Video Games That Need Sequels #3: Psi-Ops
Most of the games I cover in this series have one thing in common, their lack of success was due, at least in part, to market oversaturation. They we're released at the same time as a flood of similar games in theme or genre. Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy fits that description to a T. 
While it was better, maybe much better, than the majority of titles released in it's time, it wasn't quite unique enough to imprint itself on the minds of the gaming public. While the game had some rough edges, the story was weak and the ending was awful, it was a blast to play. The psionic powers were done really well and were actually the focus of the game. You could just shoot a guy, but instead why not drain him for his brain mojo, making his head explode, Scanners style, in the process. Or pick that punk ass up and slam him repeatedly into the other goons. It was, at the time, the best implementation of a physics engine in a game. Rag-doll physics are all well and good, but Psi-Ops really made it central to the game instead of just a post-mortem animation. It also had a good deal of very satisfying and well integrated puzzle solving sequences.
Why it deserves a sequel now. While physics engines have advanced a bit since Psi-Ops was released in 2004, the implementation of them really hasn't advanced much. Half-Life 2 really utilized it's physics well, very few (if any) games since have used it for anything other than a gimmick. A title that actually utilizes it as a game element would still be pretty unique on the market, and with the power available on the XBox 360 and the Playstation 3 the exploding heads and char-broiled bodies would look amazing.
technorati tags: videogames
2 comments:
In the limited time I get to play videogames -- almost never over the past year -- Psi-Ops was one of the few that really grabbed my attention and it was a blast to play. A 360 sequel would be one of a handful of games that might convince me to upgrade sometime down the line instead of going with the Wii.
When I was playing it I remember thinking that there would be a flood of games that imitated it's game mechanics. But nothing has some down the pipe that resembles it. The developers are making a John Woo game, so I don't think we'll see a sequel any time soon.
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