Psychonauts was never a popular game: despite numerous awards and deafening critical acclaim, it just couldn't seem to find an audience when it was released back in 2005. Since then however, it has slowly developed a sizeable cult following for its humour and its inventiveness. If you've played it, you already love it, and if you havent, then youre really missing out on something truly special. Thankfully, the planets must have finally aligned themselves as Double Fine have are going ahead with Psychonauts 2, but they've got quite the legacy to live up to. From creative level design to interesting characters, the original Psychonauts is a rare example of something that managed to do nearly everything right. In fact, the games so good that it can often be difficult zeroing in on the details of its perfection. Luckily, I'm here to do that for you. In Psychonauts, you play as Razputin, a runaway from the circus who has infiltrated the Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp in the hope of becoming a powerful psychic warrior, or in other words a Psychonaut. Under the supervision of Sasha Nein, Milla Vodello and the legendary Agent Crueller, Raz must take part in classes and earn merit-badges in order to hone his psychic abilities, transforming himself into a psychic soldier, a paranormal paratrooper, a mental marine. Of course, things arent so straightforward. Something rather sinister seems to be taking place at the camp: Razs mind is plagued with visions of a disturbing dentist, a strange creature from the lakes has been abducting children, and something, or someone, is sucking out their brains and turning them into mindless husks. Its your job to piece together the mystery and return the stolen brains to their rightful owners. Spread across multiple levels, each themed around the personalities of characters from the game, Psychonauts will take you to some interesting places. Along the way, youll fall in love with the characters, laugh yourself silly and generally have a blast. If you need more convincing, here are 15 reasons to go out and buy Psychonauts right now...
