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Great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 06, 2006
Author: Amazon User

My housemate and I got a Playstation recently. It's been awhile since I've played video games, and I found few of them interested me, until I came across Psychonauts.

The creativity, humor, story and even voice-acting were miles above the other games I'd encountered. Gameplay is typical -- you shoot and jump your way around obstacles while using a variety of techniques (invisibilty, levitation, shielding, etc.) to protect yourself. But everything else is unique, from the clever, funny dialogue (one character has an ongoing, ill-fated argument with the camp squirrels) to a storyline that pokes good-natured fun at the evil-mastermind-taking-over-the-world cliche. Make sure you talk to the characters multiple times -- their dialogue is worth it.

Since your character travels into the minds of the people around him, the levels have the distinction of being entirely different from one another, which keeps you from ever getting bored as you play. For example, one level requires you to run an obstacle course in an ever-shrinking bubble, while another has you recruiting soldiers to fight in a board game against Napoleon. It would be a crime to reveal too much about my favorite, a Japanese-movie scenario laced with hilarious cutscenes and propaganda broadcasts from the game's bad guy. In fact, the game's cutscenes often have the kind of comic timing you find in well-written movies or tv shows. Many times I found myself laughing out loud.

I'm a little surprised to hear some people had problems with the gameplay. I've barely touched a game in over 10 years and I did fine. The final level did have a couple frustrating obstacles, but with some patient repetition (or a dip into the online walkthroughs) you can figure out how to get around them (Hints: let a trampoline carry you past the second wheel; balance on top of the first screen and jump to the inside of the second). If anything, I think the gameplay was possibly a little too easy. I definitely would have liked some tougher puzzles.

To sum up, I enjoyed just about every minute I spent playing this game. Grab it if you see it -- this kind of creativity should be encouraged.

amazing game, with lots of variety and free roaming.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

this is definitely the greatest game i have ever played ( this and jak 3). first of all , let me say , thew three most important things in a game are : free roaming , variety , and good gameplay. this game has all of them . it has great graphics , and also lots of free roaming . the main HUB in the game is the camp in which you stay in , and it is HUGE ! there is a store there (and there are alot of things you can buy there ) , and there is alot of exploring to do . there is a scavanger hunt you can do there , you can talk to various people, you can collect all kind of different things , and alot more . so, like i said , there is alot of free roaming . and , in case you didn't know , most of the levels you travel in are the insides of people's minds. and each mind is shaped like their owner's personality. for example, there is a level inside a butcher's mind , and everything is filled with meat.but there is alot more to it than that . each level is different than the other ones. and by that i dont mean that they are just different by the characters , enemies, level design and so on . each level is different is gameplay. like in one level(which is in the mind of a paranoid madman), there are alot of detectives and spies around , and they wont let you pass through some places . so , you need to go around finding different disguises so they will let you go .in another level , you play sort of a boardgame against someone. in another level you need to get around on a thing that's sort of a skateboard , and in another level you play as a giant in a city of little creatures and you can smash up everything. also , in the second half of the game , you are in an insane asylum and it's really nice checking out the minds of the crazy people there . also , the game has pretty funny humour in it . there are also alot of different psychic powers you can use. so, in conclusion , this is a wonderful game, and i highly recommend it .

Break-Out Game of 2005 (Despite Quirks)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The levels themselves, which send the player from the psychic kids' camp deep into the twisted dimensions of characters' psyches, are a real treat. Search the demented and quite paranoid guard's brain for the missing and mysterious milkman! Float up and up through rising columns of colored bubbles in the dance-party "levitation" level or stomp around the city and smash buildings Godzilla-style as "Gugalor" in the lungfish level. This game takes imagination to a level not seen in platformers in a lonnnng time. Who knows whose head you'll enter next...and what sort of weird, funny or psychadelic stuff you'll find there!

Raz, the main character, has all of the great charisma of, well, probably Parappa from days gone by. The dialog is regularly witty and at times down-right brilliant (e.g. the rebel lungfish telling Raz/Gugalor to go ahead and stomp on a few civilians. "I don't care," he says with all of the barritone and confidence of a chessy '50s horror film hero, "my family lives in another town!"). This will be (or darn well should be) the break-out, dark-horse game of 2005.

Three faults: the framerate is a little sticky (Raz doesn't always move about the map in an entirely fluid manner), the automatic game-save times are regular and annoyingly long and the instructions on how to utilize certain utilities and devices is often murky. There are a lot of things to collect, combine and use. As such, and without a really supportive help interface to fall back on, doing so can require a fair bit of trial-and-error. These problems are minor and don't detract from the game experience much. They can easily be cleared up for what will be an unbelievable sequel.

A great game. Perfect for summer.

Awesome but sometimes hard to endure

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Psychonauts is an insanely creative game. In it, you are a boy named Raz who sneaks off to Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp to become a psychonaut. During the game you obtain abilities such as levitation, clairvoyance, psi-blasts (which is basically like your brain being a gun), and much more. You are led on many tasks which take you under a lake, to an insane asylum, and into many different people's minds, which is the best part.

First off, the characters. Many people complain about the graphics in this game, claiming them to be ugly and that the drawings are awful. I enjoy to look at them, because most of the games I play feature realistic people. Psychonauts is a lot more fun for me because everybody is weird looking and exaggerated. Unfortunately, I do agree that some of the graphics do not look that great on the PS2. I have played psychonauts on a computer before, and though the controls are much harder, the graphics are better. Well, back to the positive things. Graphics aside, the characters themselves are unique. You can walk up to people and listen to what they're talking about (which can range from band names, to girlfriends, to lake monsters!). You can also walk up and talk to anybody, which is a nice distraction if you want to just walk around and explore for a while.

Exploring is another fun part of Psychonauts. The camp is large, and you can walk around and talk to people, collect arrowheads (which are used as currency), and cards (which you can use to obtain new abilities). The camp is free of enemies, except the occasional fire breathing mountain lion or levitating bear, which leaves you free to wander around and talk to people. The one problem I had with exploring was the LOADING. Everytime you go to a new area, the game has to freaking load. It can take a while. Not minutes, but enough time to get annoyed. This did not completely ruin the game for me, though, because what was on the other side of the loading screen was usually worth it.

The controls in Psychonauts are pretty simple, but there are a few bugs and tricky moves. Sometimes when you are trying to get Raz to get off of a pole or ladder, he won't or you will be trying to get him on one and he won't. Other times the camera will randomly spin around and you won't be able to see because there is a huge tree in your way or something. Sometimes the lighting is really bad, and Raz can fall onto a ledge, but you can't get off it because it is too dark to see anything. The glitches do not happen too often, but when they do, it is frustrating.

Another fault is the the game is simply too easy. Aside from a few tricky parts, the bosses are all easy and the game is simple. I found myself halfway through after only about 5 hours. You find yourself craving the game once it's done, not proud of yourself and glad that you completed it, because it happened so fast.

Pros:
-great characters
-interesting story
-fun upgrades
-interesting environment
-easy controls
Cons:
-the controls, while easy, can be frustrating since Raz won't do what you want him to do
-bugs and glitches
-too short and easy

Overall, this is a great addition to any game library. If you like a game that is a little odd-ball, but with lots of creativity and humour, get Psychonauts!

The second-best 3-D platformer ever.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The title tells no lies. This is the second-best 3-D platformer ever. If you don't know what the first one is, I feel sorry for you because you have never played Super Mario 64. But all digressing aside, this is an awesome game. It's really creative, colorful, and not to mention funny. It's not perfect, but it's almost as close as you can get with a platformer. And while I can't completely get behind the name 'Raz,' I love this game and reccomend it to anybody who has a sense of humor.

Pretty cool

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is a lot of fun. Unique concept. It gets pretty complicated pretty quick though.

I WILL OBFUSCATE THE TRUE PURPOSE OF THE MILKMAN

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: February 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I really liked this one. The premise of a young psychic with the power to astrally project himself into peoples' minds is very original, but it's the execution that makes it so much fun. Psychonauts is part action platformer and part puzzle with a little bit of RPG thrown in as well.

The game reminds me very much of the Legend of Zelda series, only instead of exploring dungeons, you explore psyches. Some are deranged. Some are confused. And some are just odd. Since every mind has a different problem, you can never be sure what you'll find. For example:

Boyd, the security guard (Paranoid Conspiracy Nut): A twisted "normal" neighborhood crawling with secret agents and insidious Rainbow Squirt girls.

Fred (Napoleon Complex): Fred's not crazy. He just can't get the Little Emporer out of his head. That's where you come in.

Sasha Nein (Smart Guy): Sasha's pretty stable, with a gleaming cube of a mind. Until you accidentally unleash a monster from his Id.

There's lots more. But it's too much to describe. Just trust me that you've never quite played a game like this. So if you want something original, you should definitely check it out.

By the way, there's some great writing here, too. Lots of funny stuff.

A few faults, but not many

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: December 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I heard about this game through a magazine - I think this game won an award or something. Anyhow I gave it a shot. It's good. It's certainly fun, and unique. The game has a very skewed look to it, and as I was playing it reminded me of "Day Of the Tentacle". Turns out, it was designed by the same guy/people! So that answers that. With this skewed look comes a bit of a sticky wicket: Sometimes you have trouble telling where to go next, as it's hard to see exactly where to go when the world around you is all steep hills and weird stuff. The characters are good and the plot is good and the gameplay is good. Occasionally you'll die cause the camera will screw up and you'll move in the wrong direction or it's not quite clear exactly how far a jump should be, but you get so much life it's not really a challenge. It's a fun game to rip through, that's about it. One thing that bugged me is after winning it, that's it. You can't go back and wander around the "real" world which would be nice cause there are some small things I didn't accomplish which would have been nice to do. I'm not sure it's worth the price - I won it in a week (I didn't buy it though).

Excellent game for the most part

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is an excellent game, especially for fans of Tim Schafer/Tim Burton/Jhonen Vasquez-type humor. The main character is even voiced by the very actor who plays Invader Zim on Vasquez's cult-classic cartoon, which was a big plus to me! Its hillarious!

Gameplay-wise, Psychonauts is very innovative. There's enough fighting to satisfy typical gamers, but strategy is definatly more important. Its an RPG, but it also has a few self-contained levels. You level up, but you don't do so by fighting. You get to play as a geeky circus carne with psychic powers, instead of a stereotypical, buff 'hero' type. There's a lot of strategy, but if you get stuck- especially with boss battles- then the game starts giving you as many hints as you need. Excellent. Not too hard, and definatly not too easy.

My only problem with the game is that its unclear on how to use some of the items. To this day, I still do not know what the crow's feather is for, nor have I figured out how to use the dowsing rod (incredibly frustrating!) This makes the money system cumbersome, and the game progress a little slower than I would like. Also, the loading times are horrible in the PS2 version, at least on older machines, and there are still a few bugs that pop up every now and then.

Idealy, I would have given Psychonauts 4.5 stars, if that was an option. Its an excellent game with a few wrinkles that needed to have been ironed out. All and all, however, it is most definatly worth your time and money!

And now for something completely different...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: August 11, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Contempory games seem to fall into about three catorgories, indistingusiable wwII games, games with silly amounts of swords and magic, and furturistic unscientific sci-fi.
Psychonauts is one of the few games out there that tries to break these moulds and be something orginal. How does attending a summer camp for psychics sound? What's more it succeds and is glouriusly funny at the same time.
As a platformer it does suffer from the normal niggles of the genre, occasionally frustrating camera angles and save points, a pre-occupaition with collecting various items, but very rarely does the game verge from fun into the territory of annoying.
Even if the game play isn't the most fun out there, other points to the game more than make up for this. It's got a great story, quotably funny sense of humour and genuinely lovable characters.
Some might be disapointed by the distinct lack of guns and gore but for this loss you gain so much more, like - brains! awesome mind powers! a turtle with a little crown! and more brains!
Go, buy it, for the good of your gaming soul.

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