Do dreams come true? At this stage in my life I'd say yes, but I'll have to get back to you in 20 years to give a final answer. For Raz, a troubled boy with psychic powers, dreams are not necessarily what he hopes will come true. His home life is really messed up. Damaged by a curse, his living family lives in fear, hoping the curse isn't real, hoping that it dies a myth.

Raz's father hates the idea of his son being a psychic. He pushes him toward the family business: circus performance. Raz hates it, and eventually runs away to a psychic training camp for kids. This is where the game begins. The story behind each character is slowly revealed through entertaining dialog and hilarious scenarios. There's a dark element, too – a dark and twisted element that has a layer of hilarity baked right in the center.

From the moment I met Raz, his teachers and the students, I knew that there was something different about this game. I couldn't quite put my finger on it at first. Slowly I began to realize what it was: these weren't new faces I was looking at; they were soon to be old friends.

Psychonauts is a massive, unexpected game that knows exactly what it wants to be: a good time. It's got all the ingredients an action/adventure needs: scavenger hunts, enemy-pummeling, platform-hopping, et cetera. This is where other action/adventures stop. Not to discredit the competition, but since Jak & Daxter was released, how many games have said, "A and B are fun – let's add X, Y, and a little Z. A dash of E, a pinch L and whatever else we can muster!" Games don't do that. Not in this genre. They stick with A and B and finish the game as is. That's fine. I've enjoyed a lot of those. They're now buried in my closet and may never resurface. Psychonauts will not suffer the same fate – it has the whole alphabet.

X: Riding. Raz's arsenal of psychic powers is weird at best. A transparent balloon that lets you levitate? Not exactly. The balloon is generated from within Raz's brain (you'll learn all about this in the game – brain power is deemed the ultimate weapon), and with it he can roll around, jump several times as high, and flip it upside down for a secondary effect.

Y: Gliding. Free-falling through the air? Grab the balloon and hold on tight. Raz glides to save lives (his own) and to complete objectives, but you'll want to glide whether you have a task to complete or not. The more psychic powers I earned, the more I wanted to explore the game's enormous worlds.

Z: Rail sliding. If it's long and skinny and isn't a rope, hop on and Raz will slide across it. Fast, seamless, and extremely fun.

E: Levels that are catered to fun. I'm not sure if the psychic powers were designed around the levels or if the levels were designed around the powers. Both are a perfect fit, dispelling frustration before it has the chance to form.

L: Never a dull moment. In Psychonauts there's always something cool to do. I almost cringed as much as Raz at the thought of "learning" a new trick, but these short missions turned out to be another venue for entertainment.

Everything else they can muster: Raz's power is based on a rank system. He cannot reach the status of a Psychonaut and use every special power without achieving a higher rank. (His rank is also connected to certain items, preventing their use until the listed rank is reached.) Collect the right items and complete the necessary objectives and his rank will rise.

Scavenger hunts are usually the most boring part of an action/adventure. Smart developers hide the items well, and at the same time risk falling into a trap that will kill the replay value. Donkey Kong 64 is a prime example. Big worlds, lots of items, little fun.

Again, Psychonauts is superior to almost every game on the planet by hiding hundreds (thousands!?) of items in every location imaginable. You can survive by finding the obvious items. Your rank will be lower, your psychic power arsenal will be smaller and the game will be harder, but you'll still survive. For those who wish to venture deeper into the game, there's an abundance of items, both integral and trivial, to search for.

When you do finally uncover these items, you'll be excited by the gameplay that follows. (I'm inching closer to spoiler territory – let's just leave it at that.)

Raz is equipped with the awesome ability to burn things with his mind, leading to some hilarious dialog with one of his teachers. He can lift things (objects, monsters, people, etc.) with his mind and toss 'em around, though he'd be best to use this power for good, not evil. To destroy enemies from afar, or to destroy monsters that could explode on contact, Raz can shoot a laser from his mind. These are just a few of the powers he'll acquire. They're just a couple of reasons why you won't be able to put this game down.

It's these tiny but thoughtful pieces that made the action/adventure genre the best genre for over a decade. Psychonauts doesn't have the same control restrictions that other games have. It takes us away to a place that we have never visited before. You haven't either. No one has. Psychonauts isn't quite the Grand Theft Auto of the genre, but it might as well be.

Gameplay: 9.0
Usually I stress the importance of great controls, great level design, or great objectives. Most games have one or two of those elements. The one that's missing never fails to be the one that stands out the most.

Psychonauts has all three elements, each of which was executed beautifully. I don't know what to say now except THANK YOU! to everyone on the development team. You've renewed my faith in the genre. Maybe no one else will do what Double Fine Productions has done. The fact that they did it is enough.

Graphics: 7.9
On one hand Psychonauts has big levels, shiny eyeballs (inspired by Munch's Oddysee, I presume), and decent facial expressions (from Raz only). On the other hand the environments are somewhere between Dreamcast and first-generation PS2 games. They're acceptable for a game of this quality, but my jaw's not dropping.

Sound: 9.0
What's this? An appropriately eerie soundtrack mixed with hilarious (and well performed) dialog? You've got to be kidding me! I must be dreaming. But wait – there's a controller in my hands. And the TV is turned on. AND my eyes are open! This is no dream! This game is funny, the voice actors can act, and the characters are likable! I'm stunned.

Difficulty: Medium
Solid all the way through.

Concept: 9.4
The concept of fun. One way to describe Psychonauts is to call its world a giant playground. You can climb trees, slide off rails, jump on trampolines, and glide through the air holding a transparent mind balloon. It’s a fantasy you’ve never had; a dream you’ve never seen. When the journey came all this weird stuff started happening, I never wanted to leave. It’s easy to find enjoyment in a polished action/adventure – all things considered there have been a lot of those. But to find a game that truly gets the genre, a game developed by people who know what it means to have fun – that’s priceless.

Overall: 9.0
I was tempted to go overboard and give this game a 10. Then I thought, "If the developers achieved perfection now, why would they make a sequel?" :) Truthfully this game isn't perfect, but it's the most fun I've had with an action/adventure since the original Jak & Daxter was released. It's got all the mechanics of a great adventure game plus the best parts of Psi-Ops (levitation); Mario Sunshine (gliding/hovering); and Tony Hawk (grinding). If you don't have this game by Christmas put it at the top of your list. Psychonauts isn't merely a game to watch, or a game you don't want to miss. It's THE action/adventure to get.