Chickaroo Reviews: Psychonauts (Multiple Platforms)

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chickaroo1
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Chickaroo Reviews: Psychonauts (Multiple Platforms)

Post by chickaroo1 »

I want you to pretend that Tim Burton never made movies, but video games instead. Enter Psychonauts, the psychic tale of action, adventure, drama, and BRAINS!




Game: Psychonauts
Systems: PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox. Re Released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Steam
Release Date: Spring 2005
Developers: Double Fine Productions




True Psychic Tales, Starring Razputin Aquato
Story: Boy do we have a crazy story for you today!
Psychonauts is the tale of a young psychic boy names Razputin. He comes from a circus performing family. His father disapproves of Raz’s psychic powers. He makes Raz train hard everyday, making Raz think that his father hates him and possibly - wants to kill him. Raz decided to run away to Whispering Rocks Psychic Summer Camp for Children to train and become a psychonaut.
The camp counselors didn’t approve of Raz trying to sneak his way into the camp without paying and/or signing up, but they let him stay but only for a few days. Now Raz has only a few days to become a psychonaut. But, a twisted evil plot unfolds that could threaten the entire camp including everyone’s brain! Now it’s up to Raz to save the camp and possibly win a girl’s heart while doing so.




Show Your Skills, Freak.
Gameplay: The game is a platformer. You can jump and punch. But there’s more than just that!
Along your journey, you will gain some psychic powers to help you overcome monsters and nightmares inside a person's mind. Oh yeah, I should probably explain the mind part.
Psychonauts is all about entering a person's mind and getting rid of their mental problems or learning a new psychic power. To enter a person's mind, you use a "psy-portal" (which is a little door) and you slap it on a person's head and you will get sucked in! Crazy right?
The levels are amazingly creative and different from one another. There's a messed up neighborhood trying to figure out who the mysterious "Milkman" is, a 70's themed disco party, a neon "Day of the Dead" level and so much more! It's all over the place in this game.
The psychic powers are interesting too. You can levitate on a ball, confuse people with a question mark grenade and so much more!




Control the Psycho, Be the Psycho
Controls: The controls are pretty straightforward but can be stiff. There are times where I’d have to press down a button hard to make Raz do something.
Jump is X
Punch is Square
Psychic powers are R1, L2 and R2


Did Danny Elfman do This?
Music: Lordy, don’t get me started on the music!
I freakin’ adore this soundtrack. Every track in a level fits like a glove. The opening theme is a lovely homage to Danny Elfman’s work (Namely the Beetlejuice theme.) The music that plays at the camp is literal camping music. The track in the final level is a crazy circus and so much more. I love this soundtrack.
Soundtrack is composed by Peter McConnell.




Did Tim Burton do This Too?
Graphics: Here’s a little back story before I explain:
Psychonauts was in development for 4-5 years over at Double Fine. A teaser trailer was released in 2002, but the final product didn't come out till 2005. Plus, the budget for this game was about $13 million.
The graphics feel a bit outdated at times. But they’re still really good. The character designs and settings feel like something Tim Burton would've done. It’s crazy, colorful, and creative. I’d love to see an HD remake of this game so much.




Would you Trust Anyone in This Camp?
Overall: Psychonauts is an amazing game. I love and adore it with all my two hearts. I’d play this game for hours once I got home from school. And when I finished it, I felt heartbroken and sad that the story ended on a cliffhanger. After you play this game, you’ll be wanting a Psychonauts 2. The game has a creative flow that most other platformers don’t have. This game is like a work of Tim Burton, which is great.
This is one of those games that shows the world that games can be art. With it’s crazy and creative story and designs, Psychonauts is one of my most favorite games right now. I recommend it to all.
(NOTE: No, Tim Burton nor Danny Elfman worked on this game. The game was created by Tim Schafer. Respect this man, he has good tastes and awesome video games.)




Score: 5/5
See my past reviews here! The Chickaroo Reviews Archive List is here!

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Killer French Bread
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Post by Killer French Bread »

Never liked this. It's a bit wacky but that doesn't let it off so lightly in my eyes. The title 'show our skills' is kinda ironic as you don't really do much apart from the few basic attacks and then collect a million boring things. And it's so slow. And I didn't get into the story at all (which, lets be honest, is the only reason most people bother to trawl through this game). Nothing for me here.
Tic Tac, sir?
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TCB
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Post by TCB »

I haven't really played this, so I can't give full judgement, but I heard (at least) that despite the game's positivity it didn't sell well.
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Reknoc
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Post by Reknoc »

Nothing by DoubleFine ever sells, which is why they went digital only and had to put their Adventure game on kickstarter.

Well, the Sesame Street Kinect game may have done alright.
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