By [ad_1]
Sometimes video games immediately connect with their audiences, but there are plenty of titles, much like Psychonauts, that have to fight hard to get another shot at success. The original Psychonauts was a standout title on the Xbox back in 2005 and it’s taken over 15 years for an official sequel to finally materialize. Psychonauts 2 is a passionate love letter to its predecessor that should leave both fans and newcomers alike deeply satisfied.
At the same time, this video game is a sequel to a title from a bygone gaming era and so it embraces many conventions and gameplay mechanics that call back to a simpler period of video games. Psychonauts 2 still has its share of modern features, but the game’s retro elements can be both pleasing and frustrating in their own ways.
10 Nostalgic: Its Use Of A Hub World
Certain modern gaming elements have become such a standard that it’s jarring to think of a period when these features weren’t around. Some video games can throw the audience immediately into the action with direct levels that don’t need to be accessed or unlocked. However, a popular custom is the protagonist starting off in a hub world where they can then find and enter different levels. Psychonauts 2 makes inspired use of the main hub where the brains of different individuals function as various levels. There’s such life and personality to the hub in Psychonauts 2.
9 Dated: Progressive Ability And Technique System
The Psychonauts series incorporates some innovative ideas when it comes to its story and environments, but the game also excels with how its protagonist, Raz, is a humble underdog. Raz steadily gains more PSI-Powers during his journey and the game progressively opens based on the new skills that allow him to accomplish more. This approach makes sense, but it can come across as tedious for modern gamers who don’t want to have their hands held. Some gamers prefer to have access to everything at once and then narrow their focus.
8 Nostalgic: Its Treatment Of Collectibles
The evolution of collectibles in video games has actually been quite interesting and it can be a justified and enjoyable extra to master or a tedious exercise in repetition. Psychonauts 2 doesn’t overdo it in this department and it features a very natural implementation of hidden artifacts like figments and emotional baggage.
Psychonauts 2 could have moved past this gameplay element for the sequel, but it uses it to its advantage. Each level has a unique number of figments and they’re a fun element to uncover instead of a tacked-on task.
7 Dated: Unlockable Alternate Outfits
Audiences expect video games to reward them with more than what’s promised in the standard package, even if that just amounts to achievements that give them bragging rights. Unlockable additional content is nothing new for video games, but players want to feel properly compensated for putting in this extra work. Something extraneous and superficial like alternate costumes feels like a step backward or should just be built into the core game. Raz can unlock four alternate outfits after the game is completed and the Scavenger Hunt mission is finished. These outfits have nods to the original Psychonauts, but they’re forgettable.
6 Nostalgic: Upgradable Skill Sets
One of the most rewarding aspects of the Psychonauts games is the different PSI-Powers like levitation, telekinesis, and pyrokinesis that are at Raz’s disposal. The player often has some flexibility with which skills they utilize to handle enemies and solve problems. Psychonauts 2 has an upgrade system where different PSI-Powers can be prioritized over others and the player has a little more control in the area. It’s a charming component to Raz’s progress as a psychonaut rather than him immediately being proficient in a skill when he acquires it.
5 Dated: Invincibility “God Mode” Option
Gamers have become progressively spoiled in a lot of ways, with one major area being how difficulty can be erased for those that are struggling too much. Nintendo has featured a wide range of intense “Easy Modes” that remove the challenge or let audiences just skip over something that’s too hard for them.
Surprisingly, Psychonauts 2 embraces this mechanic with a training wheels mechanic that makes the player invincible. Invincibility and “God Mode” gameplay can work in some circumstances, but not here where the challenge is meant to be fun. There’s nothing so difficult in Psychonauts 2 that necessitates invincibility.
4 Nostalgic: Optional Side Quests And Missions
Video games have become increasingly giant in size, which can be problematic for audiences that have limited time to spend on gaming. One way in which video games are able to satisfy the wide spectrum of individuals is with a core story that can be on the shorter side, but also a ton of extra side missions and quests to prolong the experience for those that want more. The challenge is to develop side missions that can enhance the game and its story rather than feeling like unnecessary exercises. Each of the extra quests in Psychonauts 2 is rewarding.
3 Dated: There’s No Ability To Play As The Rest Of The Psychonauts Team
Psychonauts 2 continues the story from the first game and it’s exciting that Raz finally gets to realize his potential as a psychonaut. The sequel introduces a whole team of fellow psychically adept allies for Raz and this team aspect is a perk over the original. That being said, Psychonauts 2 keeps its gameplay focused on Raz rather than making this diverse team supporting characters that provide contrasting gameplay styles. Raz has more than enough abilities at his disposal, but some freedom here feels more reflective of modern games with larger rosters.
2 Nostalgic: Equippable Psychic Objects For Additional Depth
Part of what makes video games such a versatile medium is that there’s often no one way to play a game and audiences are allowed to cultivate their own strategies and put as much into the experience as they want. Psychonauts 2 offers up some additional forms of psychic objects that Raz can take advantage of, courtesy of Otto. The Thought Tuner helps reveal hidden secrets and the Otto-Shot is a fancy way to activate the game’s Photo Mode. Both of these allow old areas to feel new again.
1 Dated: It Remains Limited To The Typical Platformer Structure
Psychonauts 2 showcases creative characters, abilities, level design, and a quickie sense of humor, but at the end of the day it’s still a platformer and it succumbs to the standard shortcomings of the genre. There’s so much creativity on display in this game, but each level reflects a predictable objective within a contained world. The way in which Raz is supposed to use his new abilities to solve his current problems at hand might come across as regressive and that the game doesn’t do enough to reinvent platformers as much as it stands out in its other departments.
About The Author
[ad_2]
