I've wanted to play Psychonauts for a while but I never got around to it. When I found out that it was free on GameTap I realised I had no excuse and downloaded it straight away, what a great decision.
Psychonauts is an adventure/platforming game created by Tim Schafer who is one of my favourite game designers of all time. His previous work include Monkey Island and Grim Fandango so I immediately new that the game was going to be funny. The game has you playing s a psychic called Raz as he enters the minds of different people trying to figure out what's going on in his summer camp. This is where the game really shines as the level design is some of the best I've ever seen. Back this up with clever and witty dialogue and Psychonauts is a blast to play.
The game only real shortcoming is the platforming which is unfortunately poor. After playing games like Mario the platforming in this game just feels clunky and broken. This wasn't helped by me playing on the PC which is the best way to play platformers. This lead to some frustrating moments where I just wanted to scream.
I didn't let that get in the way of me enjoying the game though. I was really pleased with the game and it's worth playing just to experience some of levels like 'The Milkman Conspiracy', 'Lungfishopalis' and 'Waterloo World' to name a few. I think everyone should go and play it and seeing it that it's free, yes FREE, you have no reason to not even just check it out.
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In other racoon news a person has found a rare Albino Racoon, even I didn't know such a thing existed. Also some racoons gave people rabies but we'll forget about that.
Well E3 starts tomorrow so I might as well join everyone else and say what I'm most looking forward to this year.
Note - I'm only putting PC/PS2 games as I don't have a next-gen console.
Announced (for the show):
3. Left 4 Dead - This game just keeps looking better every time I see it. Valve seem to be able to not make a bad game, ever. The game is coming out this year but that's based on Valve time.
2. Spore - After playing the creature creator (which everyone should check out) I'm even more excited. I f just designing a monstrosity can be so much fun then imagine how great the whole game can be. It's released in September so not too long to go.
1. Fallout 3 - I don't why I picked this game, I mean I've never played the original (or the sequel) but something about it makes me think it's going to be ****ing amazing. Maybe because it's made by thee people who made Oblivion, I don't know but I do know that it's at E3 and I'm going to be following the game closely.
Others:
Alan Wake (where are you?!?!)
Unannounced (for the show or at all):
3. Half-life 2: Ep 3 - There were rumours that the game was confirmed for the show but Valve swiftly denied them. I'm hoping it was a clever ploy by the company and they are actually going to wow us with the next game in the brilliant Half-life series. The release of some new concept art does give me some hope.
2. Deus Ex 3 - This is longshot but I'm really psyched for this game and I need some more info. We did get a trailer a while back but since then nothing, nothing at all. Deus Ex 1 was amazing, 2 was meh but I'm 3 can redeem that and bring this series back to it's former glory.
1. Sly Cooper 4 - Come on Sucker Punch (developers of the game) do you hate me. Why would you not make another game on the series based on my favourite animal. I know Sly 3 was probably the last in the series and Sucker Punch are now developing inFAMOUS but I can dream, can't I.
Others:
Monkey Island 5
Grim Fandango 2
So, a lot of games that I wan't to see but will they actually be any good? will they get release dates? will there be any big surprises? We'll have to see.
Continuing my slog through games in my PS2 'Pile of Shame', (starting with RE4), I have now finished Shadow of the Colossus and I have to say I'm impressed.
The game is really hard to describe and doesn't real fit fully into any genres. When I was reading about the game no one really said what the game was about but I'm glad they didn't spoil the experience, and it is an experience.
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The game is very unique but just the sheer sense of scale you get as you climb any of the 16 colossi is just amazing. The game world may be empty but that just reinforces the isolation you have from the rest of the world. I can't say enough how good I thought the game was and I'm glad I picked it up.
The game obviously won't appeal to everyone and I did have some gripes. The camera can be very frustrating to control and it can go all over the place. Also your horse is probably the wost in the world and it takes at least a couple of tries before you can actually get on to it. None of that really takes away from the colossi which are probably some of the best designed bosses that I've ever fought.
Next I think I'm going to play MGS 2. I've already played 1 and 3 so it makes sense to play the second installment in Solid Snakes life (even if you don't play as him). If anyone has any other suggestions for PS2 games I'll be glad to here them.
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