Today is finally the day. I set the download early this morning, and when I get home tonight it’s all ready to go and waiting. Psychonauts 2 at long last, and I am excited. I’m tempering my expectations and looking forward to enjoying it for whatever it is, rather than letting hype get the better of me. That way, if it is mindblowing – heh – then I will enjoy it all the more for not expecting it to reach that level. Ages ago I said I would do a breakdown of my top-10 favourite games, but as I still haven’t gotten around to it, Imma just say here and now that the original is 4th on that list, and the only platformer in the top 10 if you don’t group by series. If we do, and this one is good, on the parallel list where I do group series’ together, this could climb even higher. The top two is near enough impossible to breach, but third might not be.
I try not to think in superlatives, as if a game is in my top 20, I can just pick it up without thinking and dive back in for a fun and relaxed experience. That’s true of Psychonauts and The Simpsons Hit & Run, the only other high ranking platformer. Portal 2 is a lot further down because while I love the game, I can’t relax-play it, and that has emerged as the biggest defining factor of if a game can take the top spots. There’s a reason the #1 has never been dethroned, and it’s in part because I have it installed on just about every computer I own that isn’t my work laptop. I hope Psychonauts 2 holds that same relaxed explorative feel. I used to lose hours just wandering around Whispering Rock and enjoying the scenery, the music and talking to the other kids on the campsite. And trailing the Milkman. After all, his milk is delicious.
samshuttleworth.com 