We have seen many third-person action-adventure games over the years, and just about every one of them claimed to redefine the genre in one way or another, when in reality a high proportion of them did nothing new or revolutionary whatsoever. So what’s different about Psi-Ops then?

You play as Nick Scryer, an American special forces soldier, who is sent in undercover to stop a group called 'The Movement', which was set up by the General in charge of ex-government Project Mindgate, called er, ‘The General’. He has gone underground and gone a bit mad, and created a new group made up by equally insane psychics from around the world. They are working on something rather evil regarding psychic powers and using soldiers as meat puppets. Lovely. You are given a new face, your memory is wiped and you're thrown into a prison cell in the underground complex, and then the game begins…

The game uses a neat method of training which is integrated into the first level you play through. Sneaking up on guards and peeking around corners is explained as you come upon these situations, and it works very well. As you learn and gain new techniques, however, it is handled like a flashback cutscene and you are swept back a number of years to where you see yourself as a rookie going through psychic training. This is a clever way of training you up too, and your instructor (who remains the same person throughout) even has hairstyle changes, including a rather cool afro during one era. Nice touch.

After playing the game a short time, you learn the ability to lift objects from the ground, such as crates, and move them across the room. This is where the Havok 2.0 engine really comes into play, and you can pull off some really impressive stunts. As pretty much every object in the game (including enemy soldiers) are movable, the way you play the game can be extremely varied, making it great fun and interesting to play. For example, you go into a room with three or four soldiers, loads of crates and some gas cylinders. There is one exit. You could try and play the stealth game and sneak around the level without being noticed by the guards, or you could run in and shoot them with your assault rifle. Or perhaps you could lift up the gas cylinder and throw it at a guard, causing an explosion and blowing him up? - Then you could proceed to pick up the burning corpse and throw it at another soldier setting him on fire too… or smash him into a crate, generally causing mass destruction... The possibiliites may not be endless, but it's a close thing.

A favourite of move of mine was to lift a guard up, and whilst he’s hovering in the air, shoot him with my gun at the same time – very cruel but very satisfying. I also liked stealing enemies’ weapons from their hands when they are trying to attack me, then killing them with their own gun! Great stuff. Later in the game you develop more skills such as being able to go outside of your body, and remote view (RV) the room ahead, checking for enemies or information etc. Further still, you’ll be able to take control of enemies’ minds, which is lots of fun, especially making them kill their fellow soldiers or commit suicide! (Am I evil?). Finally, you’ll gain abilities that StreetFighter’s Ryu would be proud of, as you can launch fireballs from your hand!

Other than the main game, there is also a host of extra single player games/missions to unlock and play too. These range from proving your TK skills by navigating yourself over a bottomless pit on a block of wood, or running into a room full of bouncing balls to grab a gnome. Some are rather fun, and there are a few dull ones too. However 'Aura Pool' and 'TK Alley' make up for the weaker ones. The first is a game of Pool, with a difference. You have to use your TK powers to smash oil drums into Pool balls to make them fall down holes in a room. This sounds easy doesn't it? Well it’s not, because the balls are invisible! You have to enter Aura Mode to be able to view the balls, and you don't want to go getting hit by them either, as you die instantly. 'TK Alley' is ten pin bowling, and over ten rounds you have to score over 150 points. You TK-lift a large ball up and chuck it down the alley towards the pins to try to knock them over. It’s a good laugh, and these mini-games nearly make up for the lack of two player mode in Psi-Ops. However, there is a two-player co-op mode in the game, where Player 1 controls Nick's movement, and Player 2 controls the TK abilities. It’s a bit bonkers to say the least, and harder than you might think. The unlockables in Psi-Ops round the package off nicely, and add a bit more life into the game, which is a good thing isn't it?

A slightly more serious problem with the game is something that really shouldn’t be happening these days. It was a problem in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and it happens in Psi-Ops too – enemies spawning from nowhere. You can be walking down a corridor in Psi-ops and come to a dead-end. You turn around and begin to walk back. All of a sudden you are getting shot at from behind! Now where exactly did he come from? You turn around and waste him, then another spawns behind you, and another and so on. It’s frustrating, and seems to get worse the further into the game you get, and coupled with the previously mentioned frame-rate issues, aiming becomes harder, making it more difficult to shoot or lock-on the soldiers. Do we really need to see this borderline ‘cheating’ approach to enemy placement in videogames these days?