Platform: Xbox

Genre: Platformer

Publisher: Microsoft

Developer: Double Fine Productions

ETA: TBD 2003

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Psychonauts

One of the funniest people in gaming is Tim Schafer.  The console world may not know it but PC gamers have been entertained by Schafer’s oddball wit for years.

Around the turn of the century, Schafer departed LucasArts leaving a legacy in his wake.  He put his unique stamp on such classic LucasArts adventures as Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, and Day of the Tentacle.  These games overflowed with humor while telling coherent and interesting stories.  And the characters – you just wouldn’t find them anywhere else.  This is why it’s with anticipation that I wait for Psychonauts, Schafer and Company’s – collectively 

known as Double Fine Productions – foray on the Xbox and a departure from the adventure games everyone knows him for.

(Honestly, I felt a pang of animosity when I found out about Psychonauts.  Here was a PC giant – Tim Schafer, the Tim Schafer – reduced to making a console game.  Even worse, he chose that fate.  It just didn’t seem fair.  But this passed quickly.  Schafer wasn’t “reduced” he just “shifted” to the console world, and Pyschonauts looks to prove that a good game designer is a good game designer, no matter the platform.)

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Because I hate to see a well-written fact sheet go to waste, I’ll use its synopsis:

Psychonauts is a wildly surreal action-adventure game in which players use paranormal powers to plunge into the minds of bizarre characters.  Players journey deep into crazy worlds of infinite possibility to thwart the secret plan of an evil madman and realize the ultimate dream of joining an elite force of psychic superheroes, the Psychonauts.

Players delve into people’s minds as Raz, a powerful young cadet at psychic summer camp.  While working on his merit badge in levitation, Raz discovers that someone is kidnapping psychic children and stealing their brains.  To foil this evil plot and earn the title of Psychonaut, Raz must project himself into the mind of one bizarre character after another to battle their nightmares and inner demons.  He does all this while continuing to earn psychic merit badges in subjects such as telekinesis, clairvoyance and fire-starting.

So basically, Psychonauts is the kind of game where Double Fine’s imagination can run rampant and humor race out of control – very good news indeed!

There’s no denying that Psychonauts is a platformer.  It’s got all the tried and true conventions.  “Players [can] run, bounce, float, climb, swing, sneak and scoot” using “the Psi-Blast, a mental burst of energy” to banish enemies and defeat puzzles.  Then there are the powers that Raz can use, including teleportation, prophecy and invisibility.  It’s not stated how these powers are earned, but the most likely is that they’re acquired from defeated boss characters.  Or they could be handled via a Banjo-Kazooie learning-type feature.

Besides humor, a trademark of games that Schafer has worked on is their distinct look.  While he wasn’t always directly responsible for the look of a game, Psychonauts continues this tradition.  The fact sheet notes “feature-film quality” graphics and sound.  While I can’t vouch for how it moves or sounds, the screens certainly look good, if a little on the dark side.  The dark nature matches the themes of cavorting through people’s unconsciousness and battling inner demons, but c’mon give us some sandy beaches!

Double Fine is not looking to reinvent the wheel.  In fact on paper, Psychonauts sounds just a step above vanilla – maybe Neapolitan.  But with Tim Schafer’s track record and Double Fine’s goal of games with “feature rich storylines, believable characters, [and] amazing art” I’m more than willing to say Psychonauts just might be a cut above the usual platformer.

Psychonauts doesn’t have a firm ship date, so you’ll have to settle for “sometime in 2003.”

- Omni