This review contains spoilers
Psychonauts makes full use of its concept, allowing it to make every level thematically different while keeping to a more structured story. This even extends to collectibles, as you have things like "emotional baggage" or "mental cobwebs". The basic collectable equivalent to Mario's coins are "figments", neon coloured flat images representing static memories. The whole premise also means each level delves a little bit into a characters personality.
Not only are the levels themes different, but even their general genres, as you have platformers, action or puzzle based stages among others.
All this does lead to a bit of inconsistency in game quality, but I don't think there were any truly bad levels, just some that were better than others. And even the less enjoyable ones to play were kept entertaining thanks to the games comedic qualities.
The hub of this world is pretty well designed too. At least for the first half, as you have all the camp kids spread across the areas of the camp, each with little their own little stories going on. As I said though, this only extends about half way, as the kids all become literally braindead after that, so the hub world exists merely to get from point A to point B.
The game is an overall really fun playthrough, with a very 2000's Nickelodeon charm to everything, with a pinch of Tim Burton character design. It shows its age a little with the mechanical aspects, most notably the camera, but never becoming a hinderance, more just realising how far we've come since 2005.
Not only are the levels themes different, but even their general genres, as you have platformers, action or puzzle based stages among others.
All this does lead to a bit of inconsistency in game quality, but I don't think there were any truly bad levels, just some that were better than others. And even the less enjoyable ones to play were kept entertaining thanks to the games comedic qualities.
The hub of this world is pretty well designed too. At least for the first half, as you have all the camp kids spread across the areas of the camp, each with little their own little stories going on. As I said though, this only extends about half way, as the kids all become literally braindead after that, so the hub world exists merely to get from point A to point B.
The game is an overall really fun playthrough, with a very 2000's Nickelodeon charm to everything, with a pinch of Tim Burton character design. It shows its age a little with the mechanical aspects, most notably the camera, but never becoming a hinderance, more just realising how far we've come since 2005.