Much better game play than Second Sight and without the glitches!
This is such a unique game for the PS2 - along with Second Sight this is the only game of its kind that I know of that you can use psychic abilities like telekinesis, pyrokinesis, mind control and others for your main character. This is what makes the game so fun to play! In later stages of the game when you have all of your powers, you can use "mind control" and take over another character's body and have them walk into land mines, commit suicide, jump off of towers, or walk into fire, even start fights with other enemy characters - fun!! The mind control feature was my favorite, but telekinesis and pyrokinesis are loads of fun, too! You can set an enemy on fire with pyrokinesis and then hurl him through the air with telekinesis into an exploding gasoline drum! LOL...
A really cool feature of this game is that when you complete a mission, that mission is then unlocked and saved for future game play. So if you want to go back later after you've finished the game and replay your favorite section you can. And you also unlock extra content by completing missions - like extra training missions.
The graphics on the game are pretty good - this is a 2004 release so kind of in the mid-range of the PS2 years. The graphics on Cold Fear (which I also played on the PS2) were better than Psi-Ops, but the graphics here are still good. I'd rate it about a 7 out of 10 on graphics. As for the "soundtrack" - well there really isn't one - just music as you move through particular areas, but some of the mood music was pretty good. I'd say 6 out of 10.
Another feature I really appreciated on this game was the checkpoints. Some missions are long, but most of the game the checkpoints are not too difficult to reach. And if you die, when you press "continue" you start from your last checkpoint in most cases, with full psi energy and full health. Some of the boss battles are a bit challenging, but the game itself is not too difficult, which I appreciated. Keep it fun, not too hard! And there was only one puzzle that I recall had to be completed, which also was not difficult. The storyline is not too developed in this game, nor very compelling, but very fun game play.
A particularly cool phase of the game was the Illusion Maze mission. Without giving too much away, things appear and disappear before your eyes and what you think is there is not really there. I've played a few of these types of games now, but this was the first one that used this type of technology - very unique. I also enjoyed the boss battle with Marlena - a challenge but not too difficult. And I thought the Fusion Accelerator Area was quite challenging (though I found out later there was a much easier way to do this) and it took me about 10 times to complete this mission - but it was a very fun mission...
But to be fair, there were a few missions that I didn't enjoy so much - I felt like the game (and many of them do this) tried to add a little bit of everything to please a wide audience, so a few of the missions I didn't find as enjoyable - particularly the last two missions and the last couple of boss battles.
But overall the game was quite fun to play - I really enjoyed the middle stages of the game when you have the majority of your powers, and really they are the fun ones to use (mind control, telekinesis and pyrokinesis) and the aforementioned missions and boss battle that I enjoyed were also at the middle stages of the game. The end of the game was a disappointment as most games are, and this one in particular was apparently setting up for a Psi-Ops 2 which never came! However, a lot of replay value in this game I think - so 4 stars overall for the game and 4 stars for the fun level.
(played in 3rd person view)