106-543: Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy is an action adventure video game developed by Midway Games for Xbox , PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows and released on June 14, 2004. The game was developed as a means for Midway to develop new game physics capabilities. The primary game mechanic in Psi-Ops is the use of six different psychic abilities: telekinesis , remote viewing , mind drain, mind control , pyrokinesis , and aura view . These abilities are unlocked throughout
212-627: A fantasy " setting. Tutankham , debuted by Konami in January 1982, was an action-adventure released for arcades . It combined maze, shoot 'em up, puzzle-solving and adventure elements, with a 1983 review by Computer and Video Games magazine calling it "the first game that effectively combined the elements of an adventure game with frenetic shoot 'em up gameplay." It inspired the similar Time Bandit (1983). Action Quest , released in May 1982, blended puzzle elements of adventure games into
318-446: A joystick -controlled, arcade-style action game, which surprised reviewers at the time. While noting some similarities to Adventure , IGN argues that The Legend of Zelda (1986) by Nintendo "helped to establish a new subgenre of action-adventure", becoming a success due to how it combined elements from different genres to create a compelling hybrid, including exploration, adventure-style inventory puzzles , an action component,
424-571: A monetary system , and simplified RPG-style level building without the experience points . The Legend of Zelda series was the most prolific action-adventure game franchise through to the 2000s. Roe R. Adams also cited the arcade-style side-scrolling fantasy games Castlevania (1986), Trojan (1986) and Wizards & Warriors (1987) as early examples of action-adventure games. Games like Brain Breaker (1985), Xanadu (1985), Metroid (1986) and Vampire Killer (1986) combined
530-767: A subgenre of open world action-adventure video games in the third-person perspective . They are characterized by their likeness to the Grand Theft Auto series in either gameplay or overall design. In these types of open world games, players may find and use a variety of vehicles and weapons while roaming freely in an open world setting. Metroidvania is a portmanteau of Metroid and Castlevania ; such games are sometimes referred to as "search action", and are generally based on two-dimensional platformers. They emphasize both exploration and puzzle-solving with traditional platform gameplay. Survival horror games emphasize "inventory management" and making sure
636-643: A task force called the APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control (DIMPAC) to investigate whether brainwashing or coercive persuasion did indeed control cults members. The Task Force concluded that: Cults and large group awareness trainings have generated considerable controversy because of their widespread use of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control. These techniques can compromise individual freedom, and their use has resulted in serious harm to thousands of individuals and families. This report reviews
742-498: A Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? , describes the religious conversion process to the Unification Church (whose members are sometimes informally referred to as Moonies ), which had been one of the best-known groups said to practice brainwashing. Barker spent close to seven years studying Unification Church members and wrote that she rejects the "brainwashing" theory because it does not explain why many people attended
848-625: A U.S. Army officer who specialized in military intelligence and psychological warfare during the Second World War and the Korean War) depict brainwashing to remove memories of traumatic events as a normal and benign part of future medical practice. Brainwashing remains an important theme in science fiction. A subgenre is corporate mind control , in which a future society is run by one or more business corporations that dominate society, using advertising and mass media to control
954-749: A chart copied from a 1957 Air Force study of "Chinese Communist" brainwashing techniques used to elicit false confessions from American POWs during the Korean War. The report showed how the Secretary of Defense's 2002 authorization of the aggressive techniques at Guantánamo led to their use in Afghanistan and in Iraq , including at Abu Ghraib . In 1983, the American Psychological Association (APA) asked Singer to chair
1060-545: A choice of what to say. The NPC gives a scripted response to the player, and the game offers the player several new ways to respond. Due to the action-adventure subgenre's broad and inclusive nature, it causes some players to have difficulty finishing a particular game. Companies have devised ways to give the player help, such as offering clues or allowing the player to skip puzzles to compensate for this lack of ability. Brett Weiss cites Atari 's Superman (1979) as an action-adventure game, with Retro Gamer crediting it as
1166-448: A complex text parser and no free-moving character. While they share general gameplay dynamics, action-adventures vary widely in the design of their viewpoints, including bird's eye , side-scrolling, first-person, third-person , over-the-shoulder, or even a 3/4 isometric view . Many action-adventure games simulate a conversation through a conversation tree . When the player encounters a non-player character , they are allowed to select
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#17327902809631272-412: A machine gun, an assault rifle, and a sniper rifle. Combat in Psi-Ops also includes optional elements of stealth gameplay . The stealth gameplay is most prominent in the early levels before the character's psychic abilities are unlocked. The player is significantly more powerful than most enemies, meaning that they are only difficult to fight in large numbers. Besides combat, the game includes puzzles for
1378-410: A member of the team attempted to use remote viewing to see inside of a terrorist compound. Around 50 to 60 people worked on the game at its peak. The main goal during early development was to prove that psychic abilities were a viable form of gameplay, so the team workshopped how different game mechanics would function and how they would be depicted. A series of 3D videos were created to demonstrate what
1484-463: A monster. Scryer encounters Blake, and she says she doesn't understand when he accuses her of siding with The Movement. Scryer continues through the facility and finds The General putting the Monolith in a machine powered by The Movement's master of pyrokinesis , Marlena Kessler. Scryer kills her, but The General gets away with the Monolith. As the facility's fusion reactor overloads, Scryer escapes in
1590-463: A new mind into that resulting void", was not so successful. Controversial psychiatrist Colin A. Ross claims that the CIA was successful in creating programmable so-called " Manchurian Candidates " even at the time. The CIA experiments using various psychedelic drugs such as LSD and Mescaline drew from previous Nazi human experimentation . In 1979, John D. Marks wrote in his book The Search for
1696-542: A person to exploit this individual for sexual and financial reasons. Earlier scientific debates in the 1980s and 1990s about torture-based ritual abuse in cults was known as " satanic ritual abuse ," which was mainly viewed as a " moral panic ." Brain-Washing: A Synthesis of the Russian Textbook on Psychopolitics published by the Church of Scientology in 1955 about brainwashing. L. Ron Hubbard authored
1802-515: A powerful artifact. He is accompanied by Sara Blake, a woman who claims to be another undercover agent, but Scryer is unsure whether she can be trusted. Development of Psi-Ops was plagued by time constraints. It was launched with a tie-in music video for an original song, "With My Mind" by Cold . Psi-Ops received generally positive reviews, and critics lauded its gameplay. Other aspects, such as its plot, controls, audio, and level design received mixed reception. The game saw poor sales, and plans for
1908-477: A recruitment meeting and did not become members nor why so many members voluntarily disaffiliate or leave groups. James Richardson said that if the new religious movements had access to powerful brainwashing techniques, one would expect that they would have high growth rates, yet in fact, most have not had notable success in recruiting or retaining members. For this and other reasons, sociologists of religion including David Bromley and Anson Shupe consider
2014-476: A reluctant member of The Movement, Kimiko Jones. She explains that Luna-1 is a fragment of another artifact, the Monolith, and that World War II and the Cold War were fought over such fragments. The Movement's master of illusions , Wei Lu tries to stop him from navigating the facility by creating visions of his dead allies returning as zombies. He confronts her, and he kills her after she transforms herself into
2120-454: A sequel was considered, Midway decided against it due to poor sales. A story for the sequel was never decided on, but Eddy said that it likely would have involved Scryer's Mindgate organization hunting him after they fear he has become too powerful. The developers considered adding new psychic powers, new uses for existing ones, more destructible environments , larger levels, smarter enemy AI, and new gameplay mechanics such as vehicle use. Many of
2226-419: A sequel were shelved by Midway. Psi-Ops is a third-person shooter and action-adventure game featuring run-and-gun gameplay. The core gameplay involves the use of several psychic abilities with which the player can fight enemies and interact with the world. The player starts with no psychic powers in the first level and unlocks them throughout the game as the character's memory is restored. As each ability
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#17327902809632332-711: A side-scrolling platformer format with adventure exploration, creating the Metroidvania platform-adventure subgenre. Similarly, games like 005 (1981), Castle Wolfenstein and Metal Gear (1987) combined action-adventure exploration with stealth mechanics, laying the foundations for the stealth game subgenre, which would later be popularized in 1998 with the releases of Metal Gear Solid , Tenchu: Stealth Assassins , and Thief: The Dark Project . The cinematic platformer Prince of Persia (1989) featured action-adventure elements, inspiring games such as Another World (1991) and Flashback (1992). Alone in
2438-400: A single avatar as the protagonist . This type of game is often quite similar to role-playing video games . They are distinct from graphic adventures , which sometimes have free-moving central characters, but also a wider variety of commands and fewer or no action game elements and are distinct too from text adventures , characterized by many different commands introduced by the user via
2544-557: Is a game that has enough action in it not to be called an adventure game, but not enough action to be called an action game." In some cases an action game with puzzles will be classified as an action-adventure game, but if these puzzles are quite simple they might be classified as an action game. Others see action games as a pure genre, while an action-adventure is an action game that includes situational problem-solving. Adventure gamers may also be purists, rejecting any game that makes use of physical challenges or time pressure. Regardless,
2650-565: Is a psychic agent with the Mindgate organization. Along with his fellow agent Sara Blake, he is sent to infiltrate the terrorist organization The Movement, a group of former Mindgate agents led by The General who control an army of brainwashed soldiers. To evade psychic detection, Scryer's memories are wiped and his powers are deactivated. Rendezvousing with Blake after a successful infiltration, she gives him an injection to bring back his memories. His memories and powers are gradually restored over
2756-564: Is action, it is generally confined to isolated instances. Classical action games, on the other hand, have gameplay based on real-time interactions that challenges the player's reflexes and eye-hand coordination . Action-adventure games combine these genres by engaging both eye-hand coordination and problem-solving skills. An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements from an action game and an adventure game , especially crucial elements like puzzles inspired by older adventure games. Action-adventures require many of
2862-424: Is heavily reliant upon the player character's movement, which triggers story events and thus affects the flow of the game. Popular examples of action-adventure games include The Legend of Zelda , God of War , and Tomb Raider series. There is a good deal of controversy over what actually constitutes an action-adventure game. One definition of the term "action-adventure" may be '"An action/adventure game
2968-563: Is susceptible to such manipulation. Benjamin Zablocki , late professor of sociology at Rutgers University said that the number of people who attest to brainwashing in interviews (performed in accordance with guidelines of the National Institute of Mental Health and National Science Foundation ) is too large to result from anything other than a genuine phenomenon. He said that in the two most prestigious journals dedicated to
3074-408: Is unlocked, the game enters a flashback sequence from when the character learned how to use the ability, functioning as a tutorial . The abilities cost psi-energy, of which the player only has a limited supply, and psychic abilities cannot be used when psi-energy is depleted. There are five different weapons in the game that the player can use in addition to the psychic abilities: a pistol, a shotgun,
3180-650: The Uncharted franchise, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Ark: Survival Evolved . Brainwashing Brainwashing is the controversial idea that the human mind can be altered or controlled against a person's will by manipulative psychological techniques. Brainwashing is said to reduce its subject's ability to think critically or independently, to allow the introduction of new, unwanted thoughts and ideas into their minds, as well as to change their attitudes, values, and beliefs. The term "brainwashing"
3286-634: The First Marine Air Wing admitting to participating in germ warfare, United Nations commander General Mark W. Clark asserted: "Whether these statements ever passed the lips of these unfortunate men is doubtful. If they did, however, too familiar are the mind-annihilating methods of these Communists in extorting whatever words they want ... The men themselves are not to blame, and they have my deepest sympathy for having been used in this abominable way." Beginning in 1953, Robert Jay Lifton interviewed American servicemen who had been POWs during
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3392-674: The Korean War as well as priests, students, and teachers who had been held in prison in China after 1951. In addition to interviews with 25 Americans and Europeans, Lifton interviewed 15 Chinese citizens who had fled after having been subjected to indoctrination in Chinese universities. (Lifton's 1961 book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China , was based on this research.) Lifton found that when
3498-816: The United Nations NGO, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), prompted international awareness of human sex trafficking in her 1979 book Female Sexual Slavery . In his 1986 book Woman Abuse: Facts Replacing Myths, Lewis Okun reported that: "Kathleen Barry shows in Female Sexual Slavery that forced female prostitution involves coercive control practices very similar to thought reform." In their 1996 book, Casting Stones: Prostitution and Liberation in Asia and
3604-459: The War on Terrorism , concluding that, in this context, thought reform was possible without violence or physical coercion. He also pointed out that in their efforts against terrorism, Western governments were also using some alleged mind control techniques. In her 2004 popular science book, Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control , neuroscientist and physiologist Kathleen Taylor reviewed
3710-607: The sociology of religion there have been no articles "supporting the brainwashing perspective," while over one hundred such articles have been published in other journals "marginal to the field." He concluded that the concept of brainwashing had been blacklisted . Eileen Barker criticized the concept of brainwashing because it functioned to justify costly interventions such as deprogramming or exit counseling. She has also criticized some mental health professionals, including Singer, for accepting expert witness jobs in court cases involving NRMs. Barker's 1984 book, The Making of
3816-818: The "first to utilize multiple screens as playing area". Mark J.P. Wolf credits Adventure (1980) for the Atari VCS as the earliest-known action-adventure game. The game involves exploring a 2D environment, finding and using items which each have prescribed abilities, and fighting dragons in real-time like in an action game . Muse Software 's Castle Wolfenstein (1981) was another early action-adventure game, merging exploration, combat, stealth, and maze game elements, drawing inspiration from arcade shoot 'em ups and maze games (such as maze-shooter Berzerk ) and war films (such as The Guns of Navarone ). According to Wizardry developer Roe R. Adams, early action-adventure games "were basically arcade games done in
3922-661: The 1970s, reported on what he called " Nazi brainwashing" of the people of Belarus by the occupying Germans during the Second World War , which took place through both mass propaganda and intense re-education, especially in schools. Romanovsky noted that very soon, most people had adopted the Nazi view that the Jews were an inferior race and were closely tied to the Soviet government, views that had not been at all common before
4028-479: The 1980s there was a wave of 'brainwashing' claims, and then parliaments around the world examined the issue, courts around the world examined the issue, and reached a clear ruling: That there is no such thing as cults…that the people making these claims are often not experts on the issue. And in the end courts, including in Israel, rejected expert witnesses who claimed there is "brainwashing." For 20 years, starting in
4134-490: The Dark (1992) used 3D graphics , which would later be popularized by Resident Evil (1996) and Tomb Raider (1996). Resident Evil in particular created the survival horror subgenre, inspiring titles such as Silent Hill (1999) and Fatal Frame (2001). Action-adventure games have gone on to become more popular than the pure adventure games and pure platform games that inspired them. Recent examples include
4240-519: The German occupation. Italy has had controversy over the concept of plagio , a crime consisting in an absolute psychological—and eventually physical—domination of a person. The effect is said to be the annihilation of the subject's freedom and self-determination and the consequent negation of his or her personality . The crime of plagio has rarely been prosecuted in Italy, and only one person
4346-760: The Manchurian Candidate that until the MKUltra program was effectively terminated in 1963, the agency's researchers had found no reliable way to brainwash another person, as all experiments at some stage always ended in either amnesia or catatonia, making any operational use impossible. A bipartisan Senate Armed Services Committee report, released in part in December 2008 and in full in April 2009, reported that U.S. military trainers who came to Guantánamo Bay in December 2002 had based an interrogation class on
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy - Misplaced Pages Continue
4452-873: The POWs returned to the United States their thinking soon returned to normal, contrary to the popular image of "brainwashing." In 1956, after reexamining the concept of brainwashing following the Korean War, the U.S. Army published a report entitled Communist Interrogation, Indoctrination, and Exploitation of Prisoners of War , which called brainwashing a "popular misconception". The report concludes that "exhaustive research of several government agencies failed to reveal even one conclusively documented case of 'brainwashing' of an American prisoner of war in Korea." The concept of brainwashing has been raised in defense of criminal charges. The 1969 to 1971 case of Charles Manson , who
4558-561: The United States , Rita Nakashima Brock and Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite report that the methods commonly used by pimps to control their victims "closely resemble the brainwashing techniques of terrorists and paranoid cults." In his 2000 book, Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism , Robert Lifton applied his original ideas about thought reform to Aum Shinrikyo and
4664-518: The United States by using a brainwashed sleeper agent for political assassination. The concept of brainwashing became popularly associated with the research of Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov , which mostly involved dogs as subjects. In The Manchurian Candidate the head brainwasher is "Dr. Yen Lo, of the Pavlov Institute." The science fiction stories of Cordwainer Smith (pen name of Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger (1913–1966),
4770-511: The Unknown , and The Fearmakers . Forbidden Area told the story of Soviet secret agents who had been brainwashed through classical conditioning by their own government so they wouldn't reveal their identities. In 1962, The Manchurian Candidate (based on the 1959 novel by Richard Condon ) "put brainwashing front and center" by featuring a plot by the Soviet government to take over
4876-565: The Year ", but it lost to Fable and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas , respectively. GameSpot named Psi-Ops the best PlayStation 2 game of June 2004. In 2009, GamesRadar included it among the games "with untapped franchise potential". In 2010, UGO ranked it as #21 on the list of the games that need sequels. That same year, Psi-Ops was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die . Despite its initial positive reception, Psi-Ops sold poorly and
4982-430: The abilities and other aspects of the game would look visually. To test the game's mechanics, the developers created a one-room sandbox level filled with items and enemies. They found the level to be so fun to play in that they included it as a bonus feature in the game. Time constraints were an issue throughout development. Psi-Ops was not ready for publication as the planned release date in late 2003 approached, so it
5088-546: The action-adventure label is prominent in articles over the internet and media. The term "action-adventure" is usually substituted for a particular subgenre due to its wide scope. Although action-adventure games are diverse and difficult to classify, there are some distinct subgenres. Many games with gameplay similar to those in The Legend of Zelda series are called Zelda clones or Zelda -like games. Popular subgenres include: A Grand Theft Auto clone belongs to
5194-437: The assortment of deadly objects and environments that could be used by the player in combat. Some found the overall aesthetic of the levels to be boring, and Ivan Sulic of IGN criticized the game's "back-tracking" and "aimless wandering". One reviewer from Electronic Gaming Monthly criticized the final levels, saying they were more generic and that their new game mechanics harmed the player's experience. Reviewers' opinions of
5300-509: The beasts turn on him as he is pulled into their dimension. Scryer navigates the caverns to find where The General and Barrett are activating the Monolith. After it is ready, The General kills Barrett so he does not have to share the power. He activates the Monolith and gains psychic powers, but Scryer collects energy fragments output by the machine and uses them to kill The General. After defeating The General, Scryer and Blake see their allies arriving in helicopters. Scryer's final memories return as
5406-399: The brainwashing defense undermines the law's fundamental premise of free will . In 2003, forensic psychologist Dick Anthony said that "no reasonable person would question that there are situations where people can be influenced against their best interests, but those arguments are evaluated based on fact, not bogus expert testimony." In the 1970s and 1980s, the anti-cult movement applied
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#17327902809635512-420: The cliffhanger ending was a disservice to the plot that left it unsatisfying. Some reviewers considered the plot to be a sufficient vehicle for the gameplay, while others described it as "cheesy" in an endearing way. Will Tuttle of GameSpy believed Nick Scryer to be "a compelling main character", while Luiz H. C. of Bloody Disgusting considered the integration of Scryer's amnesia into the gameplay complemented
5618-414: The concept of brainwashing to explain seemingly sudden and dramatic religious conversions to some new religious movements (NRMs) and other groups that they considered cults . News media reports tended to accept their view and social scientists sympathetic to the anti-cult movement, who were usually psychologists , developed revised models of brainwashing. While some psychologists were receptive to
5724-418: The concept of brainwashing. In 1999, forensic psychologist Dick Anthony criticized another adherent to this view, Jean-Marie Abgrall , for allegedly employing a pseudoscientific approach and lacking any evidence that anyone's worldview was substantially changed by these coercive methods. He claimed that the concept and the fear surrounding it was used as a tool for the anti-cult movement to rationalize
5830-456: The concept, sociologists were, for the most part, skeptical of its ability to explain conversion. Critics of Mormonism have accused it of brainwashing its adherents. Philip Zimbardo defined mind control as "the process by which individual or collective freedom of choice and action is compromised by agents or agencies that modify or distort perception, motivation, affect, cognition or behavioral outcomes," and he suggested that any human being
5936-423: The controller was overburdened and that the game was in need of custom button-mapping. Reviewers were critical of the camera controls, though Reed said that it "never ever lets you down". Luiz approved of the game's aiming control, while Gamesradar described them as "fiddly". The game's tutorial system was widely praised for introducing players to new gameplay elements without interrupting gameplay. Young felt that
6042-703: The course of the story. Scryer navigates the facility he's held in and finds its blueprints for Blake. She then has him plant three warheads in specific locations. After planting the bombs and killing The Movement's master of mind control Jov Leonov, Scryer escapes with Blake on board a helicopter as the facility explodes. Scryer and Blake arrive at a facility where they find an artifact called Luna-1. Scryer takes it, but he runs into Blake later and she asks to hold on to it. When Scryer confronts The Movement's master of telekinesis Edgar Barrett, he discovers that Blake turned Luna-1 over to The Movement. Scryer pursues Barrett to another facility, leaving Blake behind. Here he meets
6148-739: The court that they intended to rely on an insanity defense , using the theories of brainwashing and the expert witnesses of Singer and Richard Ofshe to claim that the Church of Scientology had practiced brainwashing on him, which left him unsuitable to make independent decisions. The court ruled that the use of brainwashing theories is inadmissible in expert witnesses, citing the Frye standard , which states that scientific theories utilized by expert witnesses must be generally accepted in their respective fields. Since then, United States courts have consistently rejected testimony about mind control or brainwashing on
6254-431: The developers for Psi-Ops went to work on Stranglehold , which included aspects such as destructible environments that they had wished to include in a Psi-Ops sequel. Midway continued suffering from internal issues and ended operations five years after the release of Psi-Ops . During its dissolution, the rights to Psi-Ops were purchased by Warner Bros. alongside hundreds of other intellectual properties . Psi-Ops
6360-571: The early 1950s, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the U.S. Department of Defense conducted secret research, including Project MKUltra , in an attempt to develop practical brainwashing techniques; These experiments ranged "from electroshock to high doses of LSD ". The director Sidney Gottlieb and his team were apparently able to "blast away the existing mind" of a human being by using torture techniques; however, reprogramming, in terms of finding "a way to insert
6466-524: The enemies for their poor spawning as they appear without explanation and surprise players from behind. The game was also praised for short loading times. Dodson felt that the game had too many glitches, saying that it "doesn’t seem like an entirely finished product". Psi-Ops was nominated for two awards during the 8th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards : " Outstanding Achievement in Character or Story Development " and " Console Action/Adventure Game of
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#17327902809636572-459: The evolution of brainwashing from its origins in the Cold War through to today's War on Terror. The author, Dominic Streatfeild , uses formerly classified documentation and interviews from the CIA. In George Orwell 's 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four , the main character is subjected to imprisonment, isolation , and torture to conform his thoughts and emotions to the wishes of
6678-500: The experiences of Korean War POWs. (In 1996, Singer published her theories in her best-selling book Cults in Our Midst . ) Despite this defense, Hearst was found guilty. In 1990, Steven Fishman , who was a member of the Church of Scientology , was charged with mail fraud for conducting a scheme to sue large corporations via conspiring with minority stockholders in shareholder class action lawsuits. Fishman's attorneys notified
6784-442: The flashback nature of the tutorials complemented the plot. Also endorsed by critics were the game's boss battles as well as its bonus content and unlockable extras. The multiplayer mode was generally panned, though Reed found it to be an interesting addition. Andrew Reiner of Game Informer said that the game was on par with other third-person shooters "even without the telepathic hook", and Eduardo Zacarias of GameZone approved of
6890-409: The game and used in conjunction with stealth and third-person shooter gameplay to combat enemies and solve puzzles. Psi-Ops follows Nick Scryer, a psychic secret agent who had his memory wiped and got captured by a terrorist organization run by rogue psychic agents. He fights against the group as his memories return and his powers are reawakened, and he learns about a conspiracy to take control of
6996-425: The game's psi-powers. Of particular interest was the open-ended nature of combat and the variety of ways to combine psi-powers. Leone described the game as a "fleshed out tech demo". Reviewers made note of the telekinesis ability specifically, describing it as the most important of the abilities and crediting it for making the gameplay engaging. Critics also praised the game for introducing new abilities and mechanics as
7102-485: The game's visual design of the game was that it is bland and featureless. Psi-Ops was widely praised for its physics and its use of the Havok physics engine, and critics overwhelmingly approved of the game's ragdoll physics , which appeared prominently in the game through the use of telekinesis against enemies. Also praised was the use of the game's physics engine when objects are destroyed or blown up. Critics were split on
7208-456: The game. The main character was going to be called Nick Geller at this time, reminiscent of self-proclaimed psychic Uri Geller . Midway Vice President Helene Sheeler promoted the game as the first to let players use psychic abilities in an action stealth game. Psi-Ops was first previewed at E3 2003 , still under the name ESPionage . Midway needed a project to promote, and while the game was still early in development, Midway featured it against
7314-406: The gameplay still follows a number of adventure game genre tropes (gathering items , exploration of and interaction with one's environment, often including an overworld connecting areas of importance, and puzzle-solving). While the controls are arcade-style (character movement, few action commands) there is an ultimate goal beyond a high score. In most action-adventure games, the player controls
7420-411: The graphics varied. Young said they were "great", Will Tuttle of GameSpy said they were "not great", Sulic said they were "competent", and Brent Soboleski of Team Xbox said that they worked as functional background elements because were not noticeably good or bad. Praise for the graphics focused on the character animations and the visual effects when using the game's psi-powers. The primary criticism of
7526-591: The grounds that these theories are not part of accepted science under the Frye standard. In 2003, the brainwashing defense was used unsuccessfully in defense of Lee Boyd Malvo , who was charged with murder for his part in the D.C. sniper attacks . Allegations of brainwashing have also been raised by plaintiffs in child custody cases. Thomas Andrew Green , in his 2014 book Freedom and Criminal Responsibility in American Legal Thought , argues that
7632-473: The gun mechanics, saying that it did not differ from other games but that it was sufficient. Dodson praised the game's puzzles, complimenting their integration into the main gameplay as opposed to minigames. Critics noted the short length of the game, though Young considered this to be beneficial as "a case of quality over quantity". The plot saw mixed reception from reviewers, several of whom described it as unoriginal and predictable. Matt Leone of 1UP felt that
7738-565: The helicopter to chase The General while Jones stays behind to contain the explosion. Scryer follows The General to a temple filled with invisible flying beasts controlled by The Movement's master of remote viewing , Nicolas Wrightson. He rescues Blake, who is being held hostage, and she gives him a device to use at an uplink to repel the beasts. Scryer and Blake then encounter Sara's missing twin sister Tanya, who admits to killing their parents and taking Luna-1 from Scryer. Wrightson kidnaps Sara, so Scryer breaks open Wrightson's protective hatch, and
7844-435: The helicopters turn against them. The game ends on a cliffhanger with a "to be continued" screen. Psi-Ops was developed by Midway Games . Brian Eddy served as the game's director, with Jason Blochowiak as lead programmer, Sal Divita as visual director, Chip Sineni as art director, and Alexander Offerman as producer. Midway wished to upgrade its use of game physics to allow for more realistic movement and collisions, and
7950-449: The history of mind control theories, as well as notable incidents. In it, she theorized that persons under the influence of brainwashing may have more rigid neurological pathways, and that can make it more difficult to rethink situations or to be able to later reorganize these pathways. In 2006 Brainwash: The Secret History of Mind Control ( ISBN 0-340-83161-8 ) is a non-fiction book published by Hodder & Stoughton about
8056-511: The idea for a game focused on telekinesis developed from this. The game used a Havok engine that the team designed specifically for the game. The plot of Psi-Ops was inspired by experiments carried out by the United States Department of Defense to investigate the veracity of psychic abilities as well as the conspiracy theories that developed about the experiments. According to Eddy, the developers explored this topic after
8162-463: The idea that "cults" are brainwashing American youth to be implausible. Thomas Robbins , Massimo Introvigne , Lorne Dawson , Gordon Melton , Marc Galanter , and Saul Levine , amongst other scholars researching NRMs, have argued and established to the satisfaction of courts, relevant professional associations and scientific communities that there exists no generally accepted scientific theory, based upon methodologically sound research, that supports
8268-514: The literature on this subject, proposes a new way of conceptualizing influence techniques, explores the ethical ramifications of deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control, and makes recommendations addressing the problems described in the report. On 11 May 1987, the APA's Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology (BSERP) rejected the DIMPAC report because the report "lacks
8374-713: The mind". Meerloo's view was influenced by his experiences during the German occupation of his country during the Second World War and his work with the Dutch government and the American military in the interrogation of accused Nazi war criminals . He later emigrated to the United States and taught at Columbia University . His best-selling 1956 book, The Rape of the Mind , concludes by saying: The modern techniques of brainwashing and menticide—those perversions of psychology—can bring almost any man into submission and surrender. Many of
8480-511: The new Chinese social system. The term punned on the Taoist custom of "cleansing/washing the heart/mind" ( Chinese : 洗心 ; pinyin : xǐxīn ) before conducting ceremonies or entering holy places. The earliest known English-language usage of the word "brainwashing" in an article by a journalist Edward Hunter , in Miami News , published in 1950. Hunter was an anticommunist and
8586-498: The otherwise generic plot of a military protagonist with amnesia. Other reviewers enjoyed the eccentric nature of the villains. Kristan Reed of EuroGamer was disappointed in the characters, feeling that their personalities were weak and that the character models were overly sexualized. Reviewers praised the level design, saying they were constructed in a way that facilitates the use of the psi-power game mechanics and encourages players to experiment. This included overwhelming praise for
8692-518: The persecution of minority religious groups. Additionally, Anthony, in the book Misunderstanding Cults , argues that the term "brainwashing" has such sensationalist connotations that its use is detrimental to any further scientific inquiry. In 2016, Israeli anthropologist of religion and fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute Adam Klin-Oron said about then proposed "anti-cult" legislation: In
8798-403: The player fights one of The Movement's psychic members, each with a different psychic ability that defines the boss fight. Six of these boss fights are found throughout the game. Shorter bonus levels can be unlocked in addition to the main game. It also includes a multiplayer mode in which one player controls the character's movement and the other player controls his psychic abilities. Nick Scryer
8904-489: The player has enough ammunition and recovery items to " survive " the horror setting. This is a thematic genre with diverse gameplay, so not all survival horror games share all the features. The Resident Evil franchise popularized this subgenre. Action-adventure games are faster-paced than pure adventure games, and include physical as well as conceptual challenges where the story is enacted rather than narrated. While motion-based, often reflexive, actions are required,
9010-403: The player progresses through the game. Andy Young of Video Gamer criticized the game's lack of a destructible environment and the difficulty in discerning what objects can be interacted with. Critics praised the accessibility of the controls, which allow the player to access all psi-powers immediately without having to find them in a menu. Joe Dodson of Game Revolution disagreed, saying that
9116-426: The player to solve. The game mechanics are open-ended so that different approaches or combinations of abilities exist to defeat enemies and solve puzzles. Some elements of the game include horror aspects, including both gore-based violence as well as more existential and Lovecraftian elements. Each level of Psi-Ops is a linear path from one end of the level to the other. These levels include boss fights in which
9222-412: The possibility of brainwashing being a factor when lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was used, or in the induction of people into groups which are considered to be cults . Brainwashing has become a common theme in popular culture especially in war stories , thrillers , and science fiction stories. In casual speech, "brainwashing" and its verb form, "brainwash", are used figuratively to describe
9328-431: The rulers of the book's fictional future totalitarian society. The torturer representing the authorities says, "We make the brain perfect before we blow it out...Everyone is washed clean." Orwell's vision influenced Hunter and is still reflected in the popular concept of brainwashing. In the 1950s, some American films were made that featured brainwashing of POWs, including The Rack , The Bamboo Prison , Toward
9434-439: The same physical skills as action games, but may also offer a storyline, numerous characters, an inventory system, dialogue, and other features of adventure games. They are typically faster-paced than pure adventure games, because they include both physical and conceptual challenges. Action-adventure games normally include a combination of complex story elements, which are often displayed for players using audio and video. The story
9540-403: The scientific rigor and evenhanded critical approach necessary for APA imprimatur" and concluded that "after much consideration, BSERP does not believe that we have sufficient information available to guide us in taking a position on this issue." Joost Meerloo , a Dutch psychiatrist, was an early proponent of the concept of brainwashing. "Menticide" is a neologism he coined meaning "killing of
9646-406: The sound effects were inconsistent, arguing that some elements should have been more audible. The game's score was poorly received, though Eduardo Zacarias of GameZone found it sufficient. Zacarias praised the artificial intelligence of enemy characters, but Adam Smith of Rock, Paper, Shotgun argued the opposite, saying they "were about as smart as a sack of potatoes". Sulic and Dodson criticized
9752-470: The text and alleged it was the secret manual written by Lavrentiy Beria , the Soviet secret police chief, in 1936. When the FBI ignored him, Hubbard wrote again stating that Soviet agents had, on three occasions, attempted to hire him to work against the United States, and were upset about his refusal, and that one agent specifically attacked him using electroshock as a weapon. Kathleen Barry , co-founder of
9858-533: The use of propaganda to sway public opinion . The Chinese term xǐnǎo ( traditional Chinese : 洗腦 ; simplified Chinese : 洗脑 lit. ' wash brain ' ) was originally used by early 20th century Chinese intellectuals to refer to modernizing one's way of thinking. The term was later used to describe the coercive persuasion used under the Maoist government in China, which aimed to transform "reactionary" people into "right-thinking" members of
9964-463: The victims of thought control, brainwashing, and menticide that we have talked about were strong men whose minds and wills were broken and degraded. But although the totalitarians use their knowledge of the mind for vicious and unscrupulous purposes, our democratic society can and must use its knowledge to help man to grow, to guard his freedom, and to understand himself. Russian historian Daniel Romanovsky , who interviewed survivors and eyewitnesses in
10070-416: The voice acting. Some reviewers felt it was adequate, and many said that it was mostly solid except some noticeable missteps and awkward lines. Some reviewers criticized it in its entirety, with Dodson blaming his dislike for the voice acting on the script rather than the actors. The sound effects were generally praised, particularly the violent effects when the player deals damage to enemies. Zacarias felt that
10176-414: The wishes of the developers. Character designs were only placeholders that did not appear in the final product, and the game design changed significantly between the first preview and the final release. To promote Psi-Ops , Midway collaborated with Geffen Records and produced an original song for the game, "With My Mind" by Cold . A music video was produced for the song, directed by Marc Webb . Psi-Ops
10282-703: Was alleged to be a CIA agent working undercover. Hunter and others used the Chinese term to explain why, during the Korean War (1950–1953), some American prisoners of war (POWs) cooperated with their Chinese captors, and even in a few cases defected to their side . British radio operator Robert W. Ford and British army Colonel James Carne also claimed that the Chinese subjected them to brainwashing techniques during their imprisonment. The U.S. military and government laid charges of brainwashing in an effort to undermine confessions made by POWs to war crimes, including biological warfare . After Chinese radio broadcasts claimed to quote Frank Schwable , Chief of Staff of
10388-473: Was arrested and charged with bank robbery and the use of a gun in committing a felony. Her attorney, F. Lee Bailey , argued in her trial that she should not be held responsible for her actions since her treatment by her captors was the equivalent of the alleged brainwashing of Korean War POWs (see also Diminished responsibility ). Bailey developed his case in conjunction with psychiatrist Louis Jolyon West and psychologist Margaret Singer . They had both studied
10494-405: Was delayed until May 2004. According to Eddy, time constraints prevented the team from perfecting the gameplay and graphics, but positive reception from focus groups ensured that the game was not canceled mid-development. The earliest promotion of Psi-Ops advertised it under the name ESPionage . The name was changed after it was decided that it did not convey the use of psychic abilities within
10600-409: Was ever convicted. In 1981, an Italian court found that the concept is imprecise, lacks coherence and is liable to arbitrary application. Recent scientific book publications in the field of the mental disorder " dissociative identity disorder " (DID) mention torture -based brainwashing by criminal networks and malevolent actors as a deliberate means to create multiple "programmable" personalities in
10706-522: Was first used in English by Edward Hunter in 1950 to describe how the Chinese government appeared to make people cooperate with them during the Korean War . Research into the concept also looked at Nazi Germany and present-day North Korea , at some criminal cases in the United States, and at the actions of human traffickers . Scientific and legal debate followed, as well as media attention, about
10812-443: Was largely forgotten by the gaming community after its release. It is often listed as a "hidden gem" of the sixth generation of video game consoles . Director Brian Eddy attributed the game's weak sales to its marketing, saying that Midway had restructured its marketing team half way through the game's promotion. Shortly after the game's release, film producers Adrian Askarieh and Chuck Gordon purchased its film rights . The intention
10918-656: Was produced for PlayStation 2 and Xbox , and it was released in North America on June 14, 2004, and in Europe on October 1, 2004. A port for Windows was released the following year by ZOO Digital on February 11 in Europe. The game was also released by Capcom in Japan exclusively for PlayStation 2 on November 10, 2005. A GameCube version was planned, but it was canceled prior to the game's launch. Critics overwhelmingly praised Psi-Ops for its gameplay and its focus on
11024-452: Was released as a free download with advertisements on FilePlanet in 2008, and it is now abandonware . Action-adventure game An action-adventure game is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, classical adventure games have situational problems for the player to explore and solve to complete a storyline, involving little to no action . If there
11130-490: Was said to have brainwashed his followers to commit murder and other crimes, brought the issue to renewed public attention. In 1974, Patty Hearst , a member of the wealthy Hearst family , when 19 years old was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army , a left-wing militant organization. After several weeks of captivity, she agreed to join the group and took part in their activities. In 1975, she
11236-486: Was to release the film at the same time as the game's sequel. Midway was sued for $ 1.5 million in 2007 by William L. Crawford III, who alleged that Psi-Ops and its plot was stolen from his 1998 screenplay of the same name. According to Crawford, he had spoken to Midway about the project in 2001. Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ruled in Midway's favor in 2008, finding there was no evidence of copyright violation. While
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