Psychonauts is one of my favorite games of all times, and it's hard to judge in an unbiased manner a game one loves so much. Immediately, I will say that this gets full points for being a classic, that still holds up almost 20 years from release. The story is wonderfully well-written, often poignant, often introspective, and almost always witty. I can't help but still laugh at some of the little character and relationship moments I recall, and I have a lot of the important story beats permanently in my head. The idea of being an escaped circus kid training in a summer camp for psychic kids to try to be psychic super-spies and having platformer levels inside of people's minds is insanity but is so so well done here. There are definitely still some moments of profound sadness that one can't help but be stung by, but there is a goodness and hope that shines through the whole story.
Visuals definitely aren't anything one can turn around and write home about, as a game that came out in 2005 by a non-AAA studio, but the fact that Double Fine went with their particular cartoony artstyle made this one much easier to enjoy agelessly, even in a lower fidelity. The varied level and characters designs also make it a good, if dated, visual experience. There were definitely some struggles with collectables due to the graphics. With that said, soundtrack was also pretty good, with each area/level having it's associated themes and combat music feeling especially splashy. Fairly good in this area as well.
Now on to gameplay. This is probably my favorite 3D platformer. I believe the controls are relatively tight for its release time, there were various gimmick mechanics for traversal, and fighting level bosses were a blast. Figuring out how to get from one area to the next was a puzzle I was quite happy to solve often enough. This is my benchmark for what games in the genre could be.
Unsurprisingly, you'll find I consider one of my comfort games a masterpiece. 10/10 (with some balancing for nostalgia).
Psychonauts -
2 pts for Story - 2
2 pts for Graphics - 1.5
2 pts for Sound/Music - 1.5
4 pts for Gameplay - 4
Bonus Points:
Up to 1 pt for Nostalgia/Normalizing - Games created before 2010 - 1
My Psychonauts Rating = 10
Visuals definitely aren't anything one can turn around and write home about, as a game that came out in 2005 by a non-AAA studio, but the fact that Double Fine went with their particular cartoony artstyle made this one much easier to enjoy agelessly, even in a lower fidelity. The varied level and characters designs also make it a good, if dated, visual experience. There were definitely some struggles with collectables due to the graphics. With that said, soundtrack was also pretty good, with each area/level having it's associated themes and combat music feeling especially splashy. Fairly good in this area as well.
Now on to gameplay. This is probably my favorite 3D platformer. I believe the controls are relatively tight for its release time, there were various gimmick mechanics for traversal, and fighting level bosses were a blast. Figuring out how to get from one area to the next was a puzzle I was quite happy to solve often enough. This is my benchmark for what games in the genre could be.
Unsurprisingly, you'll find I consider one of my comfort games a masterpiece. 10/10 (with some balancing for nostalgia).
Psychonauts -
2 pts for Story - 2
2 pts for Graphics - 1.5
2 pts for Sound/Music - 1.5
4 pts for Gameplay - 4
Bonus Points:
Up to 1 pt for Nostalgia/Normalizing - Games created before 2010 - 1
My Psychonauts Rating = 10