Atomic Nerds

Sasha Nein: “Young man, I hope you’ve learned a lesson here today.”
Raz: “Yes! Shooting stuff is useful and fun!”

OK, I know we’re a little behind on this one, since Psychonauts was first released an eternity ago in 2005, but we’re still enjoying the backwards compatibility on the xbox 360 to catch up on some of the better titles we missed. This is very much a better title.

The game centers around young Rasputin, Raz for short, who is a new cadet at the Camp Whispering Rocks, a summer training camp for kids with psychic abilities. Shortly after his arrival at camp (escaping his psychic-hating carnival acrobat father), the other campers brains begin to disappear and it’s up to Raz to somehow collect enough training to use the psychic powers necessary and rescue the brains and generally save the day.

The gameplay and controls are nothing to write home about; fairly standard all around. I’ve seen some places bitching about the camera controls, but really they weren’t that bad, except in one or two spots. What really made the game though was the level design, the character design, and the writing. Mostly the writing. Consider some of the following:

Dr. Loboto: The bad news is that we’re going to have to remove your brain and place it in an armored tank to shoot down innocent civilians with its psychic death beam. The good news is that your insurance is gonna cover the whole thing.

Ford Cruller: Aw, poor little thing.
Raz: That poor little thing just tried to kill me about eight different ways!
Ford Cruller: Well that’s not its fault. This was once just a normal sized lungfish, minding its own business in a mucus lined air bubble beneath a semi dry lake bed. But judging by the work done on it I suspect Maury has mutated it, accelerated its growth, and has placed an implant in its brain to make it do his evil bidding.
Raz: Aw, poor little thing.

The levels in the game take place within the brains of the camp counselors, who are full-fledged Psychonauts themselves, and in the minds of a few people you find around the camp (or more accurately, in the insane asylum across the lake), as well as a level or two inside your own head (well, Raz’s head - they haven’t quite managed to tap into the player’s skull just yet). One level was interesting and hilarious enough to even have a trope named after it.

The artwork looks like it came straight from the twisted mind of Johnen Vasquez, even though the only link to him is the always marvelous voice talent of Richard Horvitz, who played the main character. In a few spots in the game, Raz even managed to look rather suspiciously like Invader Zim. I’m not really doing the voice acting and writing justice here, so take a gander at the trailer for it:

The PC version isn’t even $10 at amazon. Just remember, if you laugh your brains out, have someone send them to me before you wander off to watch TV. I’ve got a use or two for ‘em….

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