Psychonauts (2005) (VG)

User Rating:

9.4/10   

Director:

Tim Schafer

Writers:

Tim Schafer (story) &
Erik Wolpaw (story) ...

Release Date:

19 April 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy

Tagline:

A Psychic Odessy Through the Minds of Misfits, Monsters and Madmen

Plot:

Against his father's wishes, a young psychic prodigy named Razputin ("Raz" for short) leaves his life in the circus and sneaks into Whispering Rock...

Plot Keywords:

Invisibility | G Men | Brain Out Of Head | Fear Of Water | Levitation

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Richard Steven Horvitz	...	Raz (voice)
Nikki Rapp	...	Lili Zanotto / Squeaky Flower / Squeaky Thistle (voice)
Stephen Stanton	...	Sasha Nein / Bonita Soleil (voice)
Alexis Lezin	...	Milla Vodello (voice)
Charles Adler	...	Coach Oleander (voice)
Nick Jameson	...	Dr. Loboto / Pokeylope / Kochamara (voice)
Nika Futterman	...	Dogen Boole / Whispering Rocket Lady / First Rainbow Squirt (voice)
David Kaye	...	Ford Cruller / Hulking Lungfish / Officer O'Lungfish / Lungfish Zealot / French Soldier (voice)
Colleen O'Shaughnessey	...	Crystal Flowers Snagrash / Nils Lutefisk (voice)
Brett Walter	...	Maloof Canola / Kitty Bubai / Chloe Barge (voice)
Mark Ivanir	...	Mikhail Bulgakov / Lungfish Zealot (voice)
Victoria Hoffman	...	Elka Doom (voice)
Jeannie Elias	...	J.T. Hoofburger (voice)
Ogie Banks	...	Chops Sweetwind / Male Dancer (voice)
Christina Puccelli	...	Elton Fir (voice)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Certification:

Ireland:12 | UK:12 | USA:T

Company:

Double Fine Productions Inc.

Trivia:

The game had publishing problems for a while. Originally, it was set to be an Xbox-exclusive published by Microsoft. For some reason, Microsoft got rid of the game and it went into limbo. Eventually, Majesco picked it up, and changed it from an Xbox-exclusive to an Xbox, PS2, and PC game.

Quotes:

G-Man: Feces.

Movie Connections:

References Gojira (1954)

Best game in the last few years.

The richness of the environments and characters, and the depth of story telling will make you wish that many other games were like psychonauts. I could go on and on about how great I think the game is, but other reviews on numerous other websites and publications have done that. So, instead I will counter a couple of arguments that some may have against the greatness of the game.

For some there may be some jumping or fighting in the game that may be a bit difficult, but a little patience or maybe a break in those situations would help. The camera angles might bother a few, but if you don't get used to them with a little time, you can always play the PC version and control the camera with the mouse and movements with the keyboard. There are also a number of things to collect, and for those who do not like to collect them, then you can ignore all the items that you can't find easily or find a walkthrough that tells you the location of the items. There are walkthroughs available that only tell the locations, and nothing else, for those who feel a full walkthrough would ruin the game. I think you only need to get about half of the items to get most of the good stuff, and after that the rest will just give you a secret cut scene, but my memory is not so great so I could be wrong about that.

I think everyone should really enjoy the game once they give it a chance and go through at least 2 levels, and explore the environment and talk to the characters.

Best of all, in the US, this game can probably be found for $10-25 because it has not sold as well as it should have here. It is worth much more than that, but for that price it's worth a buy for everyone. If you don't like it, you can give it to someone who will.

There are also demos available for ps2, xbox, and PC. I do not know how to find the demos for ps2 or xbox and it may be impossible, or not worth the expense. However, the pc version is easily available for download, if your computer can run it. The xbox360 controllers can provide a console-like experience for those who do not like the mouse and keyboard controls, as they can plug into the usb slot. There are also third party adapters for almost every other console controller on the market, though your mileage may vary.