Psychonauts

What I expected:  An incredibly memorable game that had the patented Double Fine humor.  Everyone always talks about how this game was perfect.

What I got:  A mediocre platformer at best, that does not hold up well with age at all.

What I liked:  Honestly, not much.

Characters:  Unique characters that all have their own distinct personality, and even if I don't remember their names (no fault of Double Fine, I'm horrible with names), I do remember their faces.  The voice acting is all very well done.  Note that I'm comparing the game to current games.  Very few games have voice acting this good now, let alone back in 2005.

The world:  The environments are all very imaginative.  I really enjoyed the risks they took with creating a psychedelic world.  It's a very hard to market this world, and it really is very imaginative and fun.  The camp grounds are boring, but once you are in someone's head it's pretty great.

What I didn't like:  Or why I think this is the most overrated game of all time.

Menu System:  They tried to get clever with the main menu being an interactive 3d world.  I hate this.  I just want to play the damn game.  Games try and do something clever like this every so often, and it's not.  It's just frustrating and delays the time it takes to get me to your game.  Additionally, when they did this, they make you run up.  More specifically, they make you move the control stick UP.  This is contrary to literally every other game in the history of man kind.  You always start at the top of a menu and move DOWN.  I ran  all the way down, circled round the brain, coming up top.  This is silly, and it's not clever.

Communication (or rather lack there of):  They do a horrible job communicating what exactly they want you to do.  Their approach is to give you no clue what to do, fail then they have an audio cue tell you what to do....SOMETIMES.  They don't communicate what something is for.  For instance, I unlocked the fire badge, and ok now I can set things on fire.  I have no clue why I would use this ever.  The only thing I have used it for is to melt some scavenger hunt item out of ice.  It doesn't seem to serve a purpose.  The game really suffers from an overall lack of game direction.  The story and writing are all very cohesive, but it seems like they forgot they were making a game and not a book.  The level that I've heard at least two people compliment very highly is the Milkman level.  This is actually the level that broke my will to play this game.  I continuously felt like I was doing something wrong, and only achieved the goal by accident.  After the first stop sign, I felt like I was missing so many disguises.  I spent so much time searching houses with TERRIBLE cameras.  I eventually moved on.  I eventually found the graveyard, and proceeded, but man why was it placed at the end of the level?  These are things not limited by technology, they are things limited by basic understanding of teaching the player.  Maybe modern games have made me stupid, but this game just feels like they made it for themselves and for no one else.

Cutscenes:  They have tons of cutscenes all over the place.  If you find them funny, which I didn't, I suppose that's ok.  I just want to play the damn game.  The level I enjoyed the most, was the Godzilla level.  This would have been the highlight of the game if it wasn't for all the cutscenes that were placed all over it.  An introductory one would be fine, and an ending one would have been great too.

There is more, but it's hard to remember because I spent a bunch of time yelling at my tv.  I should start taking physical notes instead of just mental ones.

Final thoughts:  I stand by my statement of this being the most overrated game of all time.  I honestly couldn't finish it.  I quit playing this game at the book repository.  I couldn't figure out how to get past it.  I tried using the dudes as shields like the guides say, but the room for zero must be zero, as I was only able to successfully avoid getting shot once.  I really tried to finish it.  I constantly felt like I was playing a different game than everyone else.  I feel like this game is one you have to play when it was made, because it just doesn't hold up well in time.

How much did I pay:  $2.00

How many hours did I play:   5

Dollar per Hour:  $0.40

How much would I pay for this game in perfect hindsight:  $0.00

Why?  Perhaps when it was made I would have paid something for it.  Playing it now, there are just so many things (non graphical) that just date this game.  Pity, considering I really enjoy all of Double Fine's other adventures.