Psychonauts

Developer: Double Fine Productions

Platform: PC & Xbox

Release: 2005

Psychonauts is a platform game that is filled with charming characters and a really whacked out storyline that kept the game extremely compelling for me. The game has you taking control of a boy named Razputin who escaped from his father’s circus and decided to take part in a summer camp. The summer camp, which was a secret government training program in disguise, took in special children with psychic abilities and trained them into special agents called the Psychonauts. The game starts right when you crashed into the program and the plot of the game slowly fleshed out as events happened in the camp.

One very interesting point pertaining to the levels in the game is that all the levels took place inside the mind of various characters in the game, be it the sergeant of the camp or a gigantic lungfish by the name of Linda. The levels are all very imaginative and different from each other which make playing every level a fresh experience.  One memorable level took place in the mind of Linda the lungfish. In its mind, you play as the enormous ‘bad guy’ in the city of lungfish. It’s very similar to the Godzilla movies where you can trample the tiny citizens, climb the buildings and knock down landmarks all while the teeny lungfish army of tanks and planes firing at you. The level ends with you fighting a superhero who really is the sergeant of the summer camp in disguise. In each level, you are able to collect figments of the character’s memories. This allows the game to have deep character development and make each of them relevant to the entire plot of the game. Collecting the figments also allow you to gain new psychic abilities which are crucial in some of the puzzles and boss fights in the game.

The character design in this game is simply brilliant. The characters in the game are interesting and their personalities showed through really well with the well written and quirky dialogue lines. Voice acting for the characters are also very well done and brought out a certain charm to the characters. Not only did the characters speak well in the game, they looked good too. The visual design of the characters is appealing. They have this certain dark yet cartoony look to them, something you would see in a Tim Burton film. They varied in shapes, sizes and colours and each of them has their own certain traits which brought out their unique look.

The actual gameplay is very standard, platforming kind of game. You control the character in a 3d environment and are able to jump, slide and climb objects as well as attack enemies with a standard punch. The psychic powers do bring some engaging gameplay mechanics into the game. One interesting power is the ability to see from another character’s point of view. It is well implemented in a boss fight in which the light goes out and only the boss had night vision ability. You are thus able to see through the viewpoint of the boss and be able to dodge her attacks while finding a chance to strike. There are also standard platform game elements such as collecting the figments to gain new powers, finding secret items and buying of items to help you get across certain obstacles. Enemy variation in the game is surprisingly limited although there are quite a number of very interesting boss characters.

Graphics of the game are somewhat dated by today’s standard but the animations of the characters make up for it. The game performs very well in a modern machine and running it in high resolution makes the visual decent and workable for its unique design style. The sound effects and music in the game are decent but not very memorable. The voice acting on the other hand shines and is still better than most of the games today.

Overall, Pyschonauts is a very enjoyable experience. Even though the platforming mechanics are good, I find that the main reasons I’m attracted to the game are the interesting cast of characters and the well presented storyline. I love this game.

Rating: 9/10

Weiwen