Psychonauts

  Tim Schafer created a highly immersive world within Psychonauts. At first, the graphical and artistic style is somewhat strange, but it quickly becomes the only face that one could accept with the content of the game. Trying to imagine any other style is difficult, and frankly, unnecessary.

The game begins with Razputin sneaking in to a psychic summer camp, and events quickly escalate from that point forward. Psychic abilities start out slowly, but the quickly gain in power and application, and the more attention that is paid toward collecting items, the more quickly one grows. Psi cards are spread across the summer camp and other locations, as well as Psi challenge markers. Every challenge marker increases the Psi rank by one full level. Nine Psi cards plus a purchased Psi core increases the Psi rank by one level as well. Increasing these Psi ranks is the fastest way to gain new abilities and to improve the ones that are already possessed. In addition to the Psi cards, there are items from a scavenger hunt scattered around that can dramatically increase Psi ranks.

Anyway, on to the real meat of the games: the mental worlds that are explored by Raz. The array of different worlds that are created in the game are staggering. The paranoid mind full of twisting suburban streets with hidden cameras and secret agents in The Milkman Conspiracy to the inner stage complete with critic in Gloria's Theatre and even the city populated by lungfish in Lungfishopolis. It's difficult to imagine the brainstorming sessions that led to the planning of all of these levels. And the brilliance of Waterloo World, set up to look like a game of Settlers of Catan and the neon world of Black Velvetopia. Each of the minds are remarkably different, and they are not grouped around the standard practice of using whichever psychic ability was last earned, which is a good change from the industry.

Within the minds, there are certain elements that are in common. Each mind has figments of imagination to collect, which will be added to the Psi rank. Additionally, there are mental cobwebs, which, in the real world, can be transformed into Psi cards. Also, there are five pieces of emotional baggage in each mind that require finding the tags and the baggage itself. Finding all five sets increases the Psi rank automatically and unlocks the primal memories of the character, which amounts to images from production. Lastly, there are mental vaults running around, which require smacking. When hit, they disgorge brief, silent, slideshows that give insight into why the character has the problems he or she has or why the mind is formed the way it is.

The platforming elements are somewhat similar through the overall mental levels, and in the real world, though they are often utilized in different manners. As a boy running away from the circus, there are some conventions to the platforming genre that make more sense that in other titles. Raz uses his training the trapeze to be able to swing from hanging bar to hanging bar, as well as jumping from taut ropes to other ledges. Also, it finally makes sense as to how a character can double jump: levitation via the thought bubble. The psychic abilities range from telekinesis to clairvoyance to invisibility to the essential levitation, plus several others that are fun to use and needed for the levels.

One nice feature is the ability to return to a mind at relatively any time via the brain tumbler. This device places Raz in the Collective Unconscious, through which he can return to any mind he has previously entered. In the doorway to each mind, there are four mini screens which show whether all vaults, cobwebs, figments and baggage have been collected, which is an added bonus. It is also possible to return to the Collective Unconscious by way of a small creature that can be found in most of the characters' minds.

Through my playtime of the game, somewhere close to 18 hours, the graphics exhibited no problems, and fit with the spirit of the game quite well. They were both artistically and technically very well done. Also, the audio accompaniment was extremely well done. Honestly, I am considering purchasing the soundtrack. The music altered to fit the onscreen action, and it never sounded out of place. Additionally, the voice acting was superb. Even now, I cannot imagine another voice for Raz, or even any of the other characters.

Overall, there were no problems with the game other than a minor few. As with any platformer, the handling of the camera is of paramount importance. For the greater portion of the game, the camera worked perfectly. However, there were a few incidences in which the camera moved behind Raz, and also behind a wall, reducing visibility completely. It is important to note that this occurrence was far from commonplace, and it was usually when I was attempting something not necessarily within the expected parameters of the game. Every once in a while, Raz was caught on the geometry of the level as well. This happened only twice that I recall, and both times it was when I was attempting something that the game did not anticipate.

I hesitate to reveal too much of the story, but suffice to say that it is farfetched, but it fits into the spirit of the game. The overarching storyline is somewhat anticipated, but the way that Raz travels through the story is anything but predictable. The last mind through which Raz travels is a fair amount more difficult that the previous ones, but the vast majority of the game falls into the perfect range of difficulty: a bit of a challenge but nothing that will pull the player out of the game completely.

As it can be divined through the way in which I discussed the game above, I loved it. As a platformer, the game did not necessarily add anything new to the genre, but it did everything extremely well. Added to this, the humor in the game, the artistry present, and all of the heart make this one of the best games I have ever played.