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Psychonauts
You don’t need to crazy to play this, but it helps...
Psychonauts is best known
for being the brainchild of
cult videogame developer
Tim Schafer, the man responsible
for a number of classic LucasArts
point-and-click adventure games
on the PC, such as The Secret
Of Monkey Island, Day Of The
Tentacle and the brilliant Grim
Fandango. Released back in
2005, the quirky platformer put
you in the shoes of Raz, a weirdlooking
yellow kid with telekinetic
powers and the ability to delve
into other people’s subconscious.
But Raz is no Sigmund Freud. He
has been enlisted in Whispering
Rock Psychic Summer Camp
– a government-run training
ground for the development of
psychic secret operatives – and
soon discovers that the agents
running the camp are part of a
sinister conspiracy. With various
psychic skills at your disposal,
such as levitation, invisibility
and explosive pyrokinesis, and
a range of quirky characters,
Psychonauts introduced a
number of unique spins on the
tired 3D-platform genre, setting
each inventively designed level
within the neurotic minds of the
summer camp’s inhabitants.
Schafer apparently conceived
of Psychonauts all the way back
in 1995 when he came up with
the idea of a mini-game based
on a psychedelic drug trip, while
working on Full Throttle (another
LucasArts point-and-click
adventure). Although Schafer
eventually dropped the drugs
references, Psychonauts is still
packed with bizarre hallucinatory
imagery, from a city of mutated
lungfish, to a mental milkman;
it is obvious that Schafer was
free to let his imagination run
rampant. But the game’s biggest
achievement was how it perfectly
merged the rich characterisation,
narrative and humour, that
was the hallmark of so many
celebrated LucasArts pointand-
click games, into an actionpacked
console platform game, in
the same vain as Ratchet & Clank,
or Jak And Daxter.
However, despite this perfect
marriage of genres, and despite
Psychonauts receiving massive
critical praise, few people
bothered to buy it, and its
commercial failure led to massive
financial losses for Majesco,
its publisher. Psychonauts now
resides in the same category
of criminally overlooked games
such as Rez and Ico – games that
dared to be unconventional, and
were, sadly, punished for it.
Although Psychonauts is
officially out of print, it can be
bought from developer Double
Fine’s official site for £25. But
you could probably find a better
bargain on the pre-owned
shelves if you look hard enough. |
