Psychonauts

United States April 26, 2005 ( Win) United States 21 June 2005 ( PS2) Europe February 10, 2006 (all)

  • OS: Windows 2000/XP with DirectX 9.0
  • CPU: 1 GHz
  • RAM: 256 MB
  • Hard disk space: 4 GB
  • DVD -ROM drive,
  • DirectX compatible graphics card with 64 MB
  • DirectX - compatible sound card

The computer game Psychonauts is a 3D Jump 'n' Run and Action - Adventure of the American game developer Tim Schafer and his studio Double Fine Productions. The computer game stands out because of the bizarre and surreal history and quirky humor.

Game development

Game designer Tim Schafer is known for titles in the early 1990s as the first Monkey- Iceland - part or Day of the Tentacle and Grim Fandango. After the departure of LucasArts and founding his own development studio Double Fine Productions Schafer made ​​his debut in 2005 with the Comic Book Action Adventure Psychonauts.

Psychonauts first appeared in 2005 for PC, Xbox and PlayStation 2 and was well received by the trade press. Commercially, however, it was initially not a success, which ultimately led to the resignation of the CEO of the Publishers and the withdrawal of Majesco from the market of Vollpreispiele. Nevertheless, the game was later ported to other platforms: 2011 Indie for Mac OS X, and 2012 for Linux as part of the Humble Bundle V by Ryan C. Gordon.

These further ports and digital distribution via various providers (Xbox Live, Steam, gog.com, Humble Indie Bundle ), it was ultimately a commercial success over the years with 400,000 copies sold.

Action

In the game you take on the role of young Razputin ( Raz ) who grew up in a circus family and now uproots from the circus to the summer camp at Flüsterfelsen ( Whispering Rocks Camp ) to get an education for psychonauts. Soon, however, it turns out that the Psychonauts - an association of several top agents - are in the greatest danger, because it is a very insidious conspiracy.

The game begins with training in the holiday camp along with several more or less sensual gifted children. Gradually, one learns new adventure in a variety of scenarios the capabilities of a psychonauts. A Psychonaut has several supernatural (PSI ) capabilities of the psychokinesis about clairvoyance through to mental projection. In addition, psychonauts can penetrate into their own world of thought, or in the minds of other people and beings.

In a huge game world between the real world and worlds of thought, the player needs quite some sense of direction. However, this complexity makes one of the special attractions of the game. The more skills Razputin learned, the more adventurous of his experiences in the weird convolutions of man and nature are in which he embarks. Its tasks are initially in learning the skills, then in solving the psychological problems of others. So you have, for example, slip into the head of an opera singer, to defeat their mood swings, which are represented by the phantom of the opera. When after and stolen by the minds of the other children and the agents disappear, Raz recognizes the signs of a massive conspiracy.

Game mechanics

Optics

The comic-like look of the game is detailed and sophisticated, the animations run around and show many effects and animation sequences. The landscapes are varied and of very different character. A particular penchant for the surreal runs through the entire game.

The sometimes blurry textures are evidence of the origins of the game console.

Sound and Music

The Soundtrack by Peter McConnell is oblique and varied as the graphic.

The reader can not, as in modern games can be changed (such as Dreamfall ) during a running game, but you have already when installing a language decide. The readers are occupied throughout with high quality, professional speakers. Razputins German voice comes from Sandra Schwittau that even the cartoon character Bart Simpson lent her voice.

Reception

Psychonauts was highly praised in the reviews and in the trade press and mostly well reviewed, yet was initially a commercial failure. It has also won several awards, including the Game Critics Awards at E3 2002 for Best Original Game.

International average ratings at GameRankings:

  • PC version: 89.6 %
  • Xbox version: 90.2 %
  • Playstation 2 version: 86.2 %

Awards:

  • British Academy Video Games Awards 2006: Best Screenplay
  • GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2005: Best Voice Acting, Best Graphics, Artistic, Funniest Game, Best Game No One Played, Best Platformer
  • IGN 2005 Awards: Best Platformer, Best Game No One Played
  • EuroGamer.net: Overall Game of the Year 2005
  • PSM: Buy or Die award ( issue # 100), 5th Place Top 10 Games 2005, Best Characters
  • Electronic Gaming Monthly 2005 Awards: Best Game No One Played
  • Game Developers Choice Awards: Best Writing
  • PC Gamer Magazine 2005 Awards: Best Game You Did not Play, Editor's Choice Award
  • E3 2002 Game Critics Awards: Best Original Game
  • GameShadow Innovation in Games Awards: Nominated for Best Game, Innovative Visual Effects, Best Narrative
Video game publisher THQ Publication Action-adventure game Single-player video game Gamepad CD-ROM Backporting Adventure game Surrealism The Longest Journey MobyGames
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