Customer reviews:

Customer Rating:
Summary: Psycho-Awesome!
Comment: First of all, this is not a third person shooter. I have no idea what the reviewer that Amazon has listed played, but a third person shooter, this is not. Sure, it has some shooter elements, but no. This is a platforming game, in the stlye of Mario, Crash Bandicoot, the first Jak & Daxter, and others.
Since this game was created by Tim Schaffer, it obviously has an interesting storyline. It's about a boy who steals into a summer camp/training ground for psychics. He eventually uncovers a plot that involves the stolen brains of his fellow psychonauts and tanks, and what ensues is a rather hillarious quest to save your friends and, as a result, the world. The ingeniousness of it all is that the levels that you must run and jump through are all inside of the minds of people you meet, and thus are a reflection of them. You go through the battlefields of Coach Oleander's mind, the extremely ordered mind of Agent Nein, and the disco party of Agent Bodello's, and much more. Each represents the character perfectly.
Typical to most platformers, you'll be collecting things. Not arbitrary coins or precursor orbs or wumpa fruit or something else seemingly useless. You collect Figments of Imagination, Emotional Baggage, and Mental Cobwebs, all of which help to advance you in rank, which, in turn, nets you new psychic powers. You also collect Psi-Markers and Psi-cards which, again, help you gain rank and powers. Ultimately, everything that you collect has a purpose and helps you get stronger or last longer or jump farther, and I never felt that I was collecting just to collect.
Voice acting in the game is great, dialogue is often hillarious, so there's never a problem with terrible voices or stupid lines to pull you out of the mystique of the game. No "master of unlocking" moments here.
My only issue is with jumping, and it's slight. This is a problem when it comes to platformers, as jumping is rather integral to the gameplay. To me, there seems to be a slight delay, but nothing that's gamebreaking. I found that, by the end of the first level, I had quickly adjusted.
In the end, the game is great. The plot is imaginative and the characters are funny, one of the best platformers I have ever played. I just wish that they'd come out with a sequel, already!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Comment: I received this game as a Christmas gift some time ago, but never got around to playing it because it looked kind of childish. I needed something to fill a space gap until my next game came out so I gave it a try. Overall, I was surprised. All the characters have their own thing going throughout the game which was fun to eavesdrop from time to time. Although the land itself, the campgrounds and the asylum, weren't very big, they made up for it with extra effort in everyone's mind. No two brains are alike and it's kind of fun sorting out peoples emotional baggage and looking for past memories. I found several of the brain worlds entertaining and the stories were a nice touch. I'm not going to ruin anything so I'll leave it at that. It's a nice change from the other games I play and worth buying. If you ever get stuck, remember to use your bacon.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Platformers Ever
Comment: I know I am late to the game with this review, but forgive me...if this review manages to help one person decide to buy this game even this far out after the fact I will be happy.

This game is amazing. The graphics have held up over time and range from childlike to surreal to terrifying depending on the levels. The level design is fantastic, which each level being its own universe with nothing repeating. The dialogue is hysterical, the plot is inventive and smart and funny...there is seriously nothing wrong with this game...

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A fantasic game, even today
Comment: 3rd person action/adventure and puzzle game,
Beautiful art and character design, excellent game play and puzzles. 88% meta score (91% user rated)

[...]

You owe it to yourself to check out this brilliant game.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: My absolute favorite game to date!
Comment: Welcome Psy-Cadets, and get ready for the trippy-est ride you'll ever take!

Play as Raz, and hop from mind to mind in order to save your new friends. I must say that when I first played this game I did not expect the variation that I found in each of the minds. One of my favorites, The "Milkman Conspiracy," is the type of experience that you can't describe and can't get in any other game. My absolute favorite mind is that of Edgar, the artist. Upon first seeing Edgars "Black Velvetopia" I was awe struck. The amount of work that goes into the creativity and outright beauty of these stages is dumbfounding. Even today, there aren't really that many games that take what they do to a new level like psychonauts did.

Now, the controls are also of note. Moving and fighting as Raz is very intuitive. The only problem I had was deciding just how I wanted to map my abilities, seeing as how they give you free reign in that as well. The number of abilities you can unlock, and the pace at which you unlock them is perfect. The ability to dodge when locked on is a great addition, even if I didn't find myself using it all that much. Another very thoughtful addition is the ability to use "smelling salts" to pull your character out of another characters mind at any time.
The characters and voice acting are zany. Boyd Cooper and Lily have to be my favorite characters. Boyd for his outright insanity, and Lily for her pint-size vitriol. This game has some of the best acting I have seen in any game I have played, and hands down the most memorable. I find myself playing it over and over just to see the appearance of "The Milkman" again. Yeah, play and find out. This game alone has given me faith in Double Fine's upcoming ode to metal, Brutal Legend.

Psychonauts has becoming even more available for enjoyment with its addition to Xbox lives Games On Demand, so now you have no excuse. Buy Psychonauts, now. I, personally, got my copy used, and not digitally. However, I see no reason for this game to be skipped, even in 2009. Get it, and say hello to The Milkman for me. Watch out for the bottles.

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