It seems as though being groomed as the “next big thing in platforming” by Microsoft is something of a curse. Every title in the genre that has been under MS’s wing at one point or another has suffered at the hands of critics (Blinx), consumers (Voodoo Vince), or every living soul on the planet (Malice). Psychonauts seemed destined to fall in the unfortunate final category, as its development eerily mirrored the hammer-swinging bane of Xbox gaming. Like Malice, Psychonauts received heavy exposure early in development upon news of publication from Microsoft. Word slowly died down, as did support from Gates and Co. When Microsoft dropped publishing duties, Psychonauts was picked up by Majesco. Being abandoned by a company that carried Grabbed by the Ghoulies and Sneakers to the finish line can be quite a downer. Will this former second-party superstar show MS who’s Psycho, or is it all for Naut? (sorry)

Story:

If you’ve never heard of the name Tim Schafer (no, he’s not the bandleader on Letterman), spending a few minutes watching the story of Psychonauts unfold will certainly clue you in to one of the most creative minds in the videogame industry. The brain behind titles like Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, and Day of the Tentacle (basically, everything great about LucasArts before they lost their sense of humor) has focused all of his creative energy on this game for the last three years, and believe you me, it shows. Psychonauts not only has an out-of-left-field premise that is sure to attract right-brained gamers; it’s backed by a script that is undoubtedly the funniest ever created for a videogame.



Rasputin, or Raz for short, is a psychic phenom who wants to live out his dream of being a Psychonaut- a soldier who uses mental ammunition to win battles. Running away from home, Raz breaks into a summer camp that trains eager young minds. With his parents on the way to take him back to a life he despises, Raz seeks to learn all he can about the psychic arts, only to learn that he’ll have to put his skills to work much earlier than anticipated.

With a slowly eroding camp as the backdrop, Raz must fight to cleanse the minds of the disturbed the only way he knows how- by getting in their heads. Literally. A majority of the levels take place inside the psyches of your very real enemies. These aren’t the most stable people to begin with, so the situations you’re thrust into once you start screwing with their noodles are plenty insane. If you’re expecting some of the familiar platform game trappings (the ice level, mine car chases) look elsewhere. Psychonauts uses none of those, instead opting to create wholly original settings that you’ll never forget. For my money, I wouldn’t have it any other way. There may be no greater back-to-back level sequence in any platformer than the Goggalor/Milkman stages.

That isn’t to say the rest of the game doesn’t deliver creatively. You’re constantly pushed ahead by a yearning to find out what happens next. Psychonauts has such a brilliant sense of humor that it’s impossible to imagine anyone not enjoying it. It’s familiar, yet relatively free of pop-culture references that other games (and movies) seem to be overdosing on (Conker, I’m looking in your direction). It’s got the outrageousness and off-the-wall antics of a Saturday morning cartoon, while delivering the more accessible humor of prime-time and late night animated shows like The Simpsons and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. When you have to pause and set down the controller to finish laughing, it’s the mark of a damn funny game. In a genre heavily steeped in clichés, Psychonauts is all about creating new and memorable storyline experiences.

Gameplay:

Back when development started on Psychonauts, I’m sure the use of psychic abilities was a new idea. Last year’s one-two punch of PSI-OPS and Second Sight has taken away some of the freshness of the concept, but Psychonauts transplants the idea into another genre with exceptional results. Aside from the full physical repertoire of punches and jumps (of both the single and double variety), Raz learns a myriad of psychic abilities throughout the course of the game. From telekinesis (moving objects and enemies without touching them) to pyrokinesis (set fire to anything without fear of arson charges) to my personal favorite, clairvoyance (see the world through the eyes of others), the mental maneuvers are equally entertaining and useful.

Along with the mental and physical abilities, Raz has a pretty extensive item collection. There are the requisite collectable aids like the arrowhead detector and the mental cobweb duster, but the prize for coolest item in a videogame ever may just go to… a piece of bacon. This one heavenly slice of pork serves as a codec of sorts for Raz, allowing him to contact his man on the inside, Agent Cruller. Cruller can then offer all sorts of advice and services including enemy strategies, objective hints, and teleportation.

Teleportation is used extensively in Psychonauts to mask one of its minor, though noticeable flaws. While it never put me to sleep, the overworld (campgrounds) could have been more exciting. Since Psychonauts is far from a standard platformer, you sometimes have to search in strange places to find your next stage. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it’s far more entertaining than the predictable “hub” stages you’ll see in other games of this ilk. Early in the game there’s a few NPCs around to keep you occupied, only to be later replaced by enemies that are sparse, yet annoying and ill placed. Even worse are the load times that buffer a trip across camp or any inter-stage travel. They’re not extremely intolerable, but they are too long for a system with a hard drive.