You are Raz(Steven Horvitz, excited to be there, to feel he has a purpose and isn't a burden like at home), a 10-year-old gifted boy who runs away from the circus to try to sneak into a training ground for those with similar powers to become a "Psychonaut", a spy in that realm. It's disguised as a Summer camp, where you can, not have to, roam, listen to and/or talk with the other children... at least a dozen, each with their own personality, conflicts, relationships including romantic ones. He finds that there is a sinister plot occurring there that only he can stop. Someone stole the brain of your fellow trainee. There's also shared nightmares about a scary figure, who somewhat resembles Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street. Of course, this entire plot starts slow and late, only to dump a ton of exposition on you that then takes away the surprise from every upcoming development. And this happens in the cut-scenes, except for when it doesn't. Most of what you, yourself, do in this doesn't affect the story.
After a couple of too long, boring and barely necessary tutorials, the actual levels begin. The few there are – that would be fine if this went for one mood, instead, it goes for all that it can in those, meaning, yeah, not that many. And while you may do a little detective work, you are helping insane people deal with their issues. This is something that could have been done before and without you, and would not be required at all if you got for free the favors that they offer after you've been in their mind. I mean, this is a pretty big deal. Can we focus on that? Anyway, that does mean that you are moving through the bizarre, absurd, creative, unique and surreal mind every time you "go in". In one, a 50's suburban neighborhood that you move on like a series of Möbius strips, overrun by G-men, all claiming to belong, working the sewer, the road, or the like, with their suit and shades clear for anyone to see, and there are cameras hidden in lawn ornaments that every so often pop out and snap a shot, the top of every car has a radio transmission tower. You'll find yourself inside at least one old-fashioned game, like a game of cards. Or a board-game, where there are three layers, or sizes. First, you look at it set up, you could grab it with a hand. Then you get onto it and get an overview. Finally, you're smaller than the pieces for it, and can knock on a door of a house that you could have had in your hand seconds ago. You'll see neon, encounter dogs and wrestlers. A few of them, you can choose which order to do them in. They're all memorable. They do, sadly, all overstay their welcome and lean on one mechanic too much. It helps a little that they each have a different one.
Since you've been learning acrobatics, you can grab, shimmy and climb ledges, walk or swing from tightropes, slide swiftly down lines and double-jump. Though there are numerous elements vital to making something like this be enjoyable, the game-play is ultimately what I consider to be the single most important one. Unfortunately, here it is... just OK. Without it, it might as well be an interactive movie or the like. 3D, compared to 2D(which recent demos of Rayman, both Legends and Origins, does, and it's so much more comfortable. So it can, and sometimes is, still being done like that today), makes it far harder to do the action/adventure plat-former. Much less do it well. And a lot of the early examples of this didn't yet know how to deal with it. Sonic, Earthworm Jim, Prince of Persia... this is, thankfully, far better than those. The problem is that the added dimension opens it up, and with more to take in, the momentum comes and goes. Or dies entirely. The camera has big problems. Even with the sensitivity maxed out, the mouse will sometimes move it very slowly, *too much so*, it *will not* keep up, there are even times where you have to constantly, laboriously, manually adjust it. Worse, the Marksmanship Blast aiming is awkward, and, with this issue, not fast enough. There are a few times where you have static views forced upon you, where the direction you go in either shifts suddenly as it pops to a different place, and/or just makes it hard for you to tell which one you'll be going in. That hardly ever leads to your death, it's mostly in areas safe from harm. A few places, it can't "follow you" into a small room, so you can't see anything until you leave it again. Completely unacceptable.
You'll gain psychic powers such as: telekinesis: pick up small items, enemies and the like, and throw them, such as for attacks. It is a strange decision to force you to hold down the key... why not allow toggling? And you adjust the predicted path with the movement ones...why? Levitation: it's the "running" feature, with a ball of energy under your feet. You can use it to Float, gradually getting closer to the horizontal surface, as you inch further in one of the four directions while in the air. You can set some things on fire. These can either be awarded by completing certain missions or by gaining ranks. You can assign three of these to your controller or keyboard for quick use. All earned ones are available at any time through a selection screen. You can't pick which ones you get. You save up for certain things, it's not really "choice", just something to earn, which is perfectly fine, makes it more accessible.
There is some creepy, disturbing and twisted material in this. I recommend this to fans of old school entries into this already unforgiving genre. 6/10
