A scientist of all people is getting in the way, wandering about in a room, tending to numerous computers and machinery. He may be unarmed, but an alarm is near by, which he no doubt will trip if he spots your presence. Act quickly and quietly, as the training advises, and it should be possible to continue with the enemy none the wiser. Telekinesis allows the movement of objects using the mind alone, which includes boxes, crates, humans and various things that explode upon impact. Using this to an advantage, the scientist is thrown violently against the window you are peering through, causing a satisfying blood stain on the glass. And again, just for good measure. He could still get up, so several boxes are thrown on top of his body, before an explosive barrel is tossed across causing the boxes to either shatter or speed across the room realistically, depending on their material. Scientists are notoriously stubborn, so he is repeatedly thrown against another wall. His body is surprisingly limp, but it could just be an act. Time to pick him up with the Telekinesis power and blast him several times with a shotgun. His body is tossed aside…but wait? Did he just twitch? A quick flick of the controls and the scientist is gracefully thrown towards another explosive barrel. Upon impact, both explode in a glorious mixture of smoke and blood.

Despite the explosions, broken crates and numerous blood stains, nobody will suspect a thing. Quickly and quietly, another potential disaster has been obverted. That’s our Nick Scryer for you, what a hero.

Hero? The story dictates that Scryer is a hero (he’d have to be if he wants to save the World), but if there were any game designed purely to perfect your evil cackle, then this would be it. There have been many super hero games over the years, and most have failed, but so rarely has the feeling of power been supplied so generously (particularly for a third person shooter), and even rarer has it been so open for abuse. Nick Scryer: the unstoppable super villain.

Psi Ops is a game that allows you to sneak up on an enemy, use a psychic power to cause their head to explode in a gloriously gory way, and then throw the corpse into the centre of a group of guards just to get their attention. You can even possess an enemy and use their own weaponry to shoot their friends, before turning the gun on themselves for a brutal decapitation. Limited more by the players’ sick imagination than design brick walls, Psi Ops is the ultimate playground for sadists, a sandbox for the mentally twisted.

Perhaps most impressively, Psi Ops will rarely dictate on how to solve a particular puzzle or wipe out a group of enemies, rather provide the tools for entertainment. A furnace seems like the perfect place to throw in a few still-alive bodies, but you do not have to use it. You may reach a corridor made impassable due to a force field placed across the floor, the off switch typically located on the other side. You could possess the enemy near the switch in order to turn it off, or you could build a bridge using whatever you can find nearby. Best of all, it is possible to stand on an object and pick it up using your Telekinesis (TK) power and effectively ‘surf’ across the danger. Puzzles are never difficult due to the ability to ‘break’ the design, but they are always satisfying because of this. Though ultimately a linear experience, it’s the incredible physics that have given freedom to each individual problem.

Many other games have featured the excellent Havok engine, however never before has it been used so intelligently and effectively. Picking up objects using TK has a realistic feeling of weight, which just adds to the satisfaction when causing an enemy to bounce off the top of a metal storage container before painfully crumpling into a wall nearby. At certain points you may find a large industrial hook hanging from the roof, which you can swing realistically into the enemy. Barrels roll, crates rock and bells ring; everything feels real and reacts in the virtual World just as you would expect, giving confidence in experimenting with various objects.

When the game allows you to just play around with the mechanics and toy with the enemies, Psi Ops is difficult to fault. It could be argued that the controls and camera when using TK are slightly restrictive, however not enough to harm the enjoyment that can be had. The speed in which you can cause complete devastation is quite remarkable, and it all helps increase the feeling of power Scryer possesses.

It’s when the game forces itself upon the player that the real faults occur, something that becomes increasingly apparent as the game goes on. Gunplay is unfortunately very ordinary and, though reminiscent to Freedom Fighters, it is less refined and thus less enjoyable. Though this is a non-issue for the majority of the game, later on enemies are introduced that are almost entirely immune to psychic powers. The biggest sin committed however, comes when the final power is introduced – Aura View (think a different visor mode in Metroid Prime). Allowing Scryer to ‘see’ what normal humans cannot, the introduction of this power is a neat idea, but one that has been poorly implemented. The level design dictates that you must almost constantly use the power in order to avoid traps, namely invisible mines, causing the pacing of the game to go from gloriously over the top decimation to plodding and frustrating tip-toeing. Since you can only use one power at a time, the fantastic TK and Mind Control powers become virtually redundant. It’s a horrible design decision and a completely unnecessary change in direction, especially as there is so much potential to expand on what is already very good. It’s disappointing, for example, that Scryer is unable to pick up huge objects such as trucks and trains, especially unfair as a certain boss is able to do just this during a very memorable boss fight, showing that it is at least technically possible. Scryer the unstoppable super villain has been stopped disappointingly short of absolute power.

Midway have greatly impressed with Psi Ops, but have equally frustrated. There is so much fun to be had from torturing the enemy that at times you have to worry about your own mental state. Yet, for all the satisfaction on offer for the majority of the experience, it ultimately ends on a disappointing low. The sequel strongly hinted at the games conclusion will hopefully right the wrongs of what is one of the biggest surprises of 2004, and if it does, we could be in for something incredible.