Recent reviews by Vans_Dont_Dance

Being a big fan of Laika films, I can't help but feel Psychonauts may have influenced alot of them. For instance watch Paranorman and then look up the characters in this game. Can you see it now?
Regardless Psychonauts is the type of cult classic still worth playing today if you haven't. May squirrels invade my mind for not having played this sooner. This is an adventure game chucked up with more original content and characters than most modern games of this type.

Whispering Rock is where the game starts and ends its story. For a hubworld from the ps2 era, this feels like a lived in and familiar local. Campgrounds, offbeat councilors, animals and children practicing their psychic powers. All this wack and so much more! Filled to the brim with good 90s cartoon show writing complete with innuendos. The unapologetic humor adds to this very psychadelic plot.
Without spoiling too much of its imagination, you're a 10 year old dude named Razputin being trained in the art of sneaking into minds cleaning mental cobwebs and clearing emotional baggage( The puns are real). Ultimately become a Psychonaut, the ultimate mental spy.

Like I mentioned before this is a classic adventure game, so expect alot of collecting and some puzzle solving. This was a ps2 game, so you'll be going through alot of menus that can be bit clunky and hard to maneuvre through at times when looking for an item you want to use. The same goes for its powers which you can map 3 different ones to certain keys like in a Zelda game.

Now this game is 70 percent exploration and 30 percent battle of the minds. The combat is serviceable but often times you'll probably want to get over with it. Luckily the bosses in this game are visually and mechanically creative, so you'll enjoy fighting them, I know I did. Exploration however is rewarding. See each person's mind you literally walk into has its own surreal themed world. The variety throughout is commendable. Each world has its own quirks and sometimes its own gameplay twists. You'll go from simple platforming to directing your own play, and even disguise yourself as a suburban. I want to tell you more, really. But its best for you to experience it for yourself. Each world is a delightful insight about a character, and with some of the powers you unlock, can decipher more about their personalities if you keep digging.

I dug it. And was pleased.

Cons:
-Meat Circus needs nerfing
-menus can take away from playing
-Had to redo a stage 3 times because of it freezing at the same exact spot(got around it by doing the quest in a different order)
-Repeating dialogue, an absurd amount in Meat Circus.
-One level, although very visually appealing, was very hard to navigate.
-no sequel despite sequel baiting

Psychonuats is a 8/10. If you like Tim Burton, old Nickelodean, Paranorman and Coraline, you'll love this game and probably ignore all of its cons. It's that type of game.

"My aim is to put down on paper everything I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way." Ernest Hemingway

That quote sums up the kinda visual narrative you'll get with Bastion. And I'd rather say no more about it.

This is a fantastic game. Why? Because you'll want to play it again. These days there are so many indie games out there that really only expect you to complete it once so you can go out and talk about how "trippy" the experience was. Immediately after completing the game's brief 6 hour campaign I left to take a piss and went back into new game +. Now a game has to give good reason to warrant another playthrough. Bastion gave me three.

Idols: In Bastion you can build a shrine that houses 10 different idols based off gods and godesses within its own fiction. Initially you have one or two, I don't know exactly how you unlock them yet. But in NG+ they're all unlocked. They serve as mutators to the game. this increases the challenge by giving enemies all sorts of new abilities from deflecting attacks to dropping a grenade upon vanquish. Admittedly this can be an easy game, so if you want an ass beating you'll probably want to turn 5 of the 10 idols on. And if you're looney you should turn it up to 10.

Armory and Distillery: This is a game in which you can really customize your combat experience. The weapons you have at your disposal are varied. You can hold two weapons at the time, melee and ranged. But you can mix-em up however you like. Want to walk out with a rifle and a musket and ignore melee? You can.
Because of the light RPG elements you can add drinks that kinda buff out your character's chance of surviving based on what level you are (there are only 10 levels). For example if you're level 2, then you have 2 slots you can have two drinks.

Time Attack Mode: Haven't tried it yet. But thank god this mode exists. You got leaderboards! In this mode you can replay areas as many times as you want, which is a godsend because some of the levels are a blast to play through and explore.

Cons:- A few times I had no idea what the narrator was going on about.
- In some of the Proving Ground and Mission areas I couldn't tell where or what I could roll unto, causing some cheap falls.
- Aiming can be a bit off sometimes. Often shooting at an enemy without reaching.
-When there are more than one anklegator (an enemy type that requires really good timing)

9/10 Should purchase.