Xbox Review
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy

There comes a time in one's life when he stops to think about the world of the paranormal. Do psychic powers really exist? Answer is, I doubt it. It's quite improbable, really. But to say I haven't thought about what it'd be like to have psychic powers would be a lie, and I can imagine the same thing goes for everyone reading this, as well.

Psi-Ops answers that question. With six powers at your command, it does an excellent job of letting you feel like an ultimate powerhouse, without making the game ridiculously easy. A balance very few games have been able to successfully pull off, and that's a good thing. To understand what it's like to be a psychic weapon, you'd need to play the game, but a review is the next best thing. Below are my impressions of Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy.

Story: The game starts with our protagonist, Nick Scryer, having his memory wiped and his face reconstructed. The agency he's working for, Mindgate, needs him to infiltrate a psychic terrorist organization known as The Movement. His memory has been wiped so he can pass The Movement's mind probes without being detected as a Psi-user, and his face reconstructed so nobody will recognize him, obviously. His squad is then captured by The Movement and imprisoned. Nick is put into prison but soon set free by the mysterious Sara Blake, who shoots him up with a vaccine which allows him to begin recovering his memory. From here the story progresses, making the obligatory twists and turns along the way.



Gameplay: The mainstay of any game, and Psi-Ops is no chump in this department. As I've said, you're garnered six powers with which you can use, abuse, and misuse, and they're a lot of fun to play around with. Undoubtedly the stealer of the spotlight here is Telekinesis, the ability to pick up and move things with your mind. Almost any object you see that's not bolted to the ground can be picked up and manipulated. By moving the aiming reticule over an object (it'll turn yellow if the object is movable) and holding the L trigger (L1 if you're on a PS2), it'll lift the object up off of the ground and into the air. The L trigger is pressure sensitive, so the lighter you press the lower it goes, and the harder you press, the higher it goes.

From here you can move the object around with the right thumbstick, and by holding a thumbstick direction and releasing the trigger, you'll hurl the object in the desired direction. The game is also good at knowing what you intended to do: by pressing the analog stick toward an enemy and letting go when you've got a box or explosive barrel lifted, for example, it'll auto-aim for you and toss the object at the hapless victim. You can also pick up enemies and control their flight path as well. Hurl an enemy into a wall, into a box or explosive barrel, off of a bridge or even into another enemy to invoke your terrible wrath.

Other powers are Pyrokinesis, the ability to create a wall of fire (though those well-learned in the paranormal will know that pyrokinesis only allows the manipulation of fire, not the creation) and send it hurtling forward, scorching everything in its path. Then you've got Remote Vision, which allows you to project your consciousness outward and away from your physical body, to progress forward with no risk of detection or danger, and also walk through doors to see what lies beyond. This power is an effective scouting tool and a very useful device in noting enemy positions and planning out your plan of attack. After this comes Mind Control, which is self-explanatory. Then comes Aura Vision, which allows you to see things invisible to the naked eye. The last power is Mind Drain, which is acquired very early in the game. This ability allows you to absorb Psi energy from dead or living opponents. Living victims give you far more energy than dead ones, which only replenish a fraction of your Psi meter.

The Psi meter, mentioned above, is the fulcrum upon which your powers turn. Each ability uses a different amount of Psi energy and has a different consumption rate, so you need to constantly keep an eye on it. Luckily it drains rather slowly, and when Mind Drain is acquired, things get much easier.

When you first start the game, you've got no powers apparently, due to the memory wipe. After Sara shoots you up with the recollection vaccine, however, new abilities are then acquired through flash-backs Nick has. As his memory reawakens, you're treated to a training session that took place years ago as soon as he remembers it. Each session gives you everything you need to get well-acquainted with the powers and their many uses. The powers awaken at spread intervals, so don't expect to be fully-powered a few minutes into the game.



Psi-Ops has a stealth element to it, believe it or not, but chances are you won't be running from crate to crate in an attempt to surprise your enemies. Most of the time you run in and kill everyone before they can set off an alarm or alert other guards to your presence. Sure, you can sneak up behind an enemy and slam the back of his neck for a stealth kill, but why not pick up his body and throw him back and forth between the walls until his last breath escapes his nostrils? That's so much more amusing. I give Midway credit though, because enemies respond realistically to your presence. They don't know you're there beforehand unless you've set off an alarm or alerted them by letting them see the corpse of a comrade, or even the helpless floating body of a live comrade as you prepare your finishing touch. You'll almost never be unfairly spotted in this game, and that's a nice touch.

Psi-Ops takes the use of ragdoll physics and freedom to a new level. In level structure, the game's very linear -- I'm talking about the freedom of choice; the multitude of options available to you at any given point. For example, you enter a room, and there are two guards walking around. What do you do? Well, you could Mind Control one, have him kill his friend, then make him commit suicide or use him as a live Mind Drain victim to replenish your Psi meter. Or you could run into the room, pick him up, hurl him into his friend to knock them both down, then throw a box or explosive barrel at them both. Or while they're down, light them both up with Pyrokinesis. Or you could throw Enemy A against the wall, gun down Enemy B while Enemy A is getting up, then whip around and brutalize Enemy A by throwing something into him, lighting him on fire, gunning him down as well, beating him with your fists, or Mind Controlling him and making him shoot himself in the face with his own gun. The possibilities aren't limitless, but they're insanely close. The game emphasizes the fact that you have a choice, and it gives many brutal ways of cleverly taking out your opponents any time you see them.

Level progression is linear, as I've said. Go from point A to point B, accomplish a puzzle or something at point B, then head to point C. Standard linear progression. But the game makes sure you have a good deal of fun in between. There are always enemies to get past and obstacles to overcome, and using your powers is a blast. There are a few puzzles, which require you to use your powers to get past, but it's nothing you'll wrack your brain over.

Boss battles are fun. Each boss you face controls a certain ability in a powerful manner. For instance, Barret, master of telekinesis, can lift things you can't, such as trucks or huge train cars and hurl them at you effortlessly and in quick succession. Jov Leonov can control squads of enemies and make them attack you all at once. All bosses have one distinct power they rule over, and you'll have to find the means of defeating the boss. The bosses' attack patterns are usually simple and shouldn't take too long to figure out, but exactly how you go about attacking them can be tricky to figure out, and the battles are mostly fast-paced, so they're not all that easy. I also played my first game on Hard mode, so that could skew my views slightly, but I found them somewhat challenging for the most part.

Graphics: Psi-Ops' graphics certainly aren't bad, but they're not the best I've seen. Camera is completely self-controlled. You move Nick freely with the left stick, and the right stick controls your camera's every move. The aiming reticule always stays in the center of the screen, so the right stick is also used for aiming. Typical dual-analog set up, and I love it. Textures are noticeably blurred when you examine them, but it's nothing too harsh. Facial animations, including lip syncing, are only included in cutscenes, not in typical gameplay.



The real treat here is the incredible ragdoll physics. I say this with full honesty: Telekinesis wouldn't be half as fun as it is without the stunningly realistic ragdoll physics. Pick up a box and it'll hover into the air, but if you bump the box into a wall, it'll start spinning. Throw the box and it'll hit the wall with deadly accurate collision detection, fall to the ground, and tilt and bounce a little before finally settling back down. The real fun is manipulating enemies. I've literally cringed by throwing an enemy into a box and watching him wrinkle up in eerily realistic ways as he connects. Imagine having an enemy near the threshold of an open door. You throw him into it and his head connects with the top of the threshold while his body through the doorway. The head's contact throws his body into a backward spin as he flies through the air. He then hits a wall, a mess of blood splatters onto it, and he bounces off of the wall then falls to the ground in a limp mass of flesh and bones. Pick up the corpse and watch it spin slowly. Shoot the body and start it spinning like a pinwheel. Throw the body across the room and watch it bounce and skid across the ground. The attention Midway paid to the collision detection and ragdoll physics are far past commendable, and make this game much more painful-looking (and downright fun) as it would've been otherwise.

Sound: Psi-Ops is a rather ambient game. The music is soft in the background, and when enemies are alerted to your presence, it picks up to set the mood for combat. The sound effects are sufficient. Guns sound just like they do in any other game, and explosions and enemies hitting the walls would sound like what you'd think. It all sounds like what you'd think it would, for the most part.

The voice acting is on par. Some characters are well done, while others completely blow. *cough THE GENERAL cough*. Overall it's convincing, and I liked it. Enemies also talk during combat, saying things such as "Kill him!", "Take this!", "I'm gonna **** you up!", and the likes.

Replay Value: Psi-Ops isn't an incredibly long game. It's been said it'll take around 15 hours or so for an average gamer to beat it the first time through. I didn't time it, so I can't say. There are things you can do after you beat the game, however. As soon as you start the game, there's an option you can choose to take you to a room to play around with any psychic abilities and enemies you've already discovered in the single player, with unlimited health and Psi energy. The room also provides crates, explosives barrels and the likes, so you can use your powers in any way you wish to eliminate your enemies. The room is a lot of fun to play around in.



There is one Evil Gnome (yes, lawn gnomes) hidden in each level, which open up extra missions, and after you beat the game, new skins become available to you. There's also a cheat menu you can use to unlock unlimited Psi power, all abilities, invincibility and more. Overall, I'd say Replay Value is decent, but it's nothing you'll be going back to once a month (though it could be...).

The Conclusion: Psi-Ops is a definite rent to anyone who owns a Playstation 2 or Xbox, and I'm not even joking. This game is sweet. If you like what you see, buy it. I'd recommend a buy right from the start, but I know opinions differ so I won't do that. Just do yourself a favor and rent this game at the very least. Midway put forth a great effort, and I'd hate to see it go to waste as this title becomes the sleeper it was never deserving to be.

The game is great. Six psychic abilities to toy with, decent length and replay value, good graphics and sound, and incredible ragdoll physics. This game is a ton of fun, and presents you a myriad of options while at the same time having a very small learning curve. Psi-Ops is a must-play, in my opinion, and shouldn't be missed by anyone.

Overall: 9/10

By: Cory McGray