Psychonauts for Xbox Reviews by Gamers

Psychonauts has great presentation, fun characters, excellent voice acting, and silky smooth animation. The whole game sort of emits this twisted nickelodeon-like vibe that I think appeals to 20 somethings like myself, but would also be appropriate for the younger crowd. Unfortunately, Psychonauts' major failing is, well, its gameplay.

The most important element of gameplay in a platformer (at least for me) is the jump. Raz comes equipped with the industry standard double jump from the get-go, but it feels terrible. Ledges always seem to be slightly above Raz's reach, meaning that I'm never sure if I'm supposed to be jumping for one platform or the other because they both look unreachable. It doesn't help that some of the level designs just seem to sprawl in places, which left me without a clear idea of the direction I was supposed to be going in some levels.

I really wanted to like Psychonauts. I haven't played a decent platformer since mario sunshine, and I was looking forward to some good old fashioned hopping and bopping. Unfortunately, I was left hopping off to greener pastures.