Psychonauts = 9.5 from OXM

[Moosferatu]

heh, awesome. I love the gleam on the eyes.

[netmonkey]

I love the gleam on the eyes.

Which means that Psychonauts was shot in a studio... by a live audience!

---

Also, it turns out that the UPS delivery was a day early:

[Intrepid Homoludens]

I just spoke with a manager at a Gamestop near where I'll be in town tomorrow, and he said I can trade in some games, and if I'm lucky they'll have a copy of Psychonauts for me after they reserve some of the shipment for pre-orders.

I got Xbox copies of LOTR: Return Of The King, Curse: Eye Of Isis, and Morrowind (which I can always re-purchase later, I'm not interested in it now). Things look good.

[amishler]

I was going to post this in Kingz's hate thread, but that would just be cruel.

Yeah, that's about right.

[JoeX111]

Many images of people holding the X-Box version, but none of the PC one going around....

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Oh, and another good thing to remember for when you guys pre-order or plan on buying a game the day it comes out.

When I called that Gamestop in Chicago where I'll go tomorrow, I asked the manager about pre-orders, how many copies of a game they get. He said that the number of copies ordered by a store depends on how many people pre-order the game, which made sense - supply and demand ratio. But then I asked if they typically order just a few more copies, say two or three more, in case anyone walks in and asks for it. He said yeah, usually one or two extra copies, not reserved for pre-order. In the case of THAT particular Gamestop, it's a brand new store in that neighbourhood, so not that many people know about it yet. Which means a slightly better chance of just stopping by cold turkey and finding a game on the day it comes out.

[nsps]

Good Psychonauts reaction at EB (similar to Chris's, the main difference being the clerk was a dude):

Two Xbox copies on the shelf, no PC, clerk tells me that he can't wait to play it. I mention Tim, he says he's never played any of his games but that this one looks really cool. (The rest isn't like Chris's story) Then he tells me I can get a refurbed Xbox and that he has one and they have a better working rate than new ones. Random guy in store tells me he has a refurbed one too, also thinks it's better than normal new one. I cry, say maybe I'll come back and buy and Xbox and play Psychonauts right away, but don't have the money at the moment.

[Udvarnoky]

Ign Review: 8.7

[JoeX111]

Ugh, and it's Hilary that's reviewing it. That is probably my least favorite reviewer on the site....

[manny_c44]

There's just so many jarringly bizarre lines in there, and I can only asume that the spoiler-heavy parts are chock full of similarly akward prose.

My favorite was this head scratching failed attempt at sarcasm: "Though I miss the boring gray walls of endless buildings and rehashed environments in every first-person shooter, I just love the look of Psychonauts."

Although this embarassingly telling line is good too: "Though Schafer has shied away from sequels in the past, I hope Psychonauts proves to be the exception, as a second go could turn in a truly classic game experience." I'm sure he/she is also eagerly anticipating the red-blue 3d release of Citizen Kane 2: Warrior Within.

[netmonkey]

*CUE GOTH METAL*

IGN is pretty pathetic. It took them 4 days to come up with the review, and it's not even IGN quality (which is equivalent 1/7 of Idle Thumbs quality ).

[amishler]

But hey, it's an 8.7, and we all know that when it comes to reviews, it's the quantitative judgment that counts, right?

Right?

[JoeX111]

I can't stand IGN's XBox staff. Read their 2490581048501825 page review of Halo 2, talking about how every single aspect of it makes it the l33test shiznit e\/0rz.

And to put it in perspective, the guy who wrote that review also did a video report about last year's San Diego Comicon. If I remember right, it's about fifteen plus minutes of him saying everyone is a dork and zooming the camera in on all of the women in costumes.

[Thrik]

GameSpy @ 4.5/5 stars.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Good god, I'm loving every Psycho-minute of it!! I just got out of General Oleander's brain. But my niece kicked me out so she can play her account and show her friends (they're here for the bi-weekly neighbour's Bingo party), so I'll have to wait for a bit before I can play again. God Tim is in the details, people.

[netmonkey]

You know, one thing I did not really think about for the past 5 years or whatever until I played the game and saw how everything fit in together is that Tim really outdid himself. I thought the game would not be as complex as Grim Fandango, but it definitely took me by suprise in the character development and the way everything works together to the most miniscule detail! And he pulled a very fine job designing his first non-adventure game!

Of course, it probably wouldn't have happened withOUT everyone at Double Fine. I always feel bad giving the whole credit to a single guy.

Edit: I can't type.

[Duncan]

Of course, it probably wouldn't have happened with everyone at Double Fine.

Yeah, those bastards.

[pj-]

There's just so many jarringly bizarre lines in there, and I can only asume that the spoiler-heavy parts are chock full of similarly akward prose.

As well as factual errors..

Quote from the review..

"When Raz enters velvet painter Eduardo's mind, his costume changes to match the velvet world. Eduardo is tormented by a bull who rampages through the streets and has an uncompromising rage. Another level has Raz playing in a board game where he continually shrinks at first to manipulate the board and then to attempt to recruit pieces for the game and lastly to enter their homes for exploration. "

The painter's name is edgar, and you can't enter the houses in the waterloo level

I can't get over this score when I look at something like gtasa's review. I guess overwhelming the player with mediocrity (mediocre graphics, gameplay, minigames, driving physics, plane physics) is better than a steady stream of awesome creativity.

Objectively, I could see psychonauts getting an 8.7. Some may not like the sense of humor, the brevity or whatever, but RELATIVE to IGN's other reviews, a 8.7 is a slap in the mouth. Are jade empire, god of war and gtasa REALLY that much better than psychonauts? Why do they overlook the flaws of those games but harp on psychonauts'?

I guess in the end it doesn't really matter, nobody outside of the gaming community cares what ign thinks, and the gaming community only cares when IGN's opinions coincide with their own. On the bright side, I'm sure psychonauts will make an appearance on some stupid "underrated gems" list that ign craps out during a particularly slow gaming week!

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Objectively, I could see psychonauts getting an 8.7. Some may not like the sense of humor, the brevity or whatever, but RELATIVE to IGN's other reviews, a 8.7 is a slap in the mouth. Are jade empire, god of war and gtasa REALLY that much better than psychonauts? Why do they overlook the flaws of those games but harp on psychonauts'?

Did the same person who reviewed Psychonauts also review Jade Empire?

I'm playing both - Psychonauts and Jade Empire - right now. And they are both exquisits, but each in its own way. At this point I'm only in the impressions stage, I haven't gone that far enough into either game to get a solid footing.

[netmonkey]

Conglomerate of comments

By netmonkey

I still find the way they review games these days rather odd:

This game degrades women and glorifies violence, the graphics looks outdated. However, the gameplay is awesome and it keeps me busy for thousands of days, and no other game has 7.1 surround sound. 9.5/10 Editor's choice.

Is there some sort of sarcasm I'm missing?

Ah, and Psychonauts gets the spotlight on Gamespot today. Finally! I was looking around and the reviews are harsh (which is good!). Psychonauts seems to be the highest rated xbox game since like Halo 2... except for Unreal Championship 2: It's Unreal Dude!

Splinter Cell 3 gets an 8.6 on Gamespot and a 9.6 on IGN. A 9.6?!

Just imagine if they reviewed movies based on how long they were:

Well, the Incredibles was an excellent movie but it only lasted 90 minutes. It won't really take a whole lot of your time. But it was good in every other aspect! 4.3/5 stars.

[pj-]

Did the same person who reviewed Psychonauts also review Jade Empire?

No, but you should be able to see some level of conformity between reviewers. I guess comparing one reviewer to another is a LITTLE unfair, so let's look at a few of hilary's past reviews.

9.3 Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War

9.3 Deathrow

9.5 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

9.1 Jet Set Radio Future - unique game, has flaws (ie camera), yet still got a 9.0+ score

9.2 Panzer Dragoon Orta - unique game, has flaws (ie length), yet still got a 9.0+ score

This one takes the cake..

8.7 Tao Feng: Fist Of The Lotus - apparently this stupid game is as good as psychonauts.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

That's why I never take the scores anywhere as seriously as the actual review itself.

[Thrik]

Man, this is why scores should just be banished. Make people exercise that reading ability of theirs and get the facts rather than just score-skimming.

[JimmyTheFish]

Gabe from Penny Arcade just mentioned how awesome Psychonauts is! Expect an awesome boost in sales!

I am too drunk to type.

[SoccerDude28]

Computer gaming world gave it a 5 stars also.

http://cgw.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3139777&did=4

"I suspect Psychonauts is going to kill on the consoles, and ordinarily I might suggest you buy a console version, especially if you don't have a gamepad for your PC—in general, games like this simply play better on a console. But I'm not going to suggest that. Psychonauts is, for once, a well-done PC platformer—so well done and so very good looking, it's worth buying a gamepad for it."