The Escapist Game Circle: Psychonauts

[Russ Pitts]

The Escapist Game Circle: Psychonauts

Due to popular demand, we're going to give a sort of poetry circle / book club thing a try. Vishnu help us.

The game for August is Psychonauts [http://www.mobygames.com/game/xbox/psychonauts], the wacky, but surprisingly deep platformer by Doublefine. This one got a lot of critical acclaim, but tanked at retail. Which means its right up our alley.

Check out Lara Crigger's fantastic article on the game [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_67/390-The-Milkman-Cometh].


Read Full Article

 

[Lara Crigger]

Don't check out my article just yet everybody - at least not until you've gotten past "The Milkman Conspiracy"; oh noes with the spoiler doom!

Also, may I make a recommendation? From personal experience, play this game on the PC and not the PS2. The PS2 port is mindbogglingly horrendous. I thought about quitting the game entirely, it was that bad. The PC version, however, is fabulous, especially with a gamepad (I can't speak for the Xbox one.)

Anyway, this is a great idea, Russ. I definitely needed an excuse to play this game again.

 

[CorvusE]

I consider this game to be one of the finest implementations of gameplay as narrative element. Good pick for the inaugural entry in what is sure to be a long and contentious trend.

 

[Russ Pitts]

The Xbox version is sublime. I highly recommend it.

 

[Ian Dorsch]

I've got the PC version. It's been sitting on my desk unopened for over half a year. I probably won't have time to play it this month, but I'll at least install it in honor of the Escapist Game Circle.

 

[Goofonian]

I have the PS2 version that I got halfway through and never picked up again (until now). As much as I liked it, I never understood why everyone went on and on about it. Now it makes a little more sense.

 

[Ajar]

I read the article back when it first ran, but luckily I think I've forgotten the spoiler(s).

I put about an hour into the game yesterday. So far it's Zelda, gameplay-wise, but I'll be curious to see if that changes. The voice acting is great.

 

[Goofonian]

You know I'm not sure I would have called it zelda. To me it has more of a banjo-kazooie sort of feel, very typical platformer. The characters in this game are fantastic, but I'd forgotten how much I truly detest collecting stuff.

 

[Ajar]

Banjo-kawhat? ...platformers aren't exactly my thing, so I probably don't have my lineage correct. The first game that came to mind when I was playing Psychonauts was Wind Waker, though, especially when I noticed that in the first dungeo-- er, mind -- I had three little brains right where the three little hearts would have been in a Zelda game.

I'm not big on collecting stuff either. I'm hoping to get through the game with a bare minimum of that.

 

[Goronmon]

Great, this will give me an excuse to finally pick this game up. GoGamer has the PC version for $10, so I guess that's what I'll go with.

 

[Geoffrey42]

Only perfectionists really need to collect, sort, or crack everything in each level. As I recall, they're in no way necessary. Some are helpful if you need to level a little, but not necessary.

 

[Goofonian]

Yeah but thats the problem. I tend to be the sort of person that must get everything that I see. I'm not going to go hunting for one last item because my stat sheet doesn't say 100%, but if I see a hard to reach figment I'm likely to waste 10 minutes trying to get it and then end up bored and frustrated. The worst is when I know I only need to collect a few more things to level up and get the next ability and then I'll start to go looking for them and waste even more time, when I'd rather be solving puzzles and progressing the storyline.

This is why I don't play MMO's

 

[Cordelia]

I worked my butt off to get 100% in several levels, certain that this would lead me to some great unlockable boon. But no. That was vastly disappointing, I have to admit. Still, the game is so darn good, it's easy to forgive that minor irritation.

Milkman Conspiracy and Black Velvetopia are my personal favorite levels, though the whole thing is just plain brilliant. Also, Raz is voiced by the same guy who does Invader Zim.

 

[CorvusE]

The cool thing about reaching 100% collection in this game is that you're rewarded with greater insight into the characters that populate the game. There are some pivotal narrative moments tied to the collection quests. Not ones that further the plot, but certainly ones which enrich your emotional experience.

I typically don't shoot for 100% completion of the collection quests in games, but I found the Psychonauts quest 'rewards' to be worth it.

 

[Russ Pitts]

I typically don't shoot for 100% completion of the collection quests in games, but I found the Psychonauts quest 'rewards' to be worth it.

Agreed. There are few games in which I'll make the effort, but this was one of them. It's almost akin t reading every book in ever shop in Morrowind, but with a lot less reading, and more jumping around, invading other people's minds.

Plus, the sound of slurping arrowheads out of the ground is so satisfying, I don't know how anyone can not walk around for hours filling their pockets with as many as they can find.

 

[Ajar]

Milkman Conspiracy and Black Velvetopia are my personal favorite levels, though the whole thing is just plain brilliant. Also, Raz is voiced by the same guy who does Invader Zim.

I knew he sounded familiar! That's awesome.

The cool thing about reaching 100% collection in this game is that you're rewarded with greater insight into the characters that populate the game. There are some pivotal narrative moments tied to the collection quests. Not ones that further the plot, but certainly ones which enrich your emotional experience.

Aw, crap. I was hoping it would just be ability power-ups or something else that I could safely ignore, but I'm a sucker for character/narrative depth. We'll see how it goes, I guess -- I'm planning to play a bit more tonight before I leave for a weekend in Montreal later this week.

 

[John Funk]

What are the specs for the PC version? And do you need a gamepad?

 

[Geoffrey42]

<a href=http://shop.doublefine.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=24>Doublefine Purchase/Specs Page
<quote=From the site>1.1 MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Supported OS: Windows 98 SE/2000/XP(only)
Processor: 1.0 GHz Pentium(R)III and AMD Athlon(tm)
RAM: 256 MB of RAM
Video Card: 64 MB GeForce (tm)3 or higher or ATI(R) Radeon 8500 or higher except GeForce 4 MX and Go) with Pixel Shader 1.0 support
Sound Card: DirectX(R)9.0c or higher compatible sound card
DirectX(R)version: 9.0c or higher (included on game disc)
Hard Drive Space: 3.75 GB minimum hard drive space
CD-ROM: 16X or better
Controls: Windows-compatible keyboard and mouse


1.2 RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Supported OS: Windows 2000/XP
Processor: 2.0 GHz Pentium(R)IV and AMD Athlon(tm)
RAM: 512 MB of RAM
Video Card: 128 MB GeForce FX 5600 or higher or ATI(R)Radeon 9600 or higher
Sound Card: DirectX(R)9.0c or higher and EAX(R)2.0 or higher compatible sound card
Controls: Game Pad(optional)

From personal experience, I've used a keyboard (WASD) and a trackball, to great effect. At no point, thankfully, did I feel like I was playing a console game tacked into a PC setup.

 

[Russ Pitts]

What are the specs for the PC version? And do you need a gamepad?

Dude, aren't you our intern? This is the kind of thing I'd ask you to find for us.

 

[John Funk]

Touche.