Psychonauts

The Basics:
Platform: Xbox
Developer: Double Fine
Price: $49.99
ESRB rating: T (Teen)

Summary: Use psychic powers to save your friends in this creative but quirky adventure game.

Note: Psychonauts is witty, creative and at times extremely funny. Overall it is very entertaining; however, it is not a game for younger children. There are a lot of thematic elements that younger children will have a hard time grasping or find to be scary. Some characters are bizarre or are cruel. There are also some references to tobacco use, and some negative social behaviors that are encouraged by adult figures in the game.

Parents may want to discuss with their teens: Why do you think Raz's father did not want Raz to explore his psychic abilities? How should we react when we have fears or are angry about something? If we are gifted or talented in a certain way, how should we use those talents? What did you find to be funny in the game-why?

Further Breakdown:

Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Best for ages: 13+
Playability: Excellent. Controls are easy to use. Camera angles are usually good.
Graphics: Good. Unique style of graphics.
Entertainment value: Excellent. Interesting and creative gameplay/puzzles and story.
Educational value: Good. Snippets of psychology are in the game along with the action.
Reading Level: 5+ Almost all of the game uses voice-overs.
KidScore Rating

Ages 3-7: Red
Ages 8-12: Yellow
Ages 13-17: Green
Violence Amount: Yellow
Fear: Yellow
Illegal/harmful: Yellow
Language: Yellow
Nudity: Green
Sex: Green

Review:
Without a doubt PSYCHONAUTS is one of the year's most unique and creative games. While there are plenty of games that use psychic powers, none employ the same sense of bizarre humor and quirky storyline that makes Psychonauts so entertaining-and so strange.

Players take the role of Razputin or Raz for short, a not-so-subtle reference to the famous Russian mystic Rasputin. Desperate to become a world-famous Psychonaut agent, Raz runs away from home, which happens to be the circus, and his overbearing father, who happens to not approve of Raz's psychic abilities. Raz escapes to the one place where he can learn how to use his powers and become an international secret psychic agent-Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp. While at the camp, Raz meets many strange and unique characters, each of whom will help him develop his skills as a psychic. However, the longer Raz stays at the camp, the more he realizes something is amiss-someone or something is attempting to take over the camp, and in the process is stealing fellow campmate's brains. Raz soon finds himself as the only one who can save the day.

Psychonauts deserves praise for its clever story, and interesting character development. While most of the game simply requires exploration or eye-hand coordination to accomplish, there are also some interesting puzzles. It is a thought-provoking game, filled with psychological terms, some which makes some sense, while others are just comical. For example, players need to find the luggage tags to pieces of "emotional baggage" or they need to clear out "mental cobwebs" while trying to avoid "personal demons."

While the game is entertaining and unique, it is also sometimes disturbing, containing plenty of material that is really only appropriate for older players. First, the characters themselves, while in a cartoon format, are creepy looking and are usually pretty odd. The camp bullies, who are constantly trying to thwart Raz's efforts, are mean and cruel. In one scene they shove Raz off of a cliff, and in another they are torturing animals. Another character, Dogan, can cause people's heads to explode at random so he has to wear a special hat made out of tinfoil. Secondly, the adult role-models in the game do not always send a positive message. In one scene, Raz learns the ability of pyrokinesis-the ability to start things on fire. He is told by the camp director that he should only use this skill when it is really important, or if is going to be really, really entertaining. Characters soon learn that they can cause all sorts of objects to start on fire, including animals. After starting a squirrel or seagull on fire, Raz is heard making "amusing" comments like "you had that coming" or "see you in hell."

To conclude, Psychonauts is a very entertaining game-for older players. Despite the dark and sometimes adult-orientated humor, the game adds a unique spin to the multitude of games that use psychic powers as their catch-phrase.