Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy
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| Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy | |
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| Developer(s) | Midway Games |
| Publisher(s) | Midway Games Capcom (Japan, Asia) |
| Engine | Havok Game Dynamics SDK, Unreal Engine |
| Platform(s) | Xbox, PlayStation 2, Windows |
| Release date | NA June 14, 2004 PAL October 1, 2004 JPN November 10, 2005 |
| Genre(s) | Third-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Cooperative |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Mature (M) PEGI: 18+ CERO: 15 |
| Media | DVD-ROM |
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy is a video game developed by Midway Games for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows PC platforms. Originally titled ESPionage, the game was released in North America on June 14, 2004; the European release followed on October 1, 2004. On June 9, 2008 the full version was offered as a free download hosted by fileplanet[1] with in-game advertising, but also allowing to purchase the game in order to remove the advertising.
A traditional shooter in many respects, Psi-Ops banks on its ragdoll physics (by way of Havok 2.0) and variety of psychic powers to differentiate itself. In Japan and Southeast Asia/East Asia, the game was marketed by Capcom as Psi-Ops: Psychic Operation.
In the game, the player is Nick Scryer, a "PSI-Operative" whose mind has been wiped to allow him to infiltrate a terrorist organization. However, he is captured and must fight his way out with the help of Sara, a double agent. As he progresses, he regains his PSI powers.
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[edit] Story
When the story begins, Nick Scryer has no memory of who he is, his mind having been wiped in order to infiltrate a terrorist organization. After being imprisoned, the player is released by Sara and given a drug to regain his memory and lost abilities. It begins with the game's most prominent power, telekinesis, and moves from there.
Nick also faces off against a plethora of former PSI-Operatives, all of whom have defected with the general that formerly led the PSI-Ops project. Each is specialized in a certain field of psychic ability (the first boss, for example, is an expert in mind control) and far more powerful in that field than Nick. Nick defeats them one by one; usually through creative combinations of his weaker but more varied psychic abilities.
As Nick moves his way through the organization, he learns of mysterious, psi-based objects that have been the focus of wars over the last century (a cutscene suggests these artifacts are in fact the causes of wars such as World War II). At the same time, he begins noticing strange behavior in Sara, who seems to rotate between friend and foe for no apparent reason. It is eventually discovered that Sara in fact has a twin, who is killed by Sara near the end of the game.
As the game comes to a head, the many artifacts are combined into a single device, which when combined with a special machine give the user nearly limitless psychic power. Nick regains his full memory while attempting to stop this. The general uses this device on himself, and is summarily defeated by Nick. Though his defeat is the same regardless of how the player goes about doing it, the point of the battle is to absorb some of the immense psychic power before the general, giving Nick a special weapon to use and a much better chance of defeating the general than if he had missed the opportunity to do so.
After the general is defeated, the device is broken back into its component artifacts, and two helicopter gunships promptly appear to recover them, not concerned with the lives of Nick or Sara. In the game's final cutscene, Nick crashes one of the helicopters with telekinesis. Then there is black and the screen says "TO BE CONTINUED".
[edit] Gameplay
Most of the gameplay in Psi-Ops focuses on the use of Nick's various psychic powers, which are unlocked as the game progresses. Though there are numerous weapons available, only two can be carried at a time, one of which cannot be replaced (Nick's silenced pistol). The available weapons also become virtually useless in the later levels, especially against the larger armored enemies. The low ammo totals for each weapon also force a dependence on Nick's psychic powers, which are much more effective in practice. The player is given a meter that limits the total amount of energy they can expend at any given point, though like any power meter it can be restored through various methods. Unlike the game's antagonists, Nick is unique in that he has access to the full range of psychic abilities, albeit in a more limited form than the more specialized psychics.
To begin with Nick has no access to his psychic powers, but after a certain gameplay event (mentioned above) he begins to remember how to use them. Each remembering event is followed by a training level instructing the player in each powers use:
- Telekinesis (TK) the ability to move objects with the mind and the first ability Nick remembers. This is Nick's "bread and butter" skill with numerous uses, ranging from slamming enemies into walls to flying on an object being levitated (TK Surf).
- Remote Viewing (RV) allows the user a quite literally out-of-body experience and is Nick's second power. One can freely move and look around without moving their real body, although it has a limited range and consumes more energy with distance. It also lets the user see beyond doors and is very useful for planning attacks.
- Mind Drain (MD), the third ability, is used to absorb one person's mental energy to refill Nick's Psi energy. It is best used when right behind an enemy, at which point it will be able to restore up to 50% of Nick's energy, at which point the target's head will explode. It can also be used on targets that are either dead or knocked down, but won't restore as much as an unsuspecting foe.
- Mind Control (MC) is the fourth power Nick remembers. Nick can enter another person's mind and take full control of their body. MC is very useful, as it can be used to kill two birds with one stone by having one enemy attack another (one will be killed by whoever is being controlled and the first will in turn be terminated by his ex-allies for being a traitor), and it can also be used to have enemies commit suicide.
- Pyrokinesis (PK) is Nick's fifth ability which allows him to summon flames and shoot them at the enemy. It can be used to quickly dispatch foes, start chain reactions with crates and/or explosive cans, or flush out enemies from hiding spots.
- Aura View (AV) is the sixth and final power Nick acquires. It can let the user see things that normal eyes can't perceive, such as invisible mines and strange creatures known as "Aura Beasts."
[edit] Multiplayer
Psi-Ops introduced a new multiplayer engine in which a single character is controlled by two physical players. In most cases, the first player controls the legs and movement of the in-game character, while the second player controls the weapon and PSI power use of the character. Aside from the unusual control setup, the multiplayer story is exactly the same as the single player version.
[edit] Lawsuit
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On March 13, 2007, GameSpot reported that Midway has been sued by William L. Crawford III, a Los Angeles County screenwriter, because he has a 1998 screenplay with the title "Psi-Ops" and a premise very similar to the game.[2]
Details from the screenplay mentioned on GameSpot are quite similar to that of Psi-Ops. Among the details given are the premise for the screenplay, which mirrors Psi-Ops almost exactly. Three characters described also match the game's mind control, pyrokinetic, and final bosses almost exactly.[3]
In the complaint,[4] Crawford's attorneys, Steven Lowe and Loredana Nesci, (a former Los Angeles Police Officer), allege that Midway misappropriated and exploited Crawford's work without his permission. Crawford states that Midway should have known about his screenplay and its premise because he had set up websites with concept art. He was also attempting to market the screenplay from 2000 to 2003, having even attended the 2001 E3 to promote it. Mindshadow Entertainment, the company that Crawford set up, received media coverage for the Psi-Ops movie project. GameSpot notes that Crawford's registering of "Psi-Ops" predates Midway's registering of the title by six years from viewing U.S. Trademark filings: Crawford's filing is dated March 26, 1998 and Midway's filing is dated July 4, 2004. Crawford wants Midway to provide an accounting of revenue that Midway has derived from "Psi-Ops" and a share of the money which he estimates to be in excess of $1.5 million.1
[edit] See also
- Second Sight, another game with a very similar story.
- John Woo's Stranglehold, a new game created by the Psi-Ops team (Midway).
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy at MobyGames
- Psi-Ops at Game Rankings
- Free digital download at Fileplanet
