Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Highly addictive"

I am a fan of wise-cracking, but this game takes playful banter to a pleasantly different level. You play Psychonauts as a young psychic, Rasputin, who has run away from home in the circus to develop his psychic abilities at Whispering Rock summer camp for psychic children. Through a bizarre twist of events, you progress through a series of peoples minds (often with hilarious results) until at last you face a heroic showdown with an evil mastermind.
It might not sound revolutionary, but the constant tongue-in-cheek attitude keeps even the most mundane story progressions fun. Whether it is learning which camper has a crush on whom, or learning that not everything is as it seems at Whispering Rock, the game play and story progression is a delight.
What really sets this game apart, however, is the amazing world(s) that Rasputin traverses. Every brain that you get to explore is packed with different puzzles and a different coherent theme. This was my favorite part of the game. From saving a city from a rampaging bull, to being accosted by girl scouts, Rasputin certainly has his work cut out for him!

On the negative side, tricky jumps and maneuvers make later levels of the game frustrating and make the learning curve a bit lopsided, while menial tasks such as collecting arrowheads (the form of currency in the game) can get tiresome.

Despite these little hiccups, Psychonauts is WELL worth a play and will probably remain one of my favorite games for years to come for pure spunk and ingenuity.