Techtite Game Reviews ---

When Xbox Live was first upgraded to offer "Xbox Originals," reaction was mixed, with one exception: anyone who ever played Psychonauts had to have it on their Xbox 360 forevermore. If you ever played it you'd know why. If you never tried it, well, that's what this review is here to convince you, right? Let's get started...

One might ask what happened to Psychonauts, to make it one of the most critically acclaimed games that, at the same time, few people ever played. That's a tough question, though the short of it is: the game was released in 2005 for the original XBox. What else came out that holiday season, that a new Xbox game had to compete with? You guessed it: the XBox 360; a whole new Xbox system, with a whole crop of next-generation games! To make matters worse: the 360 is, to this day, very limited in its compatibility with original Xbox game titles. That's all irrelevant now, with Psychonauts available as a complete game download, straight to your system hard drive. Cool...!

The story involves a sort of "summer camp" for gifted kids, who are being trained as psychics, or "psychonauts." What these psychonauts will be used for in the real world is up to any one person's interpretation. Some of the teachers in camp wish to help the children with their confidence, so they feel less like an outcast. Another professor looks at psychonauts as a new science that needs to be explored. Yet another teacher is an ex-military strategist, who sees the subconscious mind as the next battleground. Problems arise when a mysterious villain starts kidnapping the children for a darker agenda. It is up to you to find your friends, discover who the villain is, and of course, save the day.

Here's what's so cool about this game for a 360 owner: to this day, even when compated to many "next gen" 360 titles, Psychonauts is still among the best "super power" fantasy games out there. It's what (nearly) every super-powers game has wanted to be, yet failed. Timeshift, for example, involved a guy with special powers, though puzzles rarely involved such powers, so you rarely got the urge to use such powers at all, which isn't fun. Sure, you could stop time, you could slow time, and you could rewind time, though in games like Timeshift, there was no reason to. Not to single out Timeshift, really. There have been several "super powers" games which used a similar premise, though not with the special "gift," so to speak, that Psychonauts has.

That's the fun of Psychonauts. Imagine your favorite classic platform/action-adventure game, times ten, thanks to the game's psychic-power element. Jumping puzzles are right through the stratosphere, thanks to levitation powers that allow you to jump high into the air, and even float like a balloon when you get up there! Targeting puzzles are made more fun with a "telekinesis" skill that allows you to grab things from far away, and/or throw huge objects at great distances. There are around 8 skills you learn in this game and they each enhance the fun factor of this platform game brilliantly.

Of course, adventure game buffs need merely be told this was another fine game from Tim Schafer. Back in the day when adventure games ruled the game shelves, Tim offered two of the genre's most unique titles: Full Throttle and Grim Fandango. True, unlike those games, this newest story is an action-adventure...although everything Throttle and Fandango did to make adventures unique and inspired, Psychonauts does for the action-adventure genre. Every action game puzzle offers mini-quests that can be solved, while the story, of course, has optional mini-stories to discover. If you only play the game once, it is highly unlikely you saw all there is to see. That's something only the best games can say.

Here's where the game spikes the ball: the level maps. While the general "hub world" of the game, so to speak, is in the summer-camp sort of place you've been recruited to, the main levels are all in the various minds of the people you interact with. Each subconscious mind is a colorful, imaginative fantasy world where there are few (if any) rules. One level is like a 1960's dance party gone wild. A later mission is within the mind of a disturbed ex-milkman, whose nightmare is a neighborhood with streets twisting and turning so vividly, a street you walk on may lead to a sidewalk that's completely upside-down to the ground you were once on! It's quite amusing to "fly" from street to street in this level, often landing on ground that was above or even perpendicular to where you were. These are among the most imaginative levels I've seen since...well, actually, I have no good example. These level maps are absolutely brilliant.

Then there are all the little details. For one thing: the game does not limit your powers to wherever they are most useful. Yes, you can use your fire powers to burn vines blocking your path. Yes, you can also use them to give an enemy a hot foot. Yes, you can even use them to scorch an annoying squirrel that keeps stealing your nuts. The choice is up to you. Exploration (of level maps) and experimentation (of powers used in each map) leads to any number of added treats, including both mini-games (like a scavenger hunt of hard-to-find items) and enjoyable mini-stories, of the characters in camp. In fact; it actually is recommended to visit and re-visit your favorite characters in between missions, as it enhances the story. You will feel a lot more impact on these kids' eventual abductions if you have taken the time to know more about them as characters.

Flaws? There are only nitpicks, really, though I must admit the final "boss" level is pretty tough. See; this isn't a game where you simply defeat the Big Bad Guy. You must enter Big Bad's mind. Suffice to say that the main buy is logically the most disturbed mind of them all, and this level is a gauntlet of various "instant death" challenges which I didn't love much. It's doable, of course; just not as "fun" as it was to reach that level, throughout the earlier game. You jump and jump as you try to save a little fluffy critter from meaner critters, as the littler critter jumps from platform to platform. This goes on for so long, I was almost hoping I could simply torch the little furball myself, tell the larger monsters "you win!" and jump to the finale. This isn't possible. You have to save the little critter. Then again; seeing as how this segment of the game is at best (no joke) one percent of the whole game, I see no reason to rate the game any lower. This is a 99% perfect game. How rare is that really?

As a parting thought; if at any time you find your own "Mister Fluffy Level" to nitpick, wondering if it is all worth it...oh yes it is. Not unlike the Lord of the RIngs film trilogy, this game has a happy ending that keeps going and going. It starts at the beginning of the final level, continues near the end of that level, then continues some more, to a very enjoyable, almost five minute (no joke) cinematic finale. What's more; it has an almost "The Impossibles" feel to it, as if to tell us what we already knew; this premise all but demands a sequel. It's a shame that for now, that sequel might never see the light of day. This game is available, however, and for now; playing it is all that matters.

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Psychonauts

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