Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy challenges players to use their most powerful weapon (their mind) as they try to master the first action/stealth game to integrate traditional weapons combat with extensive Psi (psychic) mind powers. Combating a terrorist movement set to overthrow the world order, Nick Geller, an elite American Psi-Operative fights using telekinesis (lifting and throwing objects), pyrokinesis (controlling fire), remote viewing (going "out-of-body" to plan attacks), mind drain (draining Psi energy from enemies), aura view ("seeing" elements that aren't visible in the real world) and mind control (taking control of enemies) to fight against an army of programmed, psychic terrorist super soldiers that will stop at nothing to reach their goal.

As Geller (No, not Uri the spoon master) players must conquer a programmed super soldier army and its psychic agents while using Psi powers. In addition to Psi capabilities, players have access to traditional weapons such as handguns and automatic weaponry. As players strategically navigate seven huge immersive levels within four distinct compounds, they encounter multiple ways to solve missions, which greatly adds to the replay value.

Gameplay:

Cerebral massage anyone?, and who says it is just ex wives who can play mind games. Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy is a game that involves using your head, quite literally, think Uri Geller and spoon bending, but with machine guns instead. Psychic power heroes are becoming more and more popular in the main stream media, with a silken voiced Patrick Stewart, as the wheelchair bound X Men’s Professor Charles Xavier, moving onto the art of the Jedi with the now ambiguous “force” from the Star Wars universe.

So Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy is a third person shooter with a very respectable run and gun approach to game play, add to this mix the ability to lift, throw and generally scramble any object or person with the use of your mind, it provides and interesting dilemma of fry them or play with their minds.

The controls are a joy to use with the standard 3rd person shooter config, triggers to shoot etc, very intuitive and the same as every other game of the genre. Using standard controls in this release has made learning the controls one less thing to worry about, meaning you have less detractions from the actual task of mind bending violence.

Story also plays a very large role in this adventure and can best be compared to Metal Gear Solid. The villains and the battles against them are way over the top, not in a Julian Clairy way, but in a more dramatic CGI sense. One such encounter leads to the adversary mentally lifting and hurling trucks in your direction. Another contains psionically controlled human bombs. No matter who you find yourself fighting, be it an ordinary guard or a boss, you’re in for an explosive fight. The game even goes so far as to track statistics for the number of explosions that you caused and total property damage, which is nice when it comes to filling in that insurance form.

Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy is a game that allows you to sneak up on an enemy, use a psychic power to cause their head to explode in a gloriously gory way, and then throw the corpse into the centre of a group of guards just to get their attention. You can even possess an enemy and use their own weaponry to shoot their friends, before turning the gun on themselves for a brutal decapitation. Limited more by the players’ sick imagination than design brick walls, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy is the ultimate playground for sadists, a sandbox for the mentally twisted. Needless to say I liked it in there!

Graphics:

The visual element of Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy is difficult to really encapsulate, they will not blow your mind away like Halo did when it was first released. The graphical aspect is a lot more businesslike, a lot of the graphics whiz past unnoticed, which although not sounding good, actually works well for the game. While the visuals are not jaw dropping they do provide just the right amount of visual stimulus to keep the gamer happy.

The rag doll effects in place are fantastic, and in a game where metaphysical feats are the basis of the action, the importance of the graphical engine behind the game becomes extremely important. Every single body part, object and just about anything that can be seen has been fully mapped out , providing the gamer with a truly awesome physical reality that will leave you smiling and chuckling each time you lift an enemy in the air or toss a crate towards a guard. Players can even lift a box a guard tries to take cover behind, exposing them to the fully furry of your weaponry. It’s almost too pleasing to watch, and some out there might even feel a bit guilty; but isn’t that what’s so great about videogames? We can all afford to vent a little and even feel a little evil from time to time can’t we?

Sound:

While the game boasts a number of original tracks, the actual score of the game does little to add the extra Va Va Voom to the game and is one of the options that you first go looking for to turn down. The simple gurgling, screaming and muttering noises soldiers emit whilst being tortured more than make up for the not-so epic score. The voice acting is a little ham fisted, but actually tends to add to the game play, I mean who would expect a character like this to sound like Graham Norton? It just would not work! Some of the actual scripting in this game does fill you with dread when ever a cut scene is due, I have a suspicion that the developers in this game have used the script writer from Battle Field earth, yes I know he might have been cheap, but there was a reason for that!

Longevity:

There is only so many times you can scramble someone’s brains and not get bored, the lack of multi player and on line play really limits the game to a solo player experience. The co Op mode is so poorly implemented that once tried, will never be tried again.

Round up:

Are you out of your mind? Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy was a pleasant surprise, what I thought would be another 3rd person shooter has managed to provide enough subtle differences to make it genuinely enjoyable to play. I feel that it could lose out a lot due to the been there played that school of thought, there are an abundance of good and terrible 3rd person shooters out for the Xbox and it could just get pigeon holed by a lot of people.

The omission of a multiplayer option also hinders the game to a solo play adventure, again limiting the longevity of the game; I mean who would not enjoy playing with your friends and getting them to blow their brains out? A lack of genuine replay value means the gameplay experience is short; this would be worth renting before you actually shell out for the game.

The mini-games are well thought out, but really won't have you playing them once the game is done and you have completed it. The co-op mode, well where to even start with that idea, one person controls the Psi powers and shooting while the other controls movements and aiming, is more confusing and frustrating than entertaining. Of course Psi-Ops’ main flaws are easily fixable and with great core gameplay a sequel could really make some noise, especially if they make it Live enabled and got a decent scrip writer.

Pros:

• Excellent Psi powers and freeform gameplay
  
• Arguably the finest physics ever seen in a videogame, the way bodies fly is breath taking.
  
• Some inspired level design
  

  Cons:
  

  • Final two levels are noticeably weaker than the rest
    
  • Gunplay could have been improved
    
  • 'Aura View', and everything that comes with it
    
  • Poor Co Op mode