Customer Reviews

Psychonauts

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

To all of those critics out there who complain that the PC game industry has degenerated into a cookie cutter assortment of FPS or RTS games, it is time to put your money where your mouth is...

I've been PC gaming since the early Sierra days on an Apple IIC, and by far some of the most imaginitive, inventive, and hilarious games I've come across over the years were created by Tim Shaeffer (Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, and Grim Fandango to name a few). Well he's done it again with Psychonauts, a platform title which lives up to the unique humor and spirit of his previous creations.

With the cancellation of recent titles, such as the axed sequel planned for the great Sam and Max, its time to send the industry a message:

THERE IS AN AUDIENCE FOR THESE TYPE OF GAMES AND IF YOU DEVELOP THEM THEY CAN BE SUCCESSFUL!

I encourage everyone out there who who remembers the imaginative grand ol' days of gaming to pick up a copy. This really is a game which is truely unique and has something to offer everyone of every age group - plus at $30 its a steal.

And if you pass on this title? Well no more complaints as you're running, gunning, and lobbing frag grenades in different, but really not so different, settings in all of your future games. I put in my ante.

P.S. To really enjoy the game you should get a gamepad...there are some control issues with the keyboard mouse combo.

*NOTE: I have the Xbox version of this game but wanted to take the time since the PC version didn't have a review already. I just want people to know that this is an awesome game. The only difference I have read on the PC version is that sometimes the audio is funky, like it sounds muted sometimes or there are stutters in the sound. Another thing to keep in mind is I have heard from different sources that playing with the mouse is a little more difficult than playing with a controller. I can't verify that of course but wanted to put it out there. There is a lot of platforming in this game, especially towards the end so if you are someone who likes to use a controller you might want to keep that in mind. If you own a controller for your PC this might be a good game to use it for. Or, if you have a console, it might be worth buying the Xbox game that's out now or the PS2 game that is coming out later in March. There is a patch out for the game already as my friend who has the PC version had to download it to fix some problems. Other than that, my review should be accurate as well for the PC.

Everytime Tim Schafer creates a game, I know it will be a blast. Having been on a roll starting with The Day of the Tentacle up through The Grim Fandango, each game has been delightfully intelligent, creative and an overall wonderful experience. Psychonauts is no different. In fact, it is one of the best games I have played not only this year but in a long time.

The setup is that there is a camp for psychic children who feel different in the outside world. At the camp, the counselors teach children how to harness their power to become Psychonauts, psychics who actually enter people's minds and sort out their problems. Because of this setup, each and every world is completely different from the others. Connected to a hub world of the camp, each real "level" is a person's mind. And each mind reflects the person's personality, fears, phobias etc. For instance, the beginning level is that of your drill instructor. His level is a warzone complete with mines, air plane drops, explosions, barbed wire etc.

Tim Schafer's touch is also evident in the characters who are actually characters. They all have a personality and are very emotive. I haven't laughed at a video game so hard since Conker's Bad Fur Day. This game is hillarious. From the kid who practices looking through a peep hole in the day to get practice for when it's filled with girls to trashing a town Godzilla style, the game has it in spades. However, there are some surprisingly disturbing moments in the game that are also darkly humorous. Because you have psychic powers, you also can do some pretty cool stuff from pyrokinesis, telekinesis, levitation, invisibility, etc. These moves help you progress through the levels and pick up hidden items throughout the game.

Graphically, the game is awesome on the Xbox. The levels are done in vivid colors and with a wonderful cartoon style. The campground seems alive as there are creatures walking your path. From squirrels, crows, pigeons, lizards, bears, etc, the world seems populated and just feels real. You can tell a lot of time and effort was put in to make this game come alive and it works. The game is presented in 480p, for those interested.

Aurally, the characters are voiced to perfection. Some great voice actors have been employed and it really helps create characters that are lovable. The biggest audio glitch I've noticed is that sometimes my speakers will "click" as voices come in or as the sound changes sometimes. For some reason, the sound gets funkier as the game progresses. By the last level, it was as if every time a new sound was introduced or the sound changed, the game would stutter. Definitely some bugs that could have been worked out before the game was released. But, honestly, these aren't game stopping problems and are only vaguely annoying considering how awesome the game is. The game is also presented in 5.1 surround in game.

Since the game is a platformer, all of the standards apply. In the real world and in each person's mind, there are a ton of things to collect. In the real world, there are arrowheads that can be pulled from the ground that represent cash. There is a scavenger hunt also going on that will earn you rank (which gives you new powers) and there are cards that can be formed as more rank. In each person's mind, there are also different things to collect such as emotional baggage, mental cobwebs, figments of the imagination and safes which you much punch open to reveal some of the person's past. Some of these slide shows are funny and some are actually kind of sad as you see how these people came to be who they are. I list these items to collect just as a note that the game definitely exhibits all of the charms of a platformer. But there actually is a reason to collecting everything and they fit together in this humorous world.

The game moves quickly and besides one or two intstances of panning that had the game do a wave type pattern, it is perfect. My recommendation if you play the game is to take your time talking to everyone. It helps flesh out the story and if you listen and keep making rounds after each world you will see minor breakups, makeups, humorous instances involving squirrels who tell one kid to kill everyone, and plain funny dialogue. Take your time with this one and you will definitely be rewarded.

This game is great, it's just what I was looking for. It helped remind me why I play video games. When a person can create such wonderful worlds and allow you to play in them, you realize why you play games. It is so creative. Where else can you be chased by a giant fish, rage across town as a Godzilla-like creature, be in a disco world where you must race, pin-ball style, wage war against a Napolean complex and set fire to squirrels? If you want a creative and fun video game that will take approximately 10-15 hours of your time, then this is definitely a must buy. I absolutely cannot recommend this game enough. And unfortunately, it's one of those games that will end up like Ico or Beyond Good and Evil where no one hears of it and no one plays it. Don't let that happen. Play this game because its games like this that the industry needs to keep creating.

A must buy. Creative and excellent.

With "Psychonauts" on the shelf it's going to be a lot harder to carp about how there are no original games out there. Game designers can make a game about ANYTHING so why are we stuck with all the same conventions? Why not explore surreal landscapes and mind-bending situations?---Questions I've often asked myself when faced with shelves full of WW II shooters, Half-Life wannabes and GTA ripoffs (don't get me started on the overrated piece of hype called HALO). From the design of its characters to its wacky gameplay, "Psychonauts" is a totally original creation. Not since "American Mcgee's Alice" have I had such a feeling that the designers started from scratch and built a 100 perent custom world instead of borrowing whole chunks from other games.

Though surreal, "Psychonauts" has it's own internal logic which makes sense within the realm of the game. Your character is a psychic explorer which dives into the mental landscapes of some really weird characters. While there you literally sort out their psychological baggage and clean their mental cobwebs discovering what makes them tick in the process. Which is cool because--did I mention they were weird? Imagine psychoanalysing Yosemite Sam or Daffy Duck and discovering the events that shaped their personalities. Piecing together their back history is strangely satisfying in a way blasting monsters can't match. Not that you don't blast monsters. You blast them and sometimes YOU are the monster and they blast you.

There are some niggling technical issues which I should mention. The graphics, while appropriate, are obviously several years old (this game has been in production forever). And there's a patch you'll need to get to fix some sound stuttering problems. I played it with the keyboard/mouse setup and wished I'd invested in a gamepad. I was pleasantly surprised to NOT be fighting bad camera angles the whole time like I do in most console-to-PC ports--so a potential game-ruining bullet dodged there!

I would really like to see this game do well, spawn sequels, and generate pressure for other game designers to come up with original content.

I love computer games, but must confess that I rarely ever finish platformer games. Far too often, trying to defeat the "level boss" turns into seemingly endless hours of futile frustration. I want to spend my leisure time doing something fun and entertaining -- and Psychonauts delivers just that. At the end of each level the "boss" fight is certainly a challenge, but seldom did it take more than a few tries (and some off-the-wall thinking) to win the fight.

That, in particular, is one of the hallmarks of Psychonauts: a creative genius built this game, and half of the game's fun is the way it appeals to players' creativity, too. My 14-year-old daughter still giggles over collecting "Mental Cobwebs" and playing as Goggalor in Lungishopolis. She's just started her third round of Psychonauts (this time with a walkthrough found on some web site) because she wants to try for a perfect score.

If this were strictly a platformer game, she'd have lost interest and I would have, too. But there's a fun story line within the game, and the RPG aspect is quite entertaining. As a parent, I love the fact that it's "good clean fun" (clean enough that I don't have to shoo my 5-year-old out of the room when I'm playing) and, as a player, I love how time flies when I play this game.

We're going to play Psychonauts for the PS/2 next, not because we expect it to be any different but because we hope it's not!

Though Ive been a gamer since before Atari, I missed much of what Tim Schafer has released. We cant play everything after all ;) But after playing this, its a testament to what I was missing. Most of the finer points have been covered in the large reviews at top so Ill just add my thoughts.

The world of Psychonauts bright and expressive, even in the darkest corner or the most warped scene. Since the theme of this game deals directly with yours and other characters psyche, there is no way to explain just how strange and wonderful things get as you move from mind to mind. On that note there is more creativity and style stuff into one level of Psychonauts than most games have from begining to end. The only way I can explain it is as a mix of the Muppets, Ren & Stimpy, Monty Python and Disney.

If I were to buy games simply by the merit of its audio qualities, this would be one. It shines in every respect, whether its excellent voice acting or smallest ambient noise that brings you further into the world.

At this point I really dont need to talk about the actual game play. It is a multi-platform port so there are some quarks (that Ive explained below) but nothing detracting. The action and movement is as smooth and fluid with a M/KB as youd get from a gamepad (which you can add to a PC if you want, or just buy the console versions). Performance wise it ran like a charm (P2.2Ghz, 1Gb Ram, GF6800 OC).

If youve ever doubted that a video game can be on par with a great movie or book, please buy this game and see how far things have come.

An important thing to remember is though this game looks like something for a child it is not. The violence isnt that much greater than your average Mario game, but some of the scenes or characters can be pretty dark (think the end of Roger Rabbit) and may bother some young children. There is nothing here I would say steer clear of but you be the judge about what your child can handle.

The only reason I given 4 stars (really 4.5) are some cross-platform issues, namely in the item selection screen navigation that is really meant for a gamepad stick. Also playing the PC version I did not having any sound issues.

Kudos to Majesco for bringing this game to the PC! It is smart and funny, with beautiful graphics. Most importantly, it is fun to play. I bought a gamepad to get the most out of the game and it has made the experience worth it. The game is a platformer along the lines of Mario 64. But this game separates itself from every other platformer simply because it is original. Everything in the game's universe is fresh and new (and often times laugh-out-loud funny). Some parts are harder than others, but not so much that you get frustrated. There are so many things to collect in this game, but none of them are forced on you. It does have a bit of RPG character growth, which I think is great. Most importantly, the game ties together with a theme - the mind. You collect figments (of the imagination) and luggage (everybody has extra baggage). Anyway, the game is everything you want a game to be - fun, looks good, and entertaining. I highly recommend it!

I know there are Xbox and PS2 versions of the game, but I think that the performance issues people had were due to that older hardware. Psychonauts playing on a fairly modern rig at max details ran smoothly and sounded and looked great.

I deliberately did not buy it when it first came out because I wasn't sure if I would like it based solely on the artwork of the game. In a sense, I was afraid it was too 'kiddy' for my tastes. Once you get past some of the character models and the opening of the game, you are rewarded with a fun 3D platformer with a fun and frequently dark storyline. As a Psychonaut cadet, your job is to enter the minds of the game's characters and some of them, including several confined to a mental institute, can be frightening and overwhelming places.

After completing the game I can say that the art direction is fantastic and is completely suitable for the kind of game that it is. The audio is great: dialog and soundtrack are perfectly suited to the characters and the settings you visit, and on my first time through I reached level 96/100. It is worth the pittance you'll pay for it now, and I still feel guilty for finding it for only $8. There are plenty of games that leave you feeling ripped off, muttering things like, "I paid $XX for that?" In this case, you'll be richly rewarded if you're looking for a fun game that requires a little creative thinking and a keen eye for all the game's hidden objects. Having played it a mere 3 months ago, I would consider it the best game of the year, beating out all the new games that were released all year.

Okay, so I'm a thrift shopper. I rarely buy games when they're first released, preferring instead to wait for the price to drop. But I just kept putting off getting this game, despite all of the good reviews I read. I'm not the biggest fan of platformers, and the idea of a psychically themed platformer just didn't really appeal to me. Well, I'm definitely glad I changed my mind. This game is fantastic!

The premise of the game is that you're gifted with a lot of psychic potential, and are attending a camp for your fellow misfits. Well, things quickly turn sinister at the camp, and naturally it's up to you to set things right.

This game just exudes style. The characters are all well-developed and each have their own distinct personality. You get to know them somewhat better than you would your average video game character, since you'll be traveling into their minds. Aside from the main camp area in the real-world, the game's stages are set in the minds of the people around you. For example, your first psychic encounter is with your drill instructor, whose mind is naturally set up as a military themed obstacle course for you to complete. Another (very reserved) character's mind is just a cube in space (art deco styled, of course), and you're free to run along any of its sides. This, he says, is a well-ordered mind. Things don't stay well-ordered for long, however, and you soon find out what happens when a reserved person loses his composure. And then there's the godzilla-inspired level (and you're godzilla)...

While in each level, you collect figments of imagination (hologram-like things), mental cobwebs, and other power-ups to increase your own psychic powers. One really funny collectible is mental baggage. You'll find various types of bags, sad and crying, in each level. If you find the bags' matching tags, then they'll be happy, and you'll be on your way to increasing your psychic abilities. While this may sound like it would get to be repetitive, the humor, engaging level design, and really fun psychic powers keep things interesting. This game is from the mind of Tim Schafer, after all.

The graphics are very stylish, and still look good today, despite the game's age. I'm running a Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, NVIDIA 8800 GTX system, and I can max out all quality settings with no problem whatsoever. The game is also very stable. I have yet to experience a hard crash or a crash to desktop.

The controls are also wonderfully balanced. Games such as these live or die based on how solid their control scheme is, and this one delivers. Movement is intuitive, camera control is excellent, and using psychic powers is simple (you map powers to a button on the fly, via an in-game menu) and fun. I can't imagine playing this game with the keyboard/mouse combo, though. A gamepad is highly recommended. I use the Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2, which is basically just a wireless Playstation 2 controller for the PC.

To sum it up, there is simply no reason not to get this game. It's fun for kids of all ages (even if platform games aren't generally your thing), and at the price you can find it for now, it's a steal.

Don't be fooled by the seemingly obscure premise - this is not a game promising originality and delivering poor content and programming. Here you get the big ideas and a big game. Crazy innovative ideas all around, tons of high quality content, amazingly fluid gameplay. Probably the most stylistically developed game ever. Written brilliantly, with poignant situations that are illustrated with depth and sensitivity. The biggest accomplishment of this game: it's actually funny.

OK, first, this game ROCKS.

Second, it's kid friendly - nothing inappropriate, and tons of depth and interesting stuff to keep kids entertained.

The graphics are good, the best part being the originality put into the art design. There is a (good) cartoonish feel to them, with the characters being more like caricatures.

The sound is fine, nothing special.

But this game is terrific because of the gameplay. It's got a ton of depth, interesting puzzles, and a cool story.

Is it perfect? No, of course not. But PC Gamer gave it an Editor's Choice, and I see why.

Now, please, let there be a sequel!!!