Psychonauts has spawned an infamous legacy over the years. Psychonauts
has become known as the good game that sold like crap. That's basically
the best was to describe it. Psychonauts was a good game that sold like
crap and it's a shame.
After playing through this game, I can say that Tim Shaffer is a
genius. The amount of creativity and humor in this game is astounding.
It plays like an old school Platforming game from the PS1/N64 days. You
play as Raz, a young psychic in training who ran away from his home in
the circus to join a Psychic camp.
The gameplay plays like a basic platformer. You use your various
pyschic abilities to make it new sections of the levels and beat the
bosses. The true gem in the game is the creativity and the humor. You
encounter different world by going into the minds of different
characters. And needless to say, the different worlds are simply
amazing. In one mind your surrounded by conspiracy theorist secret
agents, while in another your a Godzilla type monster destorying the
fish-people's (yes the fish-people's) town.
The pacing in this game is on the trippy side. Approximately the first
half of the game is relatively easy. For the most part, it acts as a
tutorial on how to utilize your powers. However, come the second half
of the game, the difficulty jumps to the opposite direction. The
missions start to become nail bitting hard, and the final mission will
definitely cause you pop a blood vessle.
The major downside to this game is the side quest. Essentially, all
there is to do outside of the main game is scavenger hunts. That's it.
After that's completed there really is nothing to do unless you find
humor in setting the squirrels on fire.
That aside, this is a fantastic game that should be played by everyone.
