Honestly I was expecting to find a trainwreck of Crackdown 3 levels here. After years of delays, setbacks and general development hell, Psychonauts 2 finally arrived and holy moly its good.
If I was to be quick about it, i'd just compare it to the original as at times its very much 'More of the same but with some of the rougher edges filed off' which... Honestly? Given how good the original game still is, isnt a bad thing.
Almost every level feels full to the brim with unique ideas, graphical flourishes, grand story beats and memorable characters, both main and side.
This transfers over to everything in the main world too, the storyline carried over from the previous game and Rhombus of Ruin is just incredibly fun and heartfelt. Sure theres one or two duff characters (I still dont totally care for the Interns) but overall you just want to find out more and more.
Thankfully the gameplay too retains its charm from the original. Battles are fast and frantic and, this time more difficult to just spam your way through. The platforming for the most part feels more precise and free-form meaning you're unlikely to ever reach peak Meat Circus levels of rage that the original occasionally lapsed into due to the engine.
Its just all great. If I am to nitpick (and I will. I mean this is a 4.5/5, not a 5/5), the game does rely too much on the 'Power of 3' in its design. Each level has 3 beats, 3 areas, 3 collectables. Each boss generally has 3 phases. It makes for the occasional bit of predictability in whats a unpredictable game. Also I still feel Levitation should just be mapped to a non-power slot. While you'll generally mix and match, Levitation is too useful to ever ditch.
That said. These are nitpicks. I am really really happy with this and its making me eager to find out what else Double Fine can get up to through Microsoft.
If I was to be quick about it, i'd just compare it to the original as at times its very much 'More of the same but with some of the rougher edges filed off' which... Honestly? Given how good the original game still is, isnt a bad thing.
Almost every level feels full to the brim with unique ideas, graphical flourishes, grand story beats and memorable characters, both main and side.
This transfers over to everything in the main world too, the storyline carried over from the previous game and Rhombus of Ruin is just incredibly fun and heartfelt. Sure theres one or two duff characters (I still dont totally care for the Interns) but overall you just want to find out more and more.
Thankfully the gameplay too retains its charm from the original. Battles are fast and frantic and, this time more difficult to just spam your way through. The platforming for the most part feels more precise and free-form meaning you're unlikely to ever reach peak Meat Circus levels of rage that the original occasionally lapsed into due to the engine.
Its just all great. If I am to nitpick (and I will. I mean this is a 4.5/5, not a 5/5), the game does rely too much on the 'Power of 3' in its design. Each level has 3 beats, 3 areas, 3 collectables. Each boss generally has 3 phases. It makes for the occasional bit of predictability in whats a unpredictable game. Also I still feel Levitation should just be mapped to a non-power slot. While you'll generally mix and match, Levitation is too useful to ever ditch.
That said. These are nitpicks. I am really really happy with this and its making me eager to find out what else Double Fine can get up to through Microsoft.