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''Psychonauts'' is a Platform Game developed by Double Fine Productions , published by Majesco , and released on April 19 , 2005 , for the Microsoft Xbox , the Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows . It was the first game from Double Fine Productions , a company founded in July 2000 by Tim Schafer , well known for his previous work on graphical Adventure Game s at LucasArts . PLOT OUTLINE In ''Psychonauts'', the player controls Raz (short for Razputin), a mysterious new arrival at a Cadet training camp for Psychonauts — elite special agents who use their psychic powers to combat psycho-terrorism and retrieve information from inside people's minds. After arriving, Raz discovers that someone is abducting cadets from the camp with the purpose of stealing their brains. He must discover who is behind this sinister plot and stand against this evil. SETTING The story is set in Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, where students are trained to become Psychonauts (elite special agents who are deployed to gather information by using psychic powers to enter people's minds). The history of the area is detailed on a tree stump near the camp parking lot. The area was hit by a meteor made of psitanium (an element which gives/strengthens psychic powers) and created Lake Oblongata. Indian tribes fashioned psychic arrowheads out of this meteor, which today are used as the in-camp currency. The meteor affected the people in the area as well as the animal life. The native bears can be seen using Telekinesis , and cougars have been sighted using Pyrokinesis . Years later, people settled the area and built towns, but because the townspeople were not psychic, they began to go insane. As a result an asylum was built to house the people of the town. The "insanity epidemic" greatly impacted the town; fifteen years after the asylum was built, there were more people in the asylum than the town. Eventually, the town and the asylum fell into disrepair, and Whispering Rock was built in its place. STORYLINE Razputin arrives at the summer camp, his origin unknown. After attending a few classes, it is clear that he is a gifted student, so Sasha Nein invites him to his laboratory to test his mental capabilities. Razputin learns of the collective unconscious and the ability to enter people's minds. Razputin enters his own mind using a machine in the lab; more about Razputin's character is revealed as well as a monstrous entity in his mind which spits out a diver's helmet at him. Mysterious events begin to conspire at Whispering Rock Summer Camp: there are rumors of a monster in the lake, and students are brainwashed, turning into mindless zombies. Razputin takes it upon himself to discover the root of these strange occurrences and rescue his friends. He is helped on his quest by agent Ford Crueller, an old Psychonaut who, as a result of being attacked by evil psychics, is too fragile to leave his underground sanctum. Agent Crueller helps him by communicating to Raz telepathically using a strip of bacon, Agent Crueller's favorite food. Razputin meets another Psychonaut-in-training, Lili, and it is obvious that she has a crush on him. As Razputin tries to discover more about what is happening, more children are turned to zombies and when Psychonaut teachers Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello are called away on "official Psychonaut business," Razputin realizes the fate of the camp is in his hands. We learn that Razputin cannot enter water because his family was cursed by gypsies to drown. Razputin learns of a monster in the lake from other campers, and a connection is made between the monster he sees in his mind and the monster which might be in the lake. While Raz first uses the machine to enter his own mind, Sasha realizes Razputin's mind has mixed with someone else's, the result is a mind which is a mix of Razputin's and the other person's. When in this mind, he climbs a tower and sees that Lili has been kidnapped by a mad scientist named Dr. Caligosto Loboto, and that he's stealing the children's brains. The brains are to be used in a psychic tank, it is revealed that Coach Oleander, the sports instructor at Whispering Rock, is the mastermind behind this scheme. Determined to rescue Lili, Razputin has to find a way into the asylum. He goes into the lake and confronts the monster, which turns out to be a giant mutant lungfish. Razputin is chased by the monster until he finally knocks it out and enters its mind. After confronting the villain in the lungfish's mind, he cures it of its rage and desire to kill. Apparently, the lungfish was once normal but then made a mutant by Dr. Loboto and Coach Oleander. Razputin befriends the lungfish, named Linda, and with her help, Raz arrives at Thorny Towers Asylum. In the asylum, Raz enters the minds of various insane people so that he can cure them and get closer to achieving his goal of getting to the top of the tower. The first is Boyd, the security guard outside the asylum. Raz enters Boyd's mind, which is a twisted conspiracy world, and awakens the milkman, another persona of Boyd which was implanted there by Coach Oleander with the goal of destroying the asylum. Upon leaving Boyd's mind, Boyd has become the milkman, and is intent upon throwing a Milk Bottle Filled With Gasoline at the asylum. Razputin then enters the asylum and meets Dr. Loboto's assistant Crispin Whytehead. Crispin does not allow Razputin to use the elevator since he "is not Doctor Loboto." Crispin's eyesight is poor, so Razputin decides to disguise himself as Dr. Loboto to get past Crispin. Razputin needs a steel claw, a straight-jacket, and a way to change his appearance to look like Dr. Loboto. Luckily by some odd coincidence, all of these things (or things that are similar) are available. By entering three more minds, Razputin is able to acquire a "claw" (an award given to an actress named Gloria), a straight-jacket(from Fred Bonaparte, a descendant of Napoleon plagued by his family name), and a painting of Dr. Loboto to use as a face (from Edgar, a Spanish painter). Using the claw, the straight-jacket, and the portrait, Razputin gets past Crispin and into the elevator. In the asylum, Raz realizes that he is being followed, and he is warned by his stalker not to go any further. Of course, Raz continues, and he eventually makes it to the top of the tower, picking up the brains of his campmates along the way. Atop the tower, he comes upon Dr. Loboto, who is forcing Sheegor (the stalker) to help him by holding her pet turtle, Mr. Pokeylope, hostage. Sheegor, in return for the safety of Mr. Pokeylope, collects brains for the doctor. Raz finds three people imprisoned by Dr. Loboto: Lili, Milla, and Sasha; the two Psychonauts who thought they had to take care of official business were actually kidnapped by Coach Oleander. Razputin rescues Mr. Pokeylope from his aquarium and gives him to Sheegor. Mr. Pokeylope then comes up with a plan, in which Dr. Loboto falls out of the asylum tower. After Razputin finishes freeing his teachers and new girlfriend, Milla and Sasha defeat Coach Oleander in a psychic fight, and they, Raz, and Lili all leave the asylum. The asylum then explodes as a series of events unfold: Edgar leaves a gas pipe open (but off at the moment) and exits the asylum with Gloria, who turns on the gas because she confuses it with a water valve. Once all of the residents of the asylum are outside, Boyd throws a molotov cocktail into the asylum, causing it to blow up and burn to the ground. The Psychonauts regroup outisde and are about to return to Whispering Rock, when suddenly a tank comes out and shoots at them. Raz dodges the blast and is the only one still conscious. The tank is the same as the one Raz faced in his mind, but now it's real, and it is powered by Coach Oleander's brain. Raz defeats the tank, but as a last resort, the tank shoots out a substance which makes Razputin sneeze his brain out (this substance was also used to get the childrens' brains). Razputin has no choice but to use telekinesis in order to save his own brain by putting it inside the tank's brain vat with Coach Oleander's brain. Now Razputin finds himself inside the Meat Circus, a combination of Coach Oleander's and Raz's nightmares. Razputin's family comes from a circus, but Razputin wanted to become a psychic and Razputin's father did not approve, instead wanting his son to focus on performing in the circus. Coach Oleander, on the other hand, was afraid of his father, a butcher whom he believed killed bunnies. In the meat circus, Razputin tries to save Lil' Ole, a young version of the coach, from mutant rabbits and from his father, who manifests himself as a giant butcher. Razputin then confronts a vicious form of his own father. Raz is tested and tormented by his father but still survives. Razputin faces the butcher and his father as they fight together to kill Razputin, but yet again Raz is victorious and the butcher falls into a giant meat grinder. Razputin's real father enters the twisted world and explains to Razputin that he is a psychic as well, and that he was concerned for Razputin's safety since their family has "many enemies". Razputin's father defeats Raz's evil version of the man by making him fall in the meat grinder, but as they are about to leave, a mutant combination of the butcher and Razputin's evil father jumps out of the grinder. Razputin defeats the monster with the help of his father, and they leave the Meat Circus. Summer is at an end, and the children are about to go back home. Coach Oleander apologizes for his crimes and says that he is finally cured of his psychological trauma. Ford Cruller asks Raz to become a Psychonaut, and he accepts. As Raz is about to leave, it is revealed that Lili's father, Truman Zanotto is the head of all the Psychonauts. Unfortunately, he has gone missing, and Sasha asks Raz to join the Psychonauts on their quest to save him. Raz, Sasha, Milla, Coach Oleander, Lili, and Raz's father ride the Psychonauts plane to rescue Lili's father. GAMEPLAY ''Psychonauts'' combines traditional Console platformer elements with the kind of strong storytelling, humor and dialogue found in adventure games. The game features ten levels, each of which let the player enter a different person's mind. Each of these levels therefore has its own unique visual design and set of challenges, related to the demons, nightmares and secret memories of the mind that Raz is exploring. Three other levels are set within the real world, making a total of thirteen levels, interspersed with several Boss Fights . As the player progresses through the game, Raz acquires new psychic powers, including Telekinesis , Invisibility , Pyrokinesis , Clairvoyance , and Confusion . These are directly involved in the puzzle-solving aspects of the game, which tailor to the player's own playing strengths. The game's refreshing, seemingly kid-friendly style evolves into levels that seem more suited to teens and often laced with black comedy. PSI POWERS Psi Blast : AKA-Marksmanship. This is the first psi power Raz recieves. It is a beam of psychic aggression that is shot out of Raz's forehead. Remember, this power has limited ammo. Pyrokinesis : This is the first power you earn by ranking up. Pressing down the assigned button will cause the body temperature of a targeted hostile to rise until they burst into flames. Telekinesis : Unlike in other psi games, the Telekinesis in this game involves targeting an object and selecting a projected path. Moving the path in the way of a hostile will cause damage to it. Rank up to get this. Levitation : This power comes in the form of a ball of psychic energy Raz rides on to go faster, jump higher, or grab on to and float down on slowly like a balloon. that protects you from attacks and even reflect some attacks. Remember, nothing lasts forever. Especially shields. Invisibility : This power hides your presence from the minds of others. Same rule from the shield applies. Great for taking care of cougars. Rank up for this. Clairvoyance : This allows you to see from the point of view of the targeted being. Not what one would expect, but still very useful. Confusion : The final power is a mental grenade that causes all hostiles in the blast radius to attack themselves or other hostiles. The ammo supply for this power is limited. DEVELOPMENT HISTORY Tim Schafer's team was partly comprised of several people he worked with on '' Grim Fandango '' at LucasArts. Amongst the art design crew was background artist Peter Chan and cartoonist Scott Campbell. Voice Actor Richard Steven Horvitz , best known for his portrayal of Zim in the Animated Television Series '' Invader Zim '', provides the voice of Raz, the game's protagonist. Originally, ''Psychonauts'' was to be published by , it was revealed that ''Psychonauts'' would be released on yet another platform, the PlayStation 2 , Ported by Budcat Creations . The final US release date for the game on Xbox and Windows was April 19 2005 , with the PlayStation 2 port following on June 21 , 2005. Despite the game's overwhelming critical success , its sales have been somewhat lackluster. The disappointing figures for both ''Psychonauts'' and '' Advent Rising '' contributed to the variety of financial troubles plaguing Majesco; in July 2005, the publisher revised its fiscal year projections from a net profit of $18 million to a net ''loss'' of $18 million. In light of this announcement, Majesco's stock price tumbled drastically and its CEO , Carl Yankowski, announced his immediate resignation. It has been questioned by some fans why the game was not released on the Nintendo GameCube considering the outwardly family-friendly look of the game. Although the ending does invite a sequel, it's hard to say if there will be another, due to dismal sales. CHARACTERS Main article: Characters In Psychonauts ''Psychonauts'' features a large cast of characters, led by the game's protagonist, Razputin . These include camp Coach Oleander, Psychonaut agents Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello, and Raz's love interest, Lili Zanotto. AWARDS
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