[Video Games] Psychonauts
Sep. 18th, 2005 07:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trooper6An Xbox review:
Psychonauts -- Majesco
What the Game Is: 3rd Person action-adventure with lots of platforming. It is very cartoony and kid looking, but it has some grown-up humor...or a bit of a dark streak underneath the primary colors. In other words, if looks like it is appropriate for kids (and it is) but grown-ups will have a good time with it too...like that 1950s live action Dr. Seuss movie The 5,000 fingers of Dr. T.
Plot/Level Design: The levels are varied and colorful and fun. The plot is also fun. Very engaging. The characters are neat. And some of the levels are inspired awesomeness. Tongue is always in cheek, and there are actor jokes.
Audio: The audio is good. There are lots of kids' voices. This might annoy you. But know that they have their tongue in their cheeks. There is a lots of very dialogue is this game. I'm also impressed with the skill of the voice actors. A lot of adults who specialize in doing kids' voices for voice overs often have this annoying quality to their voices (in my opinion)...they don't exactly sound like kids...they just sound like vaguely disturbing exaggerations. Well, no one does that in this game! All the voices work really well. Great actors.
Graphics: Bright. 3-D cartoony. Surreal. Fun.
Controls: Nothing to complain about here.
Extras: No extras to speak of.
Replay: I don't know if I'd replay it. But there is a lot of collecting in the game (collecting figments, collecting scavenger hunt items, etc)...and that means that spent a lot of time scouring the levels the first time through. This means that I probably won't play it again. But I'd watch someone else play it. And I had a good time playing it the first time through. It is conceivable that I'd play it again way off in the future.
Critical Reception: Generally, most reviewers love this game. They only have the highest praise for it. Numerous times I've read things like this: For all of those who complain that gaming has nothing original, then buy this game. The praise is the utmost in superlative, like worthplaying.com's, "Without a doubt, it's the best platformer developed in the past few years, and quite possibly the best 3D platformer yet produced." I don't think I feel exactly the same way...I mean, I don't think it walks on water, but I think it is a super-fine game. On the other hand, it's nice to see people get all excited about an Xbox game that is not Halo.
Grade: B+ (I'm working on fighting grad inflation).
Summation: This is a very funny game. It has some really cool levels. The platforming is fun, the writing is good, the audio is good. There are some touching moments, there are some sad moments, there are moments that will make you laugh, there are moments that will make you scratch your head. This is a good game. I'm not a fan of the cute...and I really liked the game. I recommend it for folks who like platformers and who are not anymore curmudgeonly than I am. I recommend it for folks who liked The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. I recommend it for some folks who want some whimsy. Good solid game.
What's next?
Quickie Game:
Main Feature Game:
(Since this review is for a game I finished a while ago, there is no what's next section)
Psychonauts -- Majesco
What the Game Is: 3rd Person action-adventure with lots of platforming. It is very cartoony and kid looking, but it has some grown-up humor...or a bit of a dark streak underneath the primary colors. In other words, if looks like it is appropriate for kids (and it is) but grown-ups will have a good time with it too...like that 1950s live action Dr. Seuss movie The 5,000 fingers of Dr. T.
Plot/Level Design: The levels are varied and colorful and fun. The plot is also fun. Very engaging. The characters are neat. And some of the levels are inspired awesomeness. Tongue is always in cheek, and there are actor jokes.
Audio: The audio is good. There are lots of kids' voices. This might annoy you. But know that they have their tongue in their cheeks. There is a lots of very dialogue is this game. I'm also impressed with the skill of the voice actors. A lot of adults who specialize in doing kids' voices for voice overs often have this annoying quality to their voices (in my opinion)...they don't exactly sound like kids...they just sound like vaguely disturbing exaggerations. Well, no one does that in this game! All the voices work really well. Great actors.
Graphics: Bright. 3-D cartoony. Surreal. Fun.
Controls: Nothing to complain about here.
Extras: No extras to speak of.
Replay: I don't know if I'd replay it. But there is a lot of collecting in the game (collecting figments, collecting scavenger hunt items, etc)...and that means that spent a lot of time scouring the levels the first time through. This means that I probably won't play it again. But I'd watch someone else play it. And I had a good time playing it the first time through. It is conceivable that I'd play it again way off in the future.
Critical Reception: Generally, most reviewers love this game. They only have the highest praise for it. Numerous times I've read things like this: For all of those who complain that gaming has nothing original, then buy this game. The praise is the utmost in superlative, like worthplaying.com's, "Without a doubt, it's the best platformer developed in the past few years, and quite possibly the best 3D platformer yet produced." I don't think I feel exactly the same way...I mean, I don't think it walks on water, but I think it is a super-fine game. On the other hand, it's nice to see people get all excited about an Xbox game that is not Halo.
Grade: B+ (I'm working on fighting grad inflation).
Summation: This is a very funny game. It has some really cool levels. The platforming is fun, the writing is good, the audio is good. There are some touching moments, there are some sad moments, there are moments that will make you laugh, there are moments that will make you scratch your head. This is a good game. I'm not a fan of the cute...and I really liked the game. I recommend it for folks who like platformers and who are not anymore curmudgeonly than I am. I recommend it for folks who liked The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. I recommend it for some folks who want some whimsy. Good solid game.
What's next?
Quickie Game:
Main Feature Game:
(Since this review is for a game I finished a while ago, there is no what's next section)
