Psychonauts: Fun, but Disappointing

Psychonauts is one of those games that always comes up in discussions about underplayed games. So it goes without saying that when it came up cheap on Steam, I had to give it a bash. Since I've (finally) just finished it, I thought I'd try to articulate some of my thoughts. Not a review per se, just a bit of a commentary on a few things I found interesting about the game.

I want the cap and goggles. Just sayin'

Everything anyone has ever said about the visual design of the game is dead on. There's nothing else quite like it. The weirdness of the character designs is one thing, but the aesthetics of each mind are something else. The story device of entering different characters minds is used to maximum effect in gameplay, with no two minds being close to the same. It's not just visual design either, different minds bring appropriate level design. A particular instance comes to mind when entering the mind of Fred Bonaparte (yes, really) who is sharing cranium  space with a genetic memory of Napoleon. The level itself takes on the appearance of a hex based game board, complete with pieces to move. It's barely more than superficial, the level really relies on the same mix of platforming and psychic powers that characterises the rest of the game, but it's nevertheless a welcome break from platform puzzles and is long enough to satisfy but not so long as to get tedious. This level may not be the most bombastic (stomping around a lungfish's mental city like a monster from a Kaiju movie gets that award), or the best visually (that goes to Black Velvetopia, see the pic) but it does sum up the greatest strength of Psychonauts as a game. The use of the same mechanics in ways that manage to feel vastly different thanks to level aesthetics and mechanical design.

Beautiful. I want everything to look like this.

I hope that it came across that I do like the game overall, because it's far from perfect. The use of the same mechanics in varying ways is fun, but it can feel at times that these core principles could be tightened up. It's the little things, not grabbing ledges consistently, a lack of clarity of what you can and can't jump on. This is then combined with a camera that isn't really up to the task. It fits in with the dreamlike, etherial feel that the game can have at times, as though its floating along behind you on a little cloud. This just doesn't cut it for precise platforming though, especially as the twisted, disjointed aesthetic of many of the levels often means that you're changing direction a lot during the heavy platforming sections. Speaking of irritating platforming, I found many of the platform set-pieces to be a bit like most of the jokes on Family Guy. Entertaining at first, but they drag on long past their welcome. It's not even a matter that they get too challenging, its just that as more and more elements both visually, and mechanically, come into play as these sections progress, the more that the dodgy camera or issues with the platforming as a whole come to the fore. Also, as much as the idea of using the same mechanics in different ways is a good idea, it can mean things get boring as an area drags on, making you do the same things over and over, only with the camera being less co-operative each time. 

Run Puny Lungfish!

I liked Psychonauts, I can even see some of the things that make it such a cult classic. Yet, I just don't feel it. The nice gameplay ideas and spectacular aesthetic design are marred by technical failings, and as much as I did enjoy it, I wouldn't call it more the an a 7/10 at most. For me it represents an assortment of brilliant ideas that sadly are held together by mediocre execution of the basics. I really wanted to see what all the people that still gush with praise found in Psychonauts, and as much fun as it was, I'm kinda sad that I didn't.