10 Levels That Stopped Video Games Being Perfect
5. Meat Circus - Psychonauts
Psychonauts is a game of such mesmerising creativity - a solid gold cult classic which desperately deserves to be championed by many more people.
That is, except, for its final Mental World, the infamous Meat Circus.
In theory there are some really neat and twisted ideas at play here, given that the level's poultry-tastic circus aesthetic is a result of protagonist Razputin and Coach Oleander's respective childhood memories of the circus and a butcher shop colliding in totally insane fashion.
This painful slog of a level is a lifeforce-draining chore, comprised of an escort mission, finicky platforming that's also timed, regenerating enemies, and a pain in the ass of a boss fight to boot. It doesn't help that the controls and camera feel so totally not-conducive to this being a fun level in any way.
The later Steam release of Psychonauts did thankfully see developer Double Fine listen to the vocal complaints and give the level a notable nerf, but for those of us who took it on in its original form, it ensured an otherwise amazing game sputtered to an exasperating finish.