It isn't often that I go for these types of games, unless it's a Zelda or Super Mario title, but I've heard a lot of good things about this one and figured it warranted a look. I've only played the demo via Steam so far, but I'm already sold on it. The first thing I have to comment on is the presentation. The menus are fairly simple yet they look pretty good and are easy to navigate. The graphics aren't exactly mind-blowing, but the game looks really great. Right away, you meet some very distinguished and interesting characters, my favorite being Dogan (the kid with the tin-foil hat). It has a very cartoony look, with big eyes and heads, and some of the character designs made me chuckle. You take on the role of Razputin, or Raz, for short. He's the "new kid" at a bizarre and twisted summer camp with some very different features. Other kids like you come here to become a "Psychonaut". Psychonauts are mental soldiers, if you will. Using their mental abilities, they are able to perform abilities such as telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and invisibility, to name a few. But the most incredible power is also the most common. Psychonauts are able to tap into other people's minds and explore their psyche. These minds you explore are basically the levels which make up the game. Throughout the game you also venture into the "real" world, or the summer camp, to be more precise. Each mind is vastly different, each with its own theme. The first mind you explore is the camp leader, a military-type guy named Oleander. He's a bit of a strange fella. Inside his mind, you dodge machine-gun fire, tip-toe through a big minefield, and scale a wall while avoiding artillery. This will feel familiar to any platformer veteran, but the uniqueness of these environments give the game a taste all its own. Throughout the minds, you collect "figments", which you collect to gain new abilities. You also collect many other things such as arrowheads (which are used to buy stuff) and emotional baggage. It sound very weird but it's pretty fun. The actual platforming is what makes the game fun. Some of this borrows from games like Prince Of Persia, in that you leap across ledges, and swing on ropes and bounce on nets and trampolines. This all works seamlessly and is fluid and well-done.
The audio is pretty great too. The voice acting is pretty funny, and the music is really cool and goes with the trippy visuals. The only problem I had was that some of the lesser characters could get annoying at times, constantly repeating the same dialog. Still it's more than forgivable. As I said the visuals are pretty appealing without being too complex. This means that a slower system should still be able to adjust the game to work well, without looking like crap.
Anyway, the environments look good but they are also very detailed and full of stuff to gawk at. But since you're in people's minds, it can be unsafe to just stand around, carelessly staring at the scenery, since things can be a bit unpredictable, and sometimes defy logic. One good example is during the later part of the demo, when you are faced with something that looks nearly impossible. A long room full of barbed wire, and wooden planks....And they're in this turning tube, rotating and turning as well. It's hard to describe but it's a very mind-twisting feat, no pun intended. If you're a fan of platforming games like Super Mario or Jak and Daxter and stuff like that, you'll probably find something to enjoy here.