For once you can believe the hype.
Psychonaughts is everything the critics have praised it for and more. This is one of the best games in this console generation and has something to offer a variety of gamers. While Psychonaughts is a platformer at heart, don’t be too quick to lump in with the rest of the genre.
In terms of graphics and sound, this is the most impressive title on the PS2. The use of color and texture gives Psychonaughts a distinct feel and makes full use of the machine’s capabilities. The sound and music, along with the voice acting, are better than you will find in many animated television series.
One of the things that set this game apart from other platformers is level design. The platforming physics in this thing are enough to make Miyamoto himself weep with tears of admiration. While the pure platforming aspects have a similar feel to the Sly Cooper series, they offer too many new challenges for Psychonaughts to be compared with any other title.
The combat system offers upgraded Psi-powers that have become so popular in recent action titles. This adds a new degree of interest to combat, which can be very stale in many platformers.
Lastly, the plot and characters in this game are more detailed and more entertaining than any I have ever encountered in a game. The humor is genuinely funny for gamers of all ages, and the story could easily stand on its own as a motion picture plot.
One of the only things that I didn't enjoy about this game is the frequent load screens. The game puts players through a 10-30 second load screen every time a different area of the campground is accessed. This never affects combat, but can interrupt the free-roaming navigation portion of the gameplay. Still, the action, visuals, and humor are more than worth the wait.
The only other aspect of this game that kept me from giving it a perfect score is the somewhat uneven difficulty. I remember that I used to despise a lot of old NES titles because they would have certain levels that were impossible to beat, which really ruined the game. While Psychonaughts is fun 95% of the time, there are several tasks that are so difficult to complete that you will want to quit playing altogether. In my opinion developers crossed the line between challenging and frustrating with some of the later levels.
If you own a current generation system that offers Psychonaughts, you owe it to yourself to pick it up at any price if you are lucky enough to find a copy. It’s all the critics said it would be and more.