VideoGame Mind games
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate conspiracy was a fun, if somewhat flawed game. Warning, there are spoilers!
In it, you play Psychic solider Nick Scryer, who is tasked with infiltrating The Movement a rebellion made up of his former allies and his ex-boss, the General. What follows is a fairly mundane plot with a few creative twists, but ultimately a pretty subpar story that felt like it wasn't given all the love and attention the gameplay mechnics were.
Speaking of, the powers Nick has at his disposal are the real meat and potatoes of the game. From Telekinesis, to pyrokenesis, Nick has a wide variety of powers with which to solve puzzles, fight enemies, and just generally wreak complete havoc. There is something darkly fun about hoisting a terrified mook with your levitation power, then slamming him into a wall before blungeoning his startled comrade with the former's battered body. And for fans of the Scanner films, or just those who love violence, using your Psychic drain power allows Nick to explode a person's head, with considerable gibbing.
However, the game has little in the way of replay value, beyong the few unlockable skins, and option to play using all of Nick's powers from the outset. There is a 2-player option, but the awkward control scheme: one player controls Nick's movements, while the other conversly fires the guns and uses powers; is quite wonky, and likely only for the most diehard players who enjoy strange challenges.
Returning to the story, the ending feels underwhelming, coming off as rushed and forced.. The mysterious artifact is only partially explained, as is the true motivations for most of the villains, except the General, who is quite cleary your average power hungry madman who betrays his cohorts when he gets his prize. The missing sibling/evil twin storyline involving Sara also feels somewhat uninspired, as though it were thrown in, and then abandoned before a more convincing conclusion could be made, instead wrapping up with a cheesy one liner. This also brings to mind the acting, which is passable for some characters, but there are some who are just plain irritating.
Overall, Psi-Ops is worth picking up if a copy can be found in the bargain bin, but just keep yor expectations low. Don't go in expecting a begotten gem.
VideoGame A fun yet flawed game
Warning, this review has spoilers.
In Psi Ops The Mindgate Conspirancy you play as amnesiac Nick Scryer, whose job is to infiltrate a terrorist organization called "The Movement" (a group of Psi Operatives led by "The General"). He is helped by Sara, another Psi Operative with the power of Telepathy who acts as a mole to help Nick with his mission.
Storywise, the game isn't that impressive. The plot isn't any different from any other B action movie, and the "twists" are pretty much predictable (it also doesn't help that the game ends with a cliffhanger "To Be Continued", yet a sequel was never made despite all these years and it'll probably never be). Aside of Nick, Sara and Barret (to an extent), most characters have little to zero screentime, meaning most times you'll end up in a Boss Fight before you're able to learn something simple as their names. And even those that do barely feel as if they were added to have an excuse for a plot: Nick's doesn't show much emotion besides being focused on his mission, Barret becomes part of The Movement "because I power", and Sara has a underdeveloped twin plot (she mentions searching for her for years at the beginning of the game, has a small exchange near the end after finally finding her and ends up killing her in the ending with a "meh" reaction). As for the voice acting, some characters are mediocre at best but others are terrible to listen to.
Where the game truly shines is in its gameplay. For a 2004 game, it's actually quite entertaining. While the shooter mechanics are pretty much mediocre (and sometimes useless against certain enemies, especially bosses because they can barely do any damage at all in higher difficulties) the psychic powers are the main meat of the game. Nick has access 6 main powers (which he unlocks as the player progresses through the story): Telekinesis, Remote View, Mind Drain, Mind Control, Pyrokinesis and Aura View, all of which allow the player to come with creative (gore) ways to kill enemies and solve puzzles. For example, if the player wants to kill an enemy, they can: telekinesis them against the wall multiples times, mind control a nearby enemy and use them to attack the target, use Remote View to wait for the perfect moment to sneak up and use Mind Drain on them, and etcetera).
Sadly, the main issues with it are that you can only save the game when you hit specific checkpoints. This wouldn't be a huge issue if not for the fact that some areas have too many enemies (and thus are too hard to get through), and not being able to reach a checkpoint before dying means you'll be forced to waste a lot of time. Another main issue is that there are specific enemies (Aura Beasts) and mines that can't be seen unless you use Aura View (which continuously drains Psi). The only purpose they both serve is to pad out the game, making it more frustrating to get through.
Overall, the game is fun to play at least once. It's really short (Main Story should take less than ~12 hours to complete), it has responsive and interesting gameplay mechanics, and it has graphics that still hold up to today's standards (considering it's a game from the early 2000s). Just don't play it expecting a compelling story or interesting characters, because you won't find it here.