Critically praised, but didn't sell many units. Psychonauts is an adventure game by Tim Schafer (sp?) who is famous for the Monkey Island series.
The game plays out like it's for kids, but there are quite a few moments with more adult, subtle humor. Not adult as in sexual, but just so subtle and mature that it'll go over some kids' heads.
Basically, you're a kid who snuck into a camp for the training of telepaths and telekenetics. Before you get ejected you get some quick training by the camp's handy man and wind up the only hope of saving the camp from a "bad guy".
The storyline has no twists and turns as you'll know who the bad guy is right away, but the gameplay has a lot of variations in level design. Those turn out to be a lot of fun and help to offset the rather linear storyline. For example, you'll go through camp levels, a level set on a boardgame, a level where you're like Godzilla, etc.
One level should be mentioned and it's "The Milkman" level. It's great. From the way it's laid out to the odd inhabitants to the voices. This level is the highlight of the game.
The gameplay itself is standard puzzle jumper. Your character levels up as he finds certain items which are scattered throughout the real world and the mental worlds. My only problem with this is that there really isn't a lot of reason to find everything. The rewards aren't really that fantastic for leveling up. Sure, some things helped, but most were just tweaks on skills you had.
Overall, Psychonauts is a game that many people skipped and they shouldn't have. It's not the best and probably can be beaten if you just rent it (although, it's in the bargain bin now, so just buy it), but for anyone that likes action platformers, give it a shot.
7 out of 10. (a few bad camera angles stop me from going higher)
Psychonauts - X-Box version reviewed
Psychonauts - X-Box version reviewed
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell