The most fun you can have without being drugged
As any good psychotherapist will tell you, it's important to compartmentalise- so this review will be split into 5 sections:
- Gameplay
-Visuals
-Audio
-Narrative
-Meme-ability ( most important)
Gameplay
Streets ahead of the first version.
Physics are improved- jumps are weighty and Raz's shadow helps to guide you where he will land. It has lock-on targeting that has been honed since the first game, and is less likely to place your view behind a bin or a wall.
And you need a full range of vision to deal with the enemies- the game throws a lot of them. Never too many, mind you. Even sleepy old me managed to beat it on Normal mode with little frustration. Plenty of deaths... but no frustration. When you run out of lives and send Raz screaming into the swirling vortex of death, you do so safe in the knowledge that was your own fault. Your bungled jump or mis-timed parry. Plus there are autosaves and health pickups galore, so you really should have been more careful. .
There is also a great range of combat available. Aside from burning, zapping and punching you can simply bitch-slap your way through everyone. Mini-bosses tend to have weak spots that can only be exploited by one move- a chance to introduce new techniques and freshen gameplay.
Raz' non-combat array of moves are equally eclectic, and invite you to test your lateral thinking to explore. Badges and ability upgrades add a level of RPG scaling.
It doesn't lean heavily into this however, as you level up with relative speed and can upgrade every skill to the max before you finish the story arc.
Not that it matters.
You move from intern to suave super spy, with a book of badges to show off your power. The badges aren't there for character builds and replayabilty- they're there to show how far you've come from your humble beginnings. ( Unpaid intern scum!)
Visuals
every mind is different, and even the open world map ( the Motherlobe) is split into unique biomes. If you don't quite click with one setting, rush through it and you can guarantee in half an hour you will be cavorting through a beautiful patchwork quilt, or maybe a papercraft Chinatown.
Like Coraline with a facelift, it feels plasticine, stop-motion animation, whilst possessing a fluid frame rate and computer generated graphics. It is a game truly unlike anything else, and the concept of mind-hopping means that any scenario is possible, no matter how far fetched.
The puns and word play from the original are back- collecting tags to unlock "emotional baggage" (literal carry cases) as well as some- new ones; "regret" comes in the form of gangly gnats with dumbbells that quite literally "weigh you down." It is one big conversation starter that you itch to share with others.
Narrative
Bit confusing to newcomers.
You will do well to familiarise yourself with the first game, even if that means skim reading the plot on Wikipedia. There is a good catch-up montage at the start, but there are so many call backs and references that those who jump in at the sequel will be largely left at sea . ( haha ... play the first and you will get that little zing.)
Other than this, it does exactly what a sequel's meant to: it builds on the characters, it provides past stories without ramming them down your throat and the plot largely hangs together.
For 13 levels ( broken into 4 or 5 smaller chunks) that all feel completely different, to have such cohesion and over-arching feel is a truly impressive feat.
One moment, you are platforming over x-rays in a stark Game and Watch style platformer, the next throwing food at a sock puppet until it vomits on the stage; never once do you question how you got there. Like the finest cheese dream, you bounce from one local to another and it somehow makes perfect sense.
The script is on point too.
Cut scenes are full of personality, and even side interactions will see you churning through dialogue to see what your fellow interns or mind-spies come out with next.
I sent 10 minutes chatting to Nelly about pancakes. Not to fill up time. Not because she was unskippable. Purely to find out which of the forest creatures she had milked to make them. Nelly is dark. Her bond with the forest fauna even darker...
Audio
A great script can make a game, but good voice actors add a little spice and the cast get the deadpan humour. Like Airplane, Austin Powers or even Star Trek, the cast take sometimes odd or hammy lines and deliver them with sincerity. The funniest lines are not said for laughs, more, they are hilarious in their absurdity.
Although voice acting heavy weights like Steven Horviz and David Kaye make up most of the characters, Jack Black and Elija wood still get cameos.
Tim Schaffer, ay? Just knows everyone.
The score can be repetitive (though that says more about my slowness than it does the sound track, which can't reasonably be asked to loop for an hour straight while I ignore every level pointer and go round and round on an origami boat) but when it chooses to, it really flourishes. The Easter European guitars that accompany the Aquatas (Raz' family), the Oogie-Boogie esque jazz of the casino levels. They may not be as memorable Halo or the Witcher but you may find yourself humming along while they play- before you turn the game off and promptly forget them again. Scored by Veteran Lucas Arts/ Double Fine composer Peter McConnel- who has assisted Schaffer in projects since Day of the Tentacle- an air of finesse is to be expected. McConnel has done the tango before, he knows what Schaffer wants, and Schaffer knows what we want.
Sinister. Eerie. Charming. Whimsical. Entirely impossible to escape.
Psychonauts does, it pulls you into its world, a world so real, you want to experience all of it.
And there's a lot to experience.
From addictive personality, to alcoholic isolation and extreme compartmentalisation ( a little compartmentalisation can be good... It helps you write reviews. too much and you become like Cassio-pea, every personality locked away in separate drawers, at the mercy of a megalomaniacal librarian.)
Through every turn it's impossible to predict what will happen next. ( Very few games or films manage that nowadays.)
Any game that begins with a trigger warning for those with dental phobias ( o yes, a zip of teeth, how quaint!) is unlikely to be another paint-by-numbers collect 'em up.
Meme-ability.
I am the milkman, my milk is amazing.
Is it, sir? Is it indeed?
Psychonauts 2 comes from a rich pedigree of meme. Only time will tell whether it's successor can live up to the task. For a meme cannot be forced; there are no industrially made diamonds, all must be given time, and the spicy heat. The early signs look good, there is plenty to work with.
The die-brarian
Nick from the mailroom... Bloody nick from the mail room. He has one job and spends most of his time with his face in the package compactor... All in all, Psychonauts 2 is a victory in every way A trippy cheese dream that, like all great art, will stick in your head long after its finished. Probably because there's a Pyschyonaut in there, taking over your psyche...
93%
Comments