Cast Down The Heretic

#17 - Psychonauts

Psychonauts is just brilliant and I feel that a lot of platformers could learn a lot from this game. A lot of platformers at the time (well, really, any and all besides Jak 3 and the first four Ratchet & Clank games) were pretty *bleep*ing mediocre and only served to remind us of an increasingly stagnant genre that wasn't even in that high a demand anymore. Then came Psychonauts and my balls were blown off by how out there it was, not just in the fact that the story was insane and the humorous stuff was actually funny, but also the fact that the levels were all very, very well designed, each with their own personality. Then again, that ought to be the case as they, more or less, take place inside the minds of other people! But no, even from a technical standpoint, the levels are brilliantly designed. Just about everything implemented in each of the levels complimented one another in a way that made them work even better, like if you were to even remotely alter anything, the level would be shit or just not as good. *bleep*, I love this game!

The only thing stopping this game from being in my top 10 is the same thing that stops Deus Ex: Human Revolution from even enterting this countdown - the boss fights. WAY too easy, almost to the point where they slow down the game and stop us from partaking in the masterfully crafted levels and wacky, way out of this earth cutscenes. I also suggest that you either get the Xbox or PC version. The PS2 version is rather inconsistent - at times, it's the same, but at other times, it runs like shit, and that's not mentioning the longer loading times on the PS2 version.

Summary - Very out there...
Rating - I could be a smartass and make up some silly shit, but I'll be boring and say 9/10