Should I play Psychonauts?

The long and short of it: Yes.
When was it made: 2005

Produced by Double Fine Productions, Psychonauts is an incredibly fun and infuriating experience. A mix of original gameplay, fun story, and hilarious absurdity, it is just a bundle of fun for the money. The first half of the game is relentless. I would start to play after breakfast, go to work, and stride over to the XBox immediately after coming home. I was laughing almost constantly at the antics of the characters, and even my dear old mother would chuckle at snippets of dialogue as she walked past. The humor is character driven to, so you don't have to be a gamer or a certain kind of fanboy to get it and it isn't reduced to puns and fart noises (though there is some word play, like having to literally sort some characters emotional baggage).

The game, though a financial flop when first released, has started to catch on among gamers. It is definitely not a mainstream release, but that's pretty obvious once you notice the presence of wit and the lack of grit. It is available for download on the XBox live marketplace and through Steam, so you don't even have to pry yourself off the couch/beanbag/innertube to enjoy it on PC or XBox 360.

Being a video game, if you don't like video games, you won't like this. Also, it may be light hearted and silly, but it is by no means a casual game. The puzzles require some thinking, but don't break the brain. Some of the levels, especially towards the end of the game, can get incredibly frustrating. The very last level is so frustrating that it almost ruined the game for me. If I didn't consider it a cardinal sin of games, I would recommend playing up to the last level, and then watching the ending on YouTube. The leveling mechanic is interesting and simple, and only once or twice did I get lost. If you want a fun and funny platformer and are willing to put up with some frustrating fights and levels, then this game is a must play. If you are looking for a bloody shoot-'em-up or a more serious title, then this isn't the game.

As I said, this game was hilarious. That may be part of the reason the end became tedious-whereas the difficult platforming in previous levels may or may not have been just as annoying, it was tempered with interesting characters and charming dialogue-I had a hard time with the theater puzzle, but the concept that the mind of an insane diva would be a failing theater dominated by a harsh critic made me love it more for it's difficulty, and made the constant switching of sets contextually relevant. The game had a great mix of light-heartedness laid over a dark subtext, and dealt with it in a unique way. My favorite environment was the mind of a conspiracy theorist, which was a normal neighborhood twisted around and filled with secret agents who would disguise themselves by carrying road signs and saying "I am a construction worker" all the while dressed in trenchcoats and fedoras to hide their features. Each of the minds are a unique crazy-house, and a joy to experience, which is a great way to describe the game as a whole.