Eurogamer's Game of the Year (And it's not Resident Evil 4)

[fitbabits]

And the Eurogamer (http://www.eurogamer.net) Game of the Year award goes to - Psychonauts (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=62276)!

Kieron: I mean this in the very best way, but I like Psychonauts the more time passes since I completed it. During the actual play there were all too many moments when the occasionally iffy design - some platforming mishaps, some grotesque difficulty spikes - downgraded my pleasure. But those transitory pains have become gossamer-thin and difficult to recall compared to the grand expanse of constant ingenuity and brilliance of the rest of the game.Tom: I still remember the evening I discovered this. I kept turning around to demand that Kristan stop working and watch me play it. I remember sneaking around everywhere listening to everyone talk, then talking to them to get more out of them. The further I got into it, the more astonishingly good it became. John: This isn't just a funny platform game. This is a sophisticated work of complex emotion. It's also a really funny platform game. It's a game you can quote to your friends, reminisce about in the pub, and go back to over and again. It is truly the best game of the year, and yet knowing you, you'll never get around to playing it. I hate you.
What else can I say? I was a little underwhelmed by Psychonauts at first, but the more I played it, the better it became. And it so deserved to do better commercially. We (gamers) are constantly crying out for innovation and better games, yet when the likes of Beyond Good & Evil, ICO, and Psychonauts come along, what do we do? Ignore them and leave them languishing on retails shelves like they were infected with some sort of plague! Sometimes we deserve exaclty what we get from companies like Electronic Arts, etc. with their annual updates and shoddy licensed games.

[Draft]

This isn't just a funny platform game. This is a sophisticated work of complex emotion.god I hate the emo review crowd.

anyway I've said it before, and I'll say it again, much to the chagrin of the Psychonauts wank crew: the game failed because the characters are hideous. Beyond hideous. Like something out of a nightmare. I don't care how "sophisticated" the Tim Schaefer's humor is. A platform game is primarily going to be bought by children, and children like colorful, appealing characters.

What I don't understand is how Schaefer fell so far. The cast of DOTT, Monkey Island, and even Grim Fandango all follow that design philosophy. Charming, memorable characters, full of bright primary colors and simple but effective detail. Bernard's coke bottle glasses. The three little dashes on Manny's forehead.

Oh well.

[Savok]

You'll note that we own all those for the most part. It's not gamers that are the problem, we BUY these things whenever we can, it's the market in general the doesn't support this stuff.

[fitbabits]

You'll note that we own all those for the most part. It's not gamers that are the problem, we BUY these things whenever we can, it's the market in general the doesn't support this stuff.
Good point, well made.

[RyanJW]

Interestingly Draft, all evidence that I've seen thus far indicates that the game actually appeals to the younger crowd more than anything -- it's the older lot who are primarily unwilling to try it out, discarding it as "just another kiddy platformer". Both of my younger-than-9 sisters are absolutely obsessed with it, and they have in turn managed to turn half the whole school class into lovers. In addition, pretty much every signup on my Psychonauts forum section is from somebody below the age of sixteen, all equally obsessed -- a lot of them female, incidentally.

So, I'm not sure that it looking so weird is to fault after all. Children aren't really turned off as much by that as you seem to think; The Nightmare Before Christmas was downright scary at times and yet I've rarely come across a kid (including my own friends back when it came out plus those that have seen it since) who didn't enjoy it. In fact, a lot of children go out of their way to be scared -- ever watched Doctor Who? Kids go absolutely mad for it, and yet it is full of slightly disturbing content such as tree-people getting burnt alive, humans having their skin torn off and Lord knows what else. If anything, Psychonauts appeals to the kids most of all.

I'm really not convinced that the quality of the game is at fault at all though to be honest. I'll admit that it wasn't as good as his past work, Grim Fandango in particular, but it was still rather great -- most people have good things to say about it. Sadly I'm not sure exactly what lead to its sales demise in the US (can't comment on Europe since it isn't bloody out ¬¬).

Edit: Saying that, Grim Fandango didn't really sell brilliantly either, and that was about as perfect as a game has gotten in my eyes. A lot of things don't make sense.

[Lodin]

I agree 100%. It really is the best game of 2005.

[51|RandoM]

I found it entertaining, but not fun to play, if that makes any sense at all.

Whereas I find BF2 very fun to play, yet it pisses me off almost constantly.

[Rirath]

We (gamers) are constantly crying out for innovation and better games, yet when the likes of Beyond Good & Evil, ICO, and Psychonauts come along, what do we do? Ignore them and leave them languishing on retails shelves like they were infected with some sort of plague!

I'm not crying out for much of anything, and I buy what I like, not what I think will help some unheard of game topple the latest Madden. Honestly, Beyond Good and Evil looks extremely tedious. From Gamespot's video review, I just get the feeling the game /is not good/, but yet they want to say "we like it anyway". Honestly, I've got games that are more fun to play. Psychonauts looks, as Draft said, absolutely hideous. It just doesn't look fun.

And ICO? I finally played that late last year after all the hype. It looks nice, really, really nice... and the platforming is some of the best since Tomb Raider. But you know what? The combat is shallow as heck, dragging your partner along isn't at all emotional, and I've been more 'moved' by TV commericals. And I'm a pretty easy to impress guy in this regard.

If I have such a hard time being at all impressed with these games, I sure don't see how the casual gamer is going to give a hoot. Out of left field games that actually worked are games like Katamari, which you'll note has had great success. Maybe it's not the gamers, maybe it really is the games. It seems to me gamers want to play RE4 and GTA, while critics just want to praise Psychonauts.

[thecrazyd]

The real GOTY gets some credit! RE4 is good, but very repetitive and streches out for 3 time longer then it should. The voice acting is fairly horrendous. While it is a good game, it has nothing on Psychonauts. Psychonauts is nearly flawless. And I don't care what Draft says, the character models are well designed and packed to the brim with charm.

[Anju]

Funny enough, now's the time I actually got around to playing Beyond Good and Evil. $10 Canadian bargain bin Wal-Mart title for PC. It's been great so far actually; almost like Zelda with a political commentary twist.

[Karmakin]

I havn't played Psychonauts here...it's kinda rare in Canuckiville here.

But I'll second the point about Ico. It's a very beautiful game, one of the most I've ever played. But the game itself...kinda sucks for the exact same reason as the poster 2 above. The combat IS shallow, and the game feels...sterile almost. It felt like one of those attempts at "fine art"..it tried to be so far above us that any emotioal reaction is forced.

What other sacred cows can I slaughter...Dark Cloud 2 is an unplayable mess. Final Fantasy Tactics has an awful level-up and advancement system, and the game is only beatable though breaking the game system. (FF8 has a similar problem). Stealth games are very frustrating, and best left to those with self-hating tendencies.

Three off-beat games that ARE worth the hype.

Katamari Damacy. Not just the style. The game is full of skill. It's a platform/racing/puzzle game at its core, and its mix is brilliant.

Ikaruga. Treasure at its best. It's a shooter that my shooter-hating wife loves. Because it's fair, and you can get better at it. Add on to that Treasure is rock solid with controls...

Amplitude:Where Harmonix really kicked into high gear. Some really good songs, and the power-up system worked very well.

[Kelegacy]

god I hate the emo review crowd.

anyway I've said it before, and I'll say it again, much to the chagrin of the Psychonauts wank crew: the game failed because the characters are hideous. Beyond hideous. Like something out of a nightmare. I don't care how "sophisticated" the Tim Schaefer's humor is. A platform game is primarily going to be bought by children, and children like colorful, appealing characters.

What I don't understand is how Schaefer fell so far. The cast of DOTT, Monkey Island, and even Grim Fandango all follow that design philosophy. Charming, memorable characters, full of bright primary colors and simple but effective detail. Bernard's coke bottle glasses. The three little dashes on Manny's forehead.

Oh well.

Hideous? I guess we weren't playing the same game. The characters are diverse, sometimes resembling monsters/aliens more than humans, but many cartoons are like this, people with blue skin and hair, weird shaped heads and bodies...I think this could be a model for human diversity, if you looked at it on that level, or just plain silliness which I love. I will agree that the game can feel somewhat nightmarish in its aesthetics, but this is part of the charm. It's a macabre world, but a charming one. And don't kids love the odd? (Billy and Mandy is one cartoon I can think of that...disturbs me sometimes)

Even if children didn't buy this game, adults should have. Many platformers are for all ages, and adults would be very at home with this game. I think I might have enjoyed it more than Resident Evil 4, and if not I still think this is a great GotY selection. Too bad more people didn't play it, as it suffered the same "great game no one played" problem.

And the Black Velvet matador level in Psychonauts is one of the best I've ever played, if only for its art design. It's beautiful.

[EvilBob46]

Psychonauts is nearly flawless.

This is absurd. It's a great little game, but the pseudo platforming gameplay is everything but flawless. And for this reason it doesn't deserve GOTY. Shafer should put some of his creative energy into creating gameplay mechanics that don't mirror platformers from yesteryear.

[earthworm48]

The game still isn't in Europe yet. At least not in the UK. The launch was the 25th of November, there was an Ad campaign and last time i checked THQ still had that date up on THQ.co.uk. The game isn't out though. All the retail sites have put up that they have heard 10th February as teh release, but why is there a fucking gap of that long? Really? It'll be almost a year since the US release by then.

[Nite_Moogle]

I hope the people saying the combat in Ico was shallow aren't the same ones that loved Resident Evil 4.

[earthworm48]

So you say that it doesn't deserve GOTY because it has flaws? EVERY game has flaws. I don't think I've ever played a flawless game.

[thecrazyd]

This is absurd. It's a great little game, but the pseudo platforming gameplay is everything but flawless. And for this reason it doesn't deserve GOTY. Shafer should put some of his creative energy into creating gameplay mechanics that don't mirror platformers from yesteryear.
While I agree it doesn't break any boundaries as a platformer, it does everything very well. I will argue about Schafer putting his creative energies into the gameplay. This is a merge of adventure and platform gaming. I can not think of another game that has done this, and certainly not so well. If you play this and think it is just an ok platformer, then you really missed the point. It is not a platformer, it just has platformer elements, and understated ones at that.

[fitbabits]

This is a merge of adventure and platform gaming. I can not think of another game that has done this, and certainly not so well. If you play this and think it is just an ok platformer, then you really missed the point. It is not a platformer, it just has platformer elements, and understated ones at that.
You know, and I'll probably get hammered for this, but Psychonauts reminded me a lot of Voodoo Vince - another game I got immense enjoyment out of.

[fahrvergnugen]

Finishing Psychonauts was as satisfying as finishing Halo 2 wasn't.

[Savok]

Ahh, the EvAv goth population is out I see.

[PIPBoy3000]

I loved Psychonauts. GOTY? Mmm . . . hard to say, let me finish RE4 first. There comes a point when there's a handful of really good games that each have their own distinct style. At that point, it's really up to the taste of the gamer as to which game they prefer.

Shacknews picked Battlefield 2, for example. I played the demo and found it interesting, but I'm not really into the multiplayer action, so it's of less interest to me. Psychonauts and RE4 are great, as is Civ 4. To each his own, as always.

[Borys]

Draft is 100% spot on.

I loved the mechanics, platforming and GAMEPLAY in Psychonauts and absolutely HATED the hideous character design which dragged the whole graphical experience down.

Way to fuck up a great game with possibly the ugliest characters on Earth.

[PIPBoy3000]

I think Psychonauts tried hard to have a unique artistic style, much like Grim Fandango (which had the Mexican/30's style). In part, I think they avoided the ultra-realistic approach because it's technically hard to do these days. I also think they wanted to stand out from the rest of the crowd, which they did. It's a risk, like many other aspects of the game. Some people don't appreciate art that is wildly different than the norm.

That's not to say it requires "refined tastes" or any such nonsense. Some people just plain don't like it, which I completely understand. It wasn't a problem for me, but I can understand how it might be for others.

[danhoo]

<slight spoilers>

Psychonauts, character designs aside, had some flaws with the overall platforming elements that keep it, in my opinion, from the level of something like Mario 64. You could argue that Psychonauts is not just about platforming, but I'd say it's at least 75% of the game.

The one thing I really noticed was inconsistency with the level design. Some levels were superb (I really liked the Napolean level and the Bullfight level), some were kinda meh (the theater level with the naturalistic(?) play) and some were downright flawed (meat circus). It really felt like there was no lead designer that checked each level -- rather that the designers all went off and did their own thing for X months and came back. Also, I felt like some of the Psi-powers were under-utilized, just there for one or two particular spots in a level, and never used again.

After reading the post-mortem of Psychonauts in Game Developer magazine (the project budget is stated to have been $11.8 million!) I can guess as to what happened. According to the article, mid-way in development, they sacked the entire level design department (except one) and moved the level design responsibilities around. Yikes.

In the end, I liked Psychonauts for the _writing_ more than anything else. The sense of humor, character lines & dialog were very memorable. I could really detect Tim's sense of humor through the game in the writing alone.

[RyanJW]

Way to fuck up a great game with possibly the ugliest characters on Earth.

But then on the flip-side, I really liked the character designs and really thought that they fit the generally insane (literally) theme of the game -- especially the coach and the janitor. Lots of other people like how they look too.

I guess people plain not liking it is a risk involved with anything that doesn't just look like everything else. As long as you *do* understand that the characters not looking good is purely your opinion and not fact, heh.

[Noman]

I liked Psychonauts because of its gameplay. The story and characters were not great and I'd not have finished the game, if the core gameplay and level design weren't so sound. Merging, adventure (and even turn based strategy) with platform elements as well as having pure platform puzzles, all set up in truly diverse game worlds that were fun to traverse were its real strengths. The mind powers were also great.

I don't understand the complaints that the gameplay in Psychonauts is an afterthought. May be, the majority of people saying that only played the demo, which showed the most conventional portion of the game, as far as gameplay is concerned.

[Furious Wang]

Psychonauts is not the game of the year. It could reasonably make the bottom half of a top ten list, though.

The writing and voice acting was wonderful. I actually enjoyed the visual style and voice acting. Some of the levels were great, innovative and a joy to play. Others were horribly unfun and a pain to play through. The theatre level and the meat circus, specifically, and the crazy cia level depending on your tastes.

The game was just too hit and miss. Hit and miss games do not deserve goty praise. Danhoo's post was pretty much spot on and I feel much the same way about the game.

[Captain Awesome]

I loved this game and I felt it was very glossed over by avid game players.

[atariv8]

Hey fitbabits, I loved Vodoo Vince too. You're not alone!

Back to Psychonauts, I hate platformers but I stuck this one out to the end to see what would happen next. I thought the characters were funny and well rounded. The personalities come out when you talk to them more or hit them or levitate them or look through there eyes, etc...I think most of the haters are ones who didn't make it through the whole game. There are some cool levels in there. Some of them reminded me of riding on Mister Toads Wild Ride or Peter Pan rides at Disney World when I was a kid. I wanted to live in those rides. Also, my six year old can't get enough of Psychonauts...of course his favorite movie is The Life Aquatic (mother got pissed I let him watch it) so he may not be the best case study.

[fitbabits]

Hey fitbabits, I loved Vodoo Vince too. You're not alone!
Sweet Jesus, you and I were the two people who bought it! I always wondered who the other person was. :)

[IagoTheHunted]

I think Psychonauts deserved way more credit than it seemed to get from most sources, but I dunno if it was game-of-the-year quality since it fell somewhat short on gameplay.

Really though I don't think we've developed a standard by which to make these sorts of overarching judgements of games as a medium... there are so many fragmented catagories and design ideas in games right now that too often it comes down to an apples and oranges comparasin. Psychonaughts was probably #1 in terms of character realisation in a game, if not fantasy art in general. But gameplay was weak, if the characters looked like crap the gameplay definately wouldn't have carried the game on its own. Meanwhile I thought RE4 had very strong gameplay to back up the amazing artwork... *shrug* it really comes down to what you like.

[Sl1pstream]

European release would be nice. Thank you THQ :mad:

[Spigot]

I absolutely loved Psychonauts. One of my most enjoyable game experiences of the year. While I'd probably put SotC above it as far as sheer impact, I have no problem with it being named GOTY.

And I, for one, loved the character designs. Sure, they're ugly, but in that Nightmare Before Christmas style, which I also loved.

Now is the part of every Spig post where I go off on a tangent:

For everyone who complains about the combat in Ico... I don't know if I should even comment on it. You're obviously not getting the game. It's not about combat in the least. It's about emoting with the young boy who is left for dead and his attempts to escape from a strange castle and keep the shadow monsters from stealing his only companion, the girl he found in a cage. The sense of abandonment that oozes from every crumbling rock in the castle really resonated with me, for one.

The fact that you're armed only with a stick for most of the game is to show that you're not some uber-warrior, destined for greatness. You're just a boy who wants out of the castle!

I wish that people wouldn't try to pigeonhole a game that isn't, as in Ico's case, an action game AS an action/platformer. The enemy, such as it is, is the castle and the environmental puzzles you need to solve are the game's combat. The actual swinging of a stick is peripheral to the gameplay at best and is usually there to either heighten tension in a given scene or to add to the puzzle aspect (ie. how do I get Ico back to Yorda after solving puzzle x before the shadow monsters appear?)

But what do I know?

[Spigot]

Sweet Jesus, you and I were the two people who bought it! I always wondered who the other person was. :)
I bought it too. I just hope I didn't trade it in last year in a fit of bankruptcy... It was a very enjoyable game.

[Kelegacy]

I absolutely loved Psychonauts. One of my most enjoyable game experiences of the year. While I'd probably put SotC above it as far as sheer impact, I have no problem with it being named GOTY.

And I, for one, loved the character designs. Sure, they're ugly, but in that Nightmare Before Christmas style, which I also loved.

Now is the part of every Spig post where I go off on a tangent:

For everyone who complains about the combat in Ico... I don't know if I should even comment on it. You're obviously not getting the game. It's not about combat in the least. It's about emoting with the young boy who is left for dead and his attempts to escape from a strange castle and keep the shadow monsters from stealing his only companion, the girl he found in a cage. The sense of abandonment that oozes from every crumbling rock in the castle really resonated with me, for one.

The fact that you're armed only with a stick for most of the game is to show that you're not some uber-warrior, destined for greatness. You're just a boy who wants out of the castle!

I wish that people wouldn't try to pigeonhole a game that isn't, as in Ico's case, an action game AS an action/platformer. The enemy, such as it is, is the castle and the environmental puzzles you need to solve are the game's combat. The actual swinging of a stick is peripheral to the gameplay at best and is usually there to either heighten tension in a given scene or to add to the puzzle aspect (ie. how do I get Ico back to Yorda after solving puzzle x before the shadow monsters appear?)

But what do I know?

You weren't the first to describe it like that, but yes, Psychonauts has the same macabre style that made Nightmare Before Christmas so goddamn great. Hell, it was the best level in Kingdom Hearts for that purpose alone. I love the weird, the dark, and the charming. That's why I loved Psychonauts. I don't know if it's GotY, but it deserves mention in the top 5 maybe.

[bumgut]

Eurogamer rocks.

It's true, whatever their game of the year is. It's great and it deserves your support. FACT.

[Draft]

Charming.
http://www.earlham.edu/~efs/nightmare4.jpg

Hideous.
http://manufacturingmystique.com/images/nerd_alert/psychonauts.jpg

I think what makes him so bad is the life like skin coloring on his misshapen head. He's like the elephant man.

[ElectricMonk]

i love the character design of psychonauts. I don't think that was holding back sales of it at all from a childs point of view, it may have affected their parent's decision to buy it for their kids or not though. psychonauts characters look a hell of a lot more appealing than the rugrats.

also all successful cartoon characters are ugly. look at the simpsons or family guy. all of them are mishapen because it adds to the humor value somewhat. now look at american dad. you can tell some moron execs wanted to make them look hotter, but all they succeeded in doing is making them look generic.

that said I thought psychonauts was the video game equivilent of an excellent b movie. some stuff was done well, some not so well. that happens in any game where you take risks, and i thought about the same after finishing ico and bg&e.

[atariv8]

Kind of off subject, what kind of musical style is in Psychonauts. My son and I love the music and would like to find more of it's ilk. Is it like old 70's kids movie americana?

I also bought the Vodoo Vince soundtrack:)

[The Iron Weasel]

I'm going to order myself a copy of Psychonauts on thursday, along with a copy of psi-ops.

[Kyle Jones]

I definitely plan to buy Psychonauts in the near future, but I just had to drop a huge amount of cash on an upgrade when my motherboard died, so it could be a while.

[Grimmjow]

this game was fun but it does not diserve game of the year

[Ravenlock]

Attention, um, everyone I guess:

Aesthetic preference is subjective. The very fact that some people in this very thread find the character design hideous while others absolutely love it is in fact evidence that neither side is "right". If you can't understand this... well, please figure it out and save us all a lot of pointless bickering.

If you are on one of these two sides - you have your opinion. Super. Realize that other people will not agree and (because it is an aesthetic preference and not something objective like bugs or bad camera design) neither of you is going to "win" the debate. It's like listening to people fight over whether cel-shading ruined Wind Waker, and it hurts.

Me, I don't find the characters all that charming visually, but I can certainly see how they would appeal to kids (which, apparently, they do). I really enjoyed the demo of Psychonauts - unfortunately, that's all I've gotten to play so far, but I'll probably pick it up eventually. Grim Fandango is one of my favorite games of all time, and I'm always up for meeting more of Schaefer's characters.

[Player 1]

You'll note that we own all those for the most part. It's not gamers that are the problem, we BUY these things whenever we can, it's the market in general the doesn't support this stuff.
Good point, well made.
True. This is actually a facet of a greatly overlooked point in online gaming communities. You're the minority. I read stuff and outspoken forum posters go on wondering why EA 'keep getting away with it' or why such and such game didn't get this or that or a Euro release. Vocal, active gamers are a TINY part of the market - the problem is they very rarely understand or accept that.

This revelation is the flipside to the EA argument. Great games get made, keen gamers all go and buy them. Keen gamers aren't enough to make the difference. Not by a very long shot.



Now is the part of every Spig post where I go off on a tangent:

For everyone who complains about the combat in Ico... I don't know if I should even comment on it. You're obviously not getting the game. It's not about combat in the least. It's about emoting with the young boy who is left for dead and his attempts to escape from a strange castle and keep the shadow monsters from stealing his only companion, the girl he found in a cage. The sense of abandonment that oozes from every crumbling rock in the castle really resonated with me, for one.

The fact that you're armed only with a stick for most of the game is to show that you're not some uber-warrior, destined for greatness. You're just a boy who wants out of the castle!

I wish that people wouldn't try to pigeonhole a game that isn't, as in Ico's case, an action game AS an action/platformer. The enemy, such as it is, is the castle and the environmental puzzles you need to solve are the game's combat. The actual swinging of a stick is peripheral to the gameplay at best and is usually there to either heighten tension in a given scene or to add to the puzzle aspect (ie. how do I get Ico back to Yorda after solving puzzle x before the shadow monsters appear?)

But what do I know?

What do you know? I'd say you're bang on the money. A lot of entertainment can be regarded as a disappointment if it doesn't meet with your expectations. It's easy to point the finger at the product when, in fact, it's the person's expectations and assumptions that may be the cause of the disappointment.

Attention, um, everyone I guess:

Aesthetic preference is subjective. The very fact that some people in this very thread find the character design hideous while others absolutely love it is in fact evidence that neither side is "right". If you can't understand this... well, please figure it out and save us all a lot of pointless bickering.

Hear hear!

[Savok]

Jesus Christ, I'm on the same page as Player 1, I'd feel dirty if my flesh wasn't already oozing fluid due to this damned pox, as it is the feelings about even.

[Player 1]

Nice unprovoked insult, Savok.

Wake me up when you say something constructive. There's a good fellow.

[fitbabits]

Nice unprovoked insult, Savok.

Wake me up when you say something constructive. There's a good fellow.
Savok may argue that your name is provocation enough! :rolleyes:

[Savok]

Nice unprovoked insult, Savok.

Wake me up when you say something constructive. There's a good fellow.
Tsk tsk, kids today, can't even agree with them without getting attitude.

[Steele Johnson]

This is absurd. It's a great little game, but the pseudo platforming gameplay is everything but flawless. And for this reason it doesn't deserve GOTY. Shafer should put some of his creative energy into creating gameplay mechanics that don't mirror platformers from yesteryear.

Yeah, he should create first-person shooters or hack-n-slash rpg's. Those types of games are fresh and new and don't mirror anything that came out years ago.

[mister_slim]

stuff
It's nice to see you in a good mood.

[fitbabits]

It's nice to see you in a good mood.
I just didn't see the point in quoting the whole text when I wasn't really replying to it - I was simply saying hello to Player1!

And I'm in a funtastic mood today - it'a almost lunch time, I've taken my happy pill, I'm caught up at work, and I'm able to post on EvAv. What more could I need?