In Psychonauts, you play as Raz, a kid who is at a camp for kids with psychic abilities. Not being enrolled in this camp, he has to go through training to become a Psychonaut before his father comes to pick him up.
While the graphics may appear dated, it still holds up today. The visuals of the game are really nice, and the humour is outstanding. There are a couple that stand out to me. One is how they use foul language in the game. There is a level where a character would randomly say “feces”. It was unexpected, which for me warrants a laugh. The other deals witha NPC that enables Raz to teleport through any level he is in. The NPC makes what almost sounds like farting sounds - the kid in me enables me to be on the verge of laughing whenever I would hear it.
The levels are quite fun. It can get easy to get lost at times, but the developers have implemented something to guide you in the right direction. There are these neon-looking pick ups that also duals as a way to level up so that Raz can do more with his psychic abilities.
However, there were a few aspects that were quite frustrating. One that has popped up a few times is the camera. There were moments where if you die in a certain place, the camera would not focus on Raz when you respawn. He would be slightly out of the view of the camera, so you would have to either guess where he is and try to progress through the level, or restart from the beginning.
Another issue that almost made me almost rage quit and stop playing the game entirely is during one of the bosses. The boss in question is a huge fish called the Lungfish. While the above mentioned issue with the camera has been experienced here, the major issue I found is during the last part of the fight that has clams on the sea floor. If you try to fight the boss while the camera is in the water, you are unable to progress through the fight. However, if you fight the boss while the camera is in the air bubble where Raz and the Lungfish are, then you are able to progress. It took me a long time to figure out that you are unable to do this while the camera is in the water. I also tried using the in game option of trying to tips on what to do (you can summon another character with the help of a strip of bacon). Apparently, the option to get his help isn’t there (either that, or it was not the first option to choose from. I was too angry to find out. I originally chose the first option without reading what it was, which ended up pulling Raz out of the level and back into the headquarters, which added to the anger I was feeling.).
Another minor issue I experienced would be with jumping onto high platforms. If you are not careful, you can easily fall down and have to redo it. While you may just need a bit of time to get used to the jumping in the game in certain areas, it can get annoying.
On that note, comparing it to the final level, while it is hard, it was a good kind of hard - I enjoyed it.
If you have not played this game, I definitely recommend it for you to play.
I have gone to playing the second one, and look forward to seeing how it compares to the first one.
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