Ramblings of a Moron: Psychonauts

Disclaimer

"Ramblings of a Moron" is a review series done by WSGF member Cynagen. While reviews from other sites focus on extensive play and detailed postmortem analysis, "Ramblings of a Moron" is a first impression "stream of consciousness" review. The grammar isn't perfect, and the prose can sometimes be disjointed, but these are the first impressions of a seasoned WSGF Insider. For more information, and for more Ramblings, see the complete list of Cynagen's offerings.

The Rambling

Hey, wanna show me one of your nightmares? A Psychonaut, the psychic soldier defending the free thinking world from things that go bump in the back of your mind, or using an enemy's deepest darkest secrets to haunt them, is what you strive to become in this game. The newest breed of soldiers, they possess almost god-like powers, being able to focus their energies into mind-bending and amazing feats. These powers, can be used for the greater good of your friends and allies, and to the dismay of your enemies alike.

Psychonauts delves into what only most therapists dream about, picking at your brain hands on, and seeing everything that makes you tick, and to be honest, sometimes, ignorance is bliss. As you venture through your first mission, the training course in your war-vet-camp-trainer's mind, you quickly find out what this game is all about, and sooner than later, just how messed up you are as well. The game is loaded with mini-puzzles and side quests to get you sidetracked, and while they all tie into the main goal of becoming a Psychonaut, they do beg, just how much multitasking do you think you can handle? Between training and leveling up to unlock new powers, you'll easily lose track of time, and sometimes, even if for just brief moments, reality, as you get sucked into this addictive title.

The game's characters are fleshed out well enough not to make them, for lack of a better term, transparent; everyone's story is interesting. The monsters and characters, seem fittingly cartoonish, and while the gameplay does get intense, it's not aggravating. This title has a little something for everyone it seems, from the mini-games that contribute to the end goal, to the searching each and every level for every little thing possible, to the "grinding" and fleshing out levels to further enhance your abilities. Psychonaut's graphics, character design/backstory, and multiple other elements, seem very well planned and executed, but the one thing that has seemed to escape me is audio. It doesn't feel like much was done in the way of audio. Reused windows sounds for some things such as a cricket jumping, a very forgettable background score, and lacking depth any further than sound effects for your obviously cool looking abilities/attacks. It appears to be the only detractor from this otherwise superbly stunning title. This would be a game, that like Portal, I would suggest to all my friends to try out.

Graphics: 8/10 - There could have been a little more done to smooth out character animations.
Audio: 4/10 - The game's composer could have done something more to enhance this game, but sadly, they did the bare minimum.
Action: 9/10 - It gets intense, but not aggravating.
Re-playability: 7/10 - So far, I already can tell i'm going to have to replay this a bit to find all the little things.
Value to Cost: 7/10 - I haven't looked at the price of this title recently, but it should be it's cost far outweighed by it's value.
Overall Rating: 70% - The audio is what's really holding this title back.
Buy? Try It