Customer Reviews

Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy. Released in 2004 it was a game that was just sprung on me. I hadn't heard much about it till I saw an ad for it in an issue of OPM, only a couple weeks before its release. Well that issue had a demo of the game and I tried it out and the rest, well, the rest is history.

The game doesn't have that deep of a plot. A psychic terrorist organization is bent on taking over the world, and a lone soldier, with altered memories and suppressed psychic abilities, is sent to infiltrate and stop their plans at all costs. That's about it. But that's all you need. You play as Nick Scryer. He is that lone soldier.

This game has great great gameplay. Everything controls fluidly and the psychic abilities are a blast. You'll start offf with Telekineses, a power which you'll use the most and is the most fun to use. You can pick up almost anything. Enemies are great fun to screw with. picking them up and then moving them to the endge of a massive ledge and then either dropping them or hurling them off end over end never gets old. You can also throw just about anything at them as well. Wooden Crates, Fire Extinguishers, Guns, Other Soldiers, Barrels, Explosive Barrels, etc... It also helps that the physics engine in this is top notch. Definelty not on par with Half-Life 2's but it works for this game. You also get Pyrokinesis, Mind Drain (which is great to go up behind enemies and drain their brain and make their head explode!), Remote Viewing, Mind Control and Aura View.

The graphics are really good. Characters are sharp and environments look good as well. This game is rated "M" for a reason. It's downright violent. Heads exploding (MANY of them), gunshot wounds, exlposions and other things. It's a fun game though and if you can handle that stuff, play it.

The game sounds pretty good as well. The score is nothing memorable but the song by Cold, "WIth My Mind", written specifically for this game is a great one (listen for the Muzak version in the elevator a little later in the game!) . The gun sounds are standard and aren't anything amazing but again, they get the job done.

Overall this is a very solid game. It's got some corny dialogue and a convoluted plot but if you can go with it, you'll have a great time. The powers are great fun and the game provides a good challenge later on but is never ridiculously hard that you'll have an ulcer. There are plenty of unlockables after you beat it and it's such good fun you'll want to play through it more than once. So if you haven't already pick this great game up, you won't be disappointed.

Okay I just played this game on a demo in playstation magazine recently an it was awesome. Using pyrokinesis throwing walls of fire, telekinesis levitating objects and people Note: you can stand on top of an object and levitate yourself. Remote viewing where you can see whats ahead of you and think about what to do. Mind drain where you can drain your enemies dry and get more psi {psychic energy to perform your mind powers}. Hint :Aura view is a secret for now but it is rumored that its sort of like Spider- mans spidey sense. Maybe you can detect enemies and get info not able to be viewed with the naked eye. This is rated M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, and Strong Language. This game is awesome I'll reccomend it to anyone it is what you can expect from Midway

Psi-ops is quite possibly one of the best games I've played this year and definetly the most unique. At first the game plays like your basic third-person shooter. You sneak around. You shoot this guy and that and every other guy. You knock guys out from behind. But it isn't long before the game shows how special it is. "And what makes it special" you may ask. Why the psychic powers of course. Yes this is the only game [other than the underwhelming "Second Sight"] to use not one, not two but six psi-powers. Why shoot guns when you can shoot fire from your arm? Why climb a ladder and snipe everybody when you can have your enemies do it for you? And why pick up objects with your arms when you can use your mind to? Yeah, the psi-powers are fun to use. My personal favorite is Mind Drain. It allows you to suck psi-energy from your enemies and causes their heads to explode. Yeah, did I mention how violent this game is. As for the graphics. The graphics are spectacular. The cinematics look great, but the character models are what are really cool. The only real downside is that everyone in this game seems to be a ventriloquist. Nobody ever moves their mouths, and frankly it gets very annoying. What isn't annoying are the voice overs. They are done very well. Also, the boss battles are challenging but in a good way. They simply keep you thinking on your feet. Yes you have to think to play this game. There are some problems though. One thing is that the enemies aren't particularly smart. Like this guy who's running at your gun. Or this guy who's trying to hide in the open. This guy's smart he's calling for help. Also, the psi-powers will get old, eventually. But you can cure that by using the surrounding enviroments with your telekinesis. Like throwing this guy in a furnace. Also, the game is very short. You should be able to beat this game in about a month. But if the sequel is this good, Midway may have a franchise on their hands. I give it a 4 out of 5.

This game is incredibly fun because it utilizes PSI powers to dispose of enemies. There is great satisfaction to be had in slamming enemies repeatedly into a wall or popping their heads from behind. The game is also compelling and has great controls. I also played the Second Sight demo and can easily say Psi Ops blows it out of the water in every respect, most notably in controls and psi powers. This game also features amazing graphics along with a really fun training room. Run to the store to buy this very unique and fun game.

"As I returned to my body from the next room, I felt a sickening lurch. But hey, who could blame me? I knew my window of opportunity was limited, and with only two shots left, I had to move FAST.

I opened the door, and took out the first guard with my silenced pistol. I knew his back would be to me, I'd memorized his movements before I came in. The second guard started firing his machine gun wildly. I took one in the shoulder, and I knew I had no choice - it was him or me.

I raised my right hand, as if to surrender...and that's when the smug little smile left his face. I felt the power coursing through my mind, to my arm, then out from my fingertips. He floated up off the ground, suspended in midair, by the power of my mind. He cried out "What the Hell?" and that's when I saw the gas can. With a mere flick of my wrist, I sent his body hurtling into the canister. I heard the explosion.....I saw the flames....and I knew I had only begun to remember what they'd done to me."

That's exactly what it felt like when I started using my psychic abilities for the first time in Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy.

In this game, we play as Nick Scryer, a special operative with no memory of his special abilities. As a soldier with a gun, Nick has no chance against his super-powered adversaries. He must rediscover his Psionic abilities and turn the tables on his captors. Throughout the course of this game, Nick remembers that he has been trained in the following abilities:

Telekinesis: The ability to move objects or people with the mind.
Remote Viewing: The ability to project the mind into other areas and plan out future attacks.
Mind Drain: The ability to siphon Psi-energy from enemies.
Mind Control: The ability to control an enemies' actions.
Pyrokinesis: The ability to set objects or enemies on fire.
Aura View: The ability to see details that aren't visible in the real world.

As far as gameplay goes, the game has a slow start before Nick rediscovers his abilities. It makes us think we're starting a Metal Gear type game, but this dynamic changes before the first level is over. Stealth is nice, but it's infinitely more fun to use Nick's powers to possess an enemy, force him to snipe his comrades, and top it off by shooting a gas container to eliminate himself.

The ability to switch between powers is seamless - a seasoned player can TK an enemy towards them, use MD to replenish their lost powers, and search ahead through a closed door with RV without skipping a beat. With each discovery of a new power, Nick recalls his training in that power...allowing us, the viewer, to learn how to use them.

The graphics are dated by today's standards...the overall detail in the game environment is very bland - wooden boxes, steel boxes, doors and alarms are very basic. The characters are quite over-the-top in their outfits, but with a plot like this one, that can be overlooked. There are certain points of Psi-Ops where Nick discovers certain powers just in time to fight enemies that are only vulnerable to those particular powers...again, with the fun level of this game, it can be overlooked. The map screen is very primitive, and some of the items are hard to read in the select menu during the game - but you'll most likely never need to use this screen except to access the occasional health pack.

One thing that keeps Psi-Ops players coming back is the laundry list of unlockable content, earned by completing the game and finding garden gnomes hidden throughout the levels (umm...yes, garden gnomes. Programmers are scary).

Some of the extra goodies include:
6 videos, including a music video for the song "With My Mind" by Cold
10 extra missions (c'mon....who doesn't like the idea of TK bowling?)
10 extra character costumes/skins
Training modes
Boss Battle modes
Selectable difficulties from Easy to Elite
Cooperative play mode
Concept art movies...and a whole bunch more.

It's no surprise that with the occasional curses from enemy characters and the violence level being so high with shootings, immolations, and exploding heads, Psi-Ops has an `M' Rating.
Sure, Psi-Ops does have flaws, and it's not everything a growing child needs, but for the Mature adult (insert canned laughter here), this is a very fun game.

I can take you far away, with my mind...with my mind...

If you can get beyond the mediocre storyline and Saturday morning cartoon voice acting there is a lot of enjoyment to be had. There's just something intensely satisfying about picking up a bad guy and flinging him off a building with just the power of your mind.
The button layout is superb and intuitive and the designers did a fine job in doling out the Psi powers individually throughout the entire game (in a series of flashbacks) so that you have time to get the hang of one before another becomes available.
There's also a lovely sort of open ended nature in how you can deal with the enemies on any given level depending on your personal preference. You can go in guns blazing, toss them around like sacks of potatoes, take control of their minds and have them attack each other... You need to get from point A to point B and how you choose to deal with the dudes in your way is more or less up to you.
The boss battles can be quite tough and the enemy A.I. is pretty good, but really there's nothing in the entire game that feels impossible to do. (And it's not until the final level and a series of invisible mines that there is a whiff of cheap deaths.) If you go down, you just need to rethink your approach.
There are a number of unlockable skins and cheats available for completing each of the difficulties as well as a number of

I've always wanted to lift someone up with my mind, set them on fire, and hurl them into their friends, in turn setting them on fire. That's the gameplay of PsiOps, and man is it fun.

You are Nick Scryer, psychic secret agent, it's up to you to infiltrate the evil organization known as The Movement. At the start of your journey, you've recently lost your psychic abilities, so you must unlock them throughout the game. And once you begin doing that, it's all about the combos. Seven abilities can be combined for some pretty inventive methods of murder, which mean the game rarely gets tired. For instance, you can lift a dude up, shoot him, throw him around, make him shoot his friends. You've also got the ability to fire weapons, throw fire, see through walls, and drain an enemies life force. These abilities also help you get around, such as by stacking boxes with telekinesis.

Graphically speaking it's dope, with plenty of eye candy and a physics engine that makes killing baddies all the more fun. If there's a downfall at all, it's that the enemy AI is lacking, or rather, their thought process is. It should be easy for a throng of dudes with guns to take you out, superpowers or no, but for the most part you rarely find yourself cornered in battle. Mostly you're just kicking ass and taking names. And while the game encourages stealth at times, there's no real need for it when you can blaze through enemies like a fox through a henhouse. But overall, PsiOps is a good solid game worth checking out. Sniff sniff... I smell franchise.

ok let me start by saying this game kicks but....yeah sure there are gonna be the sticklers that look for all the flaws and find something that's not perfect about the game and compare it to other games.......but if you take this game just as it is, it will blow your mind! maybe the people's mouths don't move at exactly the same time they talk........maybe the AI isn't perfect....... WHO CARES??..the point is the game was designed to be fun, not a movie, and thats where it excels, this game will blow your mind.......you'll love throwing people around with your mind and blowing their heads off.......i remember being particuarly pleased at one point when i mind-controlled a guy and killed everyone, and then had my guy go and jump off a cliff.........this game is awesome, the only downside is that it didn't get enough publicity for them to make a sequl......and saying it ends on a cliffhanger is and understatement...........but seriously, if you don't buy this game, your missin out.........a lot

This game couldn't really be better. Actually 1 thing would make it better, a GOD code, but you can basically do that in the training mode. Basically, you walk through, you have to be sneeky, but if you don't want to be, don't. Just kill people by throwing them around at will, shooting them, and DRAINING THEIR MIND ENERGY RIGHT OUT OF THEM!!! This game is really nonstop fun, however...it is very challenging at some points and if your coordination and gaming skill isn't up to par you may not enjoy this title as much as I. Good day!

I won't discuss the finer points of plotting in this game...nor will I talk about the storyline and dialogue. That isnt what a review is for. You are reading this review to decide if you want to buy this game or not. Let me provide a little illumination on the subject.
Psi-ops is a cool game. It has a really good physics engine and pretty neat A.I. for the enemies. The graphics are clean and crisp with very few slowdown and biggy issues. The controls are placed in an intuitive and easy to use format that just seems to feel right. No need to look at your controller to remember what button does what.
As for the game presentation and overall impact: awesome. This game is a great divergence from the typical cookie cutter stealth-action games that have flooded the market. You can take a stealthy approach in this game and be the silent killer...or...you can go in with guns ablaze and psi powers ready to rip into anything that moves. The choice is yours and also lends to a good deal of replayability.
The missions that you are sent on are pretty standard fare. You know, get to point A and do B then you can move on. While the missions seem pretty straightforward, the great thing about them is that they can be accomplished and completed in a variety of ways. You can choose to mind control an enemy and have them fight it out with their comrades while you stay safe a few rooms away. You can walk in and throw them around like rag dolls with the TK power. You could creep into the room with a sniper rifle and take them out clean and simple. You could even walk in and use the pyro power to light all the enemies on fire. Many choices...and that is good because it makes you feel in control of your play experience.
One thing that I found dissapointing is the length of the game. It just seemed too short, you could beat the game in 8-10 hours without hurrying. While this may short change many gamers, the inlcusion of hidden missions and bonus content that can be unlocked by finding the evil gnome statues hidden in the levels does make up for some of that feeling. Once you beat the game, you can replay from the begining with your various powers unlocked and you can also change the difficulty setting to make it a little more challenging.
All in all, I would reccomend this game to those who want to test the waters of the genre. I am not a fan of Metal Gear Solid, mainly because I dont have the patience to appreciate its subtle greatness, but Psi-Ops lets me dabble in the genre without having to be immersed in it. The casual gamer will like this game because it offers a satisfying experience without a huge investment. The hardcore gamer on the other hand...that's a tough call. They might like it because of the open ended gameplay and large variety in play style- but might be turned off by its linear style and short completion time. My advice to both spectrums- rent it. Its safe and gives you a good feel for the game while allowing you to decide if it is worth the money you will spend on it. While not for everyone, this game is fun to play and is a great change of pace from all the copycats that are out there.