz's facial animations, are pretty advanced. A little
etchiness aside, the graphics are just great and the levels will
continually impress you with their art and just their general
strangeness.
Replay Value:
9/10
Definitely. I mean, once you've done it you already know all the
objectives and where everything is located, but it's just fun. Using the
psychic powers is great and there is always the challenge of leveling
yourself up to rank 100 which would require you to find almost every
last exp item in the game. This player only achieved rank 87 by the end
of the game. Not bad at all, but I wanted more. The higher ranks win you
special abilities like health regeneration and unlimited psy energy.
We're talking rank 90 to 95, so don't get too ambitious toward those
when first beginning. |
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