Psychonauts

Psychonauts is a video game that consists of 7 releases

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Developed by Double Fine Productions, Psychonauts is a platforming action-adventure game where players take on the role of Razputin, a boy with psychic abilities out to thwart an evil plot to subvert the minds of other powerful psychics.

Overview

Psychonauts is the brain child of acclaimed developer and adventure game guru Tim Schafer. Released in 2005, Psychonauts combined the humor and witty dialogue of Shafer's previous point-and-click adventure titles with a full 3D platforming experience. Originally released on the Xbox and PC, Psychonauts was later ported to the PlayStation 2 and made available for download on the Xbox 360, as an Xbox Original on Xbox Live Marketplace, or on the PC through Valve's Steam service in Fall of 2006.

Plot

Whispering Rock campers

Players take on the role of Raz, an impetuous boy with psychic abilities who runs to the Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, a sort of training academy for young, to realise his dreaming of becoming a psychonaut. Raz has everything to prove in his quest to join up with his idols: the camp's supervisors and elite group of mental maestros known as The Psychonauts.

Once inside Whispering Rock, Raz discovers that unknown forces are stealing the campers' brains and using them to power an army of psychic death tanks. By entering an individual's mind and delving deep into his or her psyche, Raz must battle through worlds of psychological trauma, ranging from the delusional to the downright delightful. These areas comprise the main stages of the game and with each successful mental realignment, Raz gets one step closer to uncovering the camp's dark secret.

Gameplay

The gameplay consists of traditional platforming elements combined with puzzles and obstacles that must be thwarted using Raz's ever-increasing arsenal of psychic powers. During the course of his adventures Raz will learn new powers including telekinesis, invisibility, and pyrokenesis. While proper use of these new abilities is necessary for completing the game's main story, Psychonauts allows for more creative uses of Raz's powers on friends and foes alike, usually resulting in some entertaining interactions.

Graphics

Concept art for the level 'The Milkman Conspiracy.'

The graphics and art design are wildly different from any other platformer. The characters all look like they are from one Tim Burton's many movies, all having a claymation-like feel to them. Once you enter the minds of the various people that you encounter throughout the game, you realize that nothing looks like it is recycled from the last level. Each mind is a level of its own, and is tailored to the characters own personality or problems. For instance, in the Mutated Lungfish Level, the Lung Fish is really afraid of Raz, and so when Raz enters the mind of said Lung Fish, he is a giant in the level, and destroys anything, or anyone that he walks into.

Critical Acclaim

Psychonauts' melding of strong storytelling, and creative level design won it praise among critics but failed to move copies off store shelves. Tim Shafer estimated that the game had sold 400,000 units across all 4 platforms. The units sold refer only to physical (disc based) copies of the game, and not counting any digital distribution service or the store at the Double Fine website. This retail failure, combined with the failure of another big budget title published by Majesco, Advent Rising, resulted in the near-bankruptcy of Majesco, who published Psychonauts. Psychonauts is currently available to play for free through GameTap.com, and is also available for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace in the Originals category, where it will cost you 1200 Microsoft Points for the 4GB download.

Soundtrack

Original Soundtrack

Psychonauts Soundtrack

Album name: Psychonauts Soundtrack
Music by: Peter McConnell

Meat Circus
Whispering Rock
Stay Out of the Moonlight
Hagatha's Home
Happy Flowers
The Lungfish Lair
The Milkman Conspiracy
Dr. Loboto's Lab
Duel With the Critic
The Catwalk Phantom
March of the Inmates
Sasha's Immaculate Mind
The Censors Unleashed
Black Velvetopia
The Wild Bull Run / El Odio
The Matador
Gloria's Secret Garden
Bonita's Tragic Muse
Bunk Time
Title and End Credits

Original Cinematic Score

Psychonauts Soundtrack: The Original Cinematic Score

Album name: Psychonauts Soundtrack: The Original Cinematic Score
Music by: Peter McConnell

Coach's Welcome - (2:30)
Bobby Zilch & Sasha - (2:04)
The World Is A Better Place - (1:01)
March of the Psychonauts - (2:43)
Lili Kidnapped - (2:02)
Was That A Dream? - (2:36)
Top O' The Lungfish - (2:03)
Call Me Linda - (0:54)
Dr. Loboto's Evil Plans - ((2:11)
Ah, The Theater! - (2:09)
Rise Up, Milkman - (2:33)
My Patron - (1:27)
Beauty And The Bull - (0:57)
Love Found And Lost - (1:54)
End of the Asylum - (3:19)
The Fathers - (2:47)
Summer's End - (4:45)
Psychonauts Theme Medley (Remixed and Remastered) - (4:28)

General Information Edit

Game Name	Psychonauts
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2 Xbox Xbox Live Marketplace PC
Publisher(s)	THQ Inc. Majesco Entertainment
Developer(s)	Double Fine Productions, Inc. Budcat Creations
Genres	Add a new genre Action Adventure Puzzle Platformer
Themes	Add a new theme Fantasy Sci-Fi Comedy Abstract
Original US Release	April 19, 2005 need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release	know the real date?
Aliases