Meat Circus (Psychonauts)
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The Meat Circus is the final level of Psychonauts. It is a twisted combination of Razputin's childhood memories of growing up in the circus and Coach Oleander's childhood memories in the butcher shop mixed together to form this level.
This level is highly controversial with fans, and infamous with many players for its royally high difficulty.
Why It Sucks
- The intro cutscene is a flat-out tease, giving off the feeling you're going into this epic and fun level, when all you're really getting yourself into is a world of hurt.
- The first phase involves an escort mission where you protect a boy named Li'l Oly (the coach's manifestation of his younger self) from an army of monstrous bunnies spawning from meat grinders as he tries to save Mr. Bunny, his pet rabbit. Not only is it tedious, but also frustrating in that you restart the whole stage if his health bar (pictured on the top right of the image) is depleted.
- You climb the circus by going through small platforms where one slip-up and you might as well restart the level. Meanwhile, Oly flies up there, drops his pet and puts himself at risk like an idiot.
- Li'l Oly will always say "OWWWWW!" "AHHHH!" "HEEEEEEELLLLLLP!" "MY FACE!" or "HEY, THAT HURTS!" every time he takes damage, and much like Silver's "It's no use! Take this!", it gets annoying fast.
- VERY difficult platforming sections throughout the level.
- Incredibly cheap enemy placements, and tons of them that will shave off Oly's HP quickly in the first phase.
- Oly claims there are multiple bunnies when there's clearly just one, making this scenario more obnoxious.
- There are sections where you have to get a guy throw daggers at you on a spinning wheel to swing off of them. This is trial and error as his timing can't quite work with your controls and the escort in harm's way.
- Once you've completed that part, you go to the Tunnel of Love, a rail section requiring laser precise jumps to avoid falling down a bottomless pit, made all the worse by all the Figments scattered around, several in mid-air. Don't think you can rest easy at the entrance because off-screen enemies will throw knives at you while you're collecting the figments and baggages.
- In the Big Top, you fight The Butcher, Oleander's manifestation of his dad and a laughably easy boss.
- After that, you have to climb up the circus while insta-kill water rises & Raz's manifestation of his father tries to kill him. Combine that with the tight platforming and you have the level's most ill-reputed bit.
- After that, you reface The Butcher aided by our hero's "father", and he's even easier.
- The “final boss” is a complete joke. All this inner torment later, both "fathers" fuse together to form the Two-Headed Dad Monster, the final boss who's ironically one of the easiest bosses in the game. Talk about anti-climatic.
- Despite the torturous difficulty, it's actually a short level feeling long by said challenge, which is baffling considering this is, you know, the final level of the game.
Redeeming Qualities
- The music that plays in the Meat Circus is great and does give off a circus-y feel that this level is based on.
- This level introduces Raz's father, and their reconciliation is very heartwarming and touching.
- Re-releases of the game vastly toned down the difficulty, making this level more tolerable.
- Li'l Oly gets his life back every time you save him, which is good.
Trivia
- On the Steam version of Psychonauts, there is an achievement called "I Thought That Was Unbeatable!", a reference to frustration in the first release of Psychonauts for containing both a difficult escort run and an even worse platforming section - especially with limited lives (whereas with newer releases, the difficulty has been knocked down dramatically).
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