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More Psychonauts Impressions

Personally, I'm not the type who likes to collect stuff in games. When I can avoid it, I do. But with Psychonauts, I found myself hunting for ways to get onto the high wires above the camp, searching for hidden entrances to dark caves filled with goodies, and spent a lot of time talking to other campers and learning about their issues. Why? Because it's fun. There's no quantifiable reason for my sudden desire to find every last hidden treasure in Psychonauts, but it's largely due to just how much humor drips from every corner.

Even a speedy player will have a chance to experience Schafer's off-kilter sense of humor, but those who explore earn plenty of bonus jokes. This is the funniest game I've played since Conker's Bad Fur Day. Heck, it may even end up outdoing Conker -- though in a T for Teen sort of way.


Every mind is different and the mind of the Lungfish is actually a large metropolis populated by other friendly lungfish just going about their daily business. Because of the Lungfish's fear of Raz, the young psychic finds himself a giant amongst the citizens of Lungfishopolis. The citizens look up at him in fear, scream and run. Thanks to the snazzy goggles on Raz's noggin, he's quickly named "Goggalor" by the citizens of Lungfishopolis.
Imagine playing a game where you have psychic powers and get to smash up buildings and toss around tanks as if you were playing Rampage. Though Goggalor is a destructive force in Lungfishopolis, he's not without his allies. In fact, he is quickly befriended by rebels who want to save the city from its ruling monster, Kochamera.

Pulling a Godzilla in a game that fancies itself a platformer is an unexpected gift. There's a special joy that comes with tossing tanks and swatting planes from the sky. And, as mentioned a few times already, it's just so damn funny. Take the rebels' ultimate plan, which is revealed once they're secured a blimp.

Having now played the first six hours of Pyschonauts, it's going to be difficult to wait another few weeks to play the rest. So far it's lived up to the hype that was heaped upon Schafer's game back in 2002. Why did Microsoft drop this game? Who cares, it's out of their hands but will soon be in yours. Shipping in mid-April for Xbox, PS2 and PC, Psychonauts should give you something to enjoy during April showers. I, for one, can't wait.

LINK

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This game will be great. I bet olimario's life on it.
 
I really hope it's good. i'm not going to trust IGn Xbox anytime soon, but it's a good start.

Actually you said more, we have other impressions?
 
From first hand experience, the most most important part of the game, the control is done well, so no worries there.
 
I hope the game turns out as well as you guys are hoping.

I tend to be open minded about games, but...I'm having a hard time getting past the character and general visual design in this game. It's just...not appealing. That's just my personal opinion.

I know this game is supposed to be good, though, so I'll give it a shot. I can't see it selling to the masses.
 
Looks like it's about time to stop reading previews, they're getting into minor spoiler territory now..
 
Even more impressions for you ungrateful bastards! Nothing new here but they seem to love it.

Microsoft has recently come under scrutiny for making some very odd decisions with its games, as in dropping them and allowing other publishers to reap the rewards, one of the most notable being Double Fine Productions' Psychonauts. Once a proud flagship title for the Xbox, the game was mysteriously dumped by the publishing giant, but its loss is now Majesco's gain, and with Psychonauts' release only two short months away, I'm getting ready for what looks to be quite a mind-bending experience.

At the end of the day I really don't care who's publishing a game just as long as it actually releases and I get to play it, but I must say that Microsoft may have made a colossal blunder letting Psychonauts go. Not only does it feature a cool artistic style, but it manages to be original in a genre that's cluttered with "me-too" titles. All I know is this is one mind trip I cannot wait to embark upon and I urge you to check it out when the game releases this April.

Game Daily


And here as well on MyGamer.com:

As many exhaustive previews have said before, Psychonauts plops the player in control of Raz (short for Rasputin), a youngster with extraordinary psychic abilities. However, his parents have forbidden him to develop his powers, so he runs away to join a psychic training camp that hones telepathic wannabes into elite mental warriors known as Psychonauts. The gameÂ’s controls are typical of third-person action games, but seem to have an added smoothness that makes every movement feel more organic than most titles. No psychic powers per se were demonstrated in the displayed training level, but even without added abilities the standard control set seemed exceptionally well crafted.

One such twist was the collection aspect. Collecting in most action games becomes a repetitious, annoying task if not correctly realized, but that isn’t the case here. Once inside a foreign mind, Raz can collect figments of that person’s imagination, sometimes towering, sometimes miniscule, but always phosphorescent, strangely-shaped creatures and monstrosities. The creative humor behind Psychonauts’ premise is completely integrated into play, as Raz comes across ‘emotional baggage’ in various minds and must find the corresponding luggage tag to complete the set. Energy is recovered by finding ‘mental health’ power-ups, your drill instructor threatens to kick your “ass-tral projection” right out of his mind; in short, the puns may incite giggles or groans, but at least the humorous aspect isn’t tacked on.

MyGamer.com



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I really want to grab a copy of this but its clustered in with a lot of other promising titles.
Thing is, though, I'm the sort of guy who will pick up a really tight and creative platformer or action game over a bloated RPG or Adventure if it's really good- and this seems rather promising.
 
The only problem I forsee with psychonauts is that, with the large number of fans it has on this forum, there's going to be a lot of people taking the liberty to create "The official Psychonauts thread." That will lead to awkward moments where we have to decide which one stays and which ones go, and some feelings may be hurt. Other than that, I'M PUMPED.
 
New impressions from the PC version at the GDC show floor.

Controls are tight, platforming is good, story is obviously really good. Graphics are really, really nice. You can tell they spent a lot of time generating new content and while its simplistic, the painted style fits the game really well. Even the load screens have some nice high res 2d looking art.

My only complaint in the 30-45min I played it were the cutscenes. They're pretty short, but they definitely have more of an 'adventure game' feel. They're entertaining, and theres lots of people to talk to , but when you're running around platforming, jumping here and there, and then you have to stop and listen to some guy talk and you can't skip it it sort of breaks up the action.

That being said they're well animated and worth watching, its just jarring.

When I saw the booth Tim Schafer was standing there playing and i watched him for a good 10 minutes. After that I played for a bit and according to one of the doublefine testers the PC demo should be out sometime next week.
 
Vark said:
New impressions from the PC version at the GDC show floor.

Controls are tight, platforming is good, story is obviously really good. Graphics are really, really nice. You can tell they spent a lot of time generating new content and while its simplistic, the painted style fits the game really well. Even the load screens have some nice high res 2d looking art.

My only complaint in the 30-45min I played it were the cutscenes. They're pretty short, but they definitely have more of an 'adventure game' feel. They're entertaining, and theres lots of people to talk to , but when you're running around platforming, jumping here and there, and then you have to stop and listen to some guy talk and you can't skip it it sort of breaks up the action.

That being said they're well animated and worth watching, its just jarring.

When I saw the booth Tim Schafer was standing there playing and i watched him for a good 10 minutes. After that I played for a bit and according to one of the doublefine testers the PC demo should be out sometime next week.


Right on! A PC demo next week? *faints*




schaferhypno.gif

"Our game is like Harry Potter, but with a lot more jokes about suicide, incest, and squirrel killing."

-Tim Schafer
 
Im tempted to get the PC version because Im sure it will perform better.. plus Shaffer game on a console seems wrong.. but I cant imagine playing a platformer on a PC.
 
Hitler Stole My Potato said:
Right on! A PC demo next week? *faints*




schaferhypno.gif

"Our game is like Harry Potter, but with a lot more jokes about suicide, incest, and squirrel killing."

-Tim Schafer
:lol :lol
Can we expect this demo to come with the newest issue of Computer Gaming World or will it be in store?
 
Vark said:
When I saw the booth Tim Schafer was standing there playing and i watched him for a good 10 minutes. After that I played for a bit and according to one of the doublefine testers the PC demo should be out sometime next week.

:lol It's kind of weird that the creator of the game would be playing while someone was standing right next to him.. Did he at least ask if you wanted to play?

Hitler Stole My Potato said:
I'm kinda hoping the demo will be a download rather than on some disk in a magazine. I haven't bought an issue of CGW in years, but I'll go wherever Psychonauts goes.

The newsletter said demos are coming for all versions, so people will be able to play it on xbox ps2 AND PC!! Plus, if the pc version is on some mag, there will be a torrent of it within 24 hours..


P.S. ebgames psychonauts preorders come with a psychonauts themed deck of cards! and gamestop preorders come with a tie dye t-shirt!
 
pj325is said:
P.S. ebgames psychonauts preorders come with a psychonauts themed deck of cards! and gamestop preorders come with a tie dye t-shirt!


I gotta call Software Etc. and cancel my preorder with them so I can pick up a shirt at Gamestop. Now it's a Psychonaut tie dye, right? I don't want no run of the mill hippie dress.
 
Hitler Stole My Potato said:
I gotta call Software Etc. and cancel my preorder with them so I can pick up a shirt at Gamestop. Now it's a Psychonaut tie dye, right? I don't want no run of the mill hippie dress.

I thought Software Etc was Gamestop?
They should have the shirts there too
 
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