Psychonauts
Score: 95% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Majesco Developer: Double Fine Studios Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Adventure/ Platformer (3D)
Graphics & Sound: As seems to be the case with anything Tim Schafer creates, the graphics in Psychonauts have a cartoony look and feel, but in a unsettling sort of way. The character design is excellent; original, and interesting. Quite simply, the characters have character. I noticed a small issue with a mouth texture that seemed to go beyond design choices and into the realm of mistakes-that-weren’t caught, but Starscream said he hadn’t even noticed, so I may have been scrutinizing a bit more than most would. There’s a lot of ambient visuals going on in the background in Psychonauts, such as fireflies or dust particles floating around and insects swarming around lights. This ambient “life” in the environments seems to help reinforce the suspension of disbelief while playing, even though the environments are very cartoony and far from realistic. The sound effects are nicely done and stay true to the comic (animated) feel of the game, but better than the sound effects are the dialog, especially in the “Milkman Conspiracy” level. There are a lot of tongue-in-cheek comments and, again, some dialog that helps to bring the characters to life. The music is also very nice, with different songs for the different levels and moods. The music reinforces the mood of the game nicely and, otherwise, just sort of stays out of the way; just like game music is supposed to do.
Gameplay: Psychonauts is, for the most part, your average 3D Platformer/Adventure game. There are obstacles to overcome, things to hunt for, things to collect, puzzles to solve, and, of course, mini-games. The only thing that really sets Psychonauts’ gameplay apart is its specific implementation or approach. The game’s concept is based around the ability for Raz (Rasputin, the main character) to go inside of other people’s psyches. Most of the levels are inside of this surreal, dream-like world. As the levels are in people’s heads, they aren’t required to abide by the typical laws of physics. There are levels where the land twists and turns like a ribbon and gravity pulls you “down” toward the land you’re closest to – whichever direction it may be in! You encounter strange characters that are unreal, but look however the owner of the mind you’re in thinks they should. The more distressed the person’s mind is, the more surreal the level is. This unique element helps to keep Psychonauts interesting as you progress. That, mixed with Tim Schafer’s wit and story development, helps to make the game more interesting than your average run-of-the-mill platformer. As you proceed through the game, you collect psychic arrowheads and merit points. The arrowheads can be collected like money and spent on various equipment. When you collect enough merit points, you gain a new psychic power or, I should say, you can cash them in to collect a new psychic power; you have to go to your mentor’s lair to actually receive the new psychic power. If you’re currently involved in something else, you have the option to quit what you’re doing and collect the new power immediately, but you have to then return to the area you were at to continue your ongoing mission. One thing that’s a bit confusing is that some of the merit badges you receive are actually awarded for achieving some goal, while others are treated much like “keys” – they’re given to you at the point in the game that you’re allowed to progress past some point. This double standard can lead to confusion when you think you’re going to have to actually do something to achieve a badge and, in fact, you already have it. Then there’s also the issue of “learner’s permits” – basically a temporary badge that enables you to prove yourself with a power before you actually gain it, but only in a limited area.
Difficulty: I found that a lot of the difficulty I had while playing Psychonauts came from having a hard time trying to locate an entrance or an objective or from confusion as to what my next task was, due to the merit badge thing. The map shows you the general area of your next goal, but the specific point of the entrance is sometimes not as clear. In a similar fashion, it can be difficult to determine specific goals inside of a level, as certain locations may be barred by different obstacles or require the use of certain objects to reach – and these may be in the level or in the real world. If you haven’t picked up certain equipment in the real world, you may be held back until you do, even though you can access the level. As you gain more psychic powers, you’ll have to choose which two to map to the black and white buttons. You’ll want to choose wisely, as having quick access to the correct power plays an important part in some of the areas. Think your strategies through and choose and locate your powers carefully to make these parts easier.
Game Mechanics: At first I thought there were some really bad issues with Psychonauts. I found that the in-game movies were horribly lip-synched. Later it became obvious that it wasn’t a programming issue, but a problem with my Psychonauts disc. Since the graphics were scripted and rendered by the game engine, they continued at the correct pace, while the audio (which was streaming) was choppy and slowed down, getting further and further from being in synch. Other parts that had actual FMVs stayed synchronized. The main reason I mention this is because this disc was not handled roughly and the Xbox was fairly new. There was no reason for this skipping to occur. If you purchase or rent Psychonauts and find the same issues, the disc or your Xbox may need cleaning or the disc may be scratched. The skipping issue got me to where I was watching closely, so it’s possible that I picked up on things that most people wouldn’t have caught. But when you first go to leave the kid’s campground area and enter the woods, two girls stop you and demand an arrowhead to let you pass and there is a strange issue with the mouth of one of the girls. It seems that the texture and the mesh is not aligned so that when the mouth opens into an “O” shape, half of the texture for the mouth remains on the girl’s face. I found that to be quite strange looking – beyond an intentional weirdness. Just an observation, but there you are. As for the interaction of Raz with the world around him, everything works swimmingly. You can grind on any railing that you’d expect you could. You can interact with environmental objects with your psychic powers. As strange as the models are and as weird as the environments appear, the interactions seem natural and realistic enough to allow for the required suspension of disbelief to immerse you into the game. All in all, the game turned out to be pretty good – something I had worried about for quite some time, as it was originally supposed to be an Xbox launch title. If you’re a Tim Schafer fan, you’ll probably want to pick up a copy. If you’re not sold on it by this review, you may want to rent it first.
-Geck0, GameVortex Communications AKA Robert Perkins
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