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Whatever Happened To... Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy?

Whatever Happened To... Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy?

Has there ever been a point when you’re looking through your gaming library and wondered, “Huh, whatever happened to this title?” Well, I’ll be taking a look at videogame standalones/franchises and the lead up to their eventual absence. With that being said, today I’ll be asking the question: “Whatever Happened to… Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy?”

One hit wonders in gaming are becoming less and less of a staple as each year passes. With the amount of sequels and remasters that find their way onto the scene, it’s almost impossible for a title not to be continued in some form or another. However, if one were to go back around ten years or so, near the end of the PS2 and rise of the Xbox 360, one-offs were a far more significant outcome for developers who were, at the time, just trying to get new properties off the ground. There are several good examples in this regard, such as Killer 7, God Hand, and Eternal Darkness (pretty much covered my whole month for the series here), which all received general praise for overall quality and deviation from the norm. On the other side of the spectrum, we have the less notable titles, including the likes of Haze, Carrier Command: Gaea Mission, and Trigger Man, to name a few. These games, although functional, would find themselves at the negative end of reviews. Almost ensuring there would be no sequel to arrive.

psi ops mindgate

What does this have to do with Psi-Ops though? Well, upon release, the Midway Games shooter was very much rooted in the same discussion. The fact of the matter was the game did incredibly well critically, with several sites and players wondering if there was ever going to be a sequel or, indeed, a series based off the title. Unfortunately, many individuals never got the answer to that question. But what made Psi-Ops so intriguing? What about it was so interesting and unique that it could bring about such a dedicated fanbase in a short amount of time?

Well, for one thing, the game itself was executed incredibly well. The ragdoll physics and quirky psychic gameplay mixed for an interesting style that would, overall, bring it to the attention of a lot of players. The plot was also a big selling point as it managed to capture solid characterization, an over-arching story that gamers cared about, and a decent conclusion that was undermined a bit by the ‘To Be Continued’ logo flashing during the credits. Regardless, Psi-Ops had everything going for it. Unfortunately, the franchise didn’t strike gold.

psi ops

One of the reasons behind this was the amount of competition at the time. During the initial release of Psi-Ops in 2004, other such titles as Half-Life 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas were also released. Now considering how well all of those titles did, it isn’t hard to imagine that a game such as Psi-Ops would get lost in the shuffle of what are now classics in many respects. Perhaps in another year, the psychic power based shooter would have been a much larger hit.

So, with lacking sales figures and a sequel push that would never come to light, it can be said for certain that Psi-Ops will find itself in the ‘one and done’ section of gaming history forever. This is quite disheartening, especially when one wonders, with a bit of polish, how far this series could have gone. Perhaps it is for the best, though, as the current structure in the gaming industry would have, more than likely, sequeled Psi-Ops to death to get as much money out of it as possible. That being the case, I’m glad we got the entertainment that we did out of the Midway title.

Whatever Happened To
Ethan Butterfield

Ethan Butterfield

Staff Writer

Tries his best to do his best. Greatest achievement: Annoying friends for 7 years with “Haze 2 will totally be announced this year guys!”

COMMENTS

Acelister
Acelister - 07:03pm, 27th June 2017

It came out at the same time as Second Sight, another game where you used psychic powers and guns. I remember people went to one or the other, rarely both.

I was a Second Sight man, myself. Never wound up getting Psi-Ops... Now, I never will.

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virgilmaycry
virgilmaycry - 08:37pm, 27th June 2017 Author

That's right, I forgot about Second Sight. Never played it myself, but I heard good things.

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pucechan
pucechan - 08:44pm, 27th June 2017

Both Psi-Ops and Second Sight were great. Like you say timing did these games no favours! Even cult psychological favourites like Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem didn't do huge numbers due to being surrounded by more popular action-oriented fare at the time.

It's a huge shame really!!!

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virgilmaycry
virgilmaycry - 08:49pm, 27th June 2017 Author

Feel like it was the same deal with Killer 7, shame those titles didn't make it bigger.

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virgilmaycry
virgilmaycry - 08:50pm, 27th June 2017 Author

It is a*

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Joshua T Holmes
Joshua T Holmes - 10:45am, 5th September 2018

You can download Psi-Ops for the PC.  It's WAAAY, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than second sight dude.  They both have psychic powers but second sight doesn't compare -- I owned them both and I like the story of second sight but the mechanics are shit. Get Psi-ops for the PC and try it out.

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GarySheppard
GarySheppard - 01:46pm, 12th September 2018

Is there a working link for it somewhere that you know of dude? I know it was given away free a while back but all the links are dead now and it's not on Steam or GoG

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Joshua T Holmes
Joshua T Holmes - 09:59pm, 18th September 2018

Try this:

https://dualpaste.net/link/987psuiops

Password:

PCGames-Download.NET

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Joshua T Holmes
Joshua T Holmes - 10:02pm, 18th September 2018

Actually try this, the other one is slow..  Just copy and paste this into your browser and it should open up the torrent 

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:67a3c320c2a01d302c74c83cdc31d262fb6aa56b

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GarySheppard
GarySheppard - 11:23am, 19th September 2018

Brilliant stuff, thanks for that :)

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gtamike
gtamike - 06:24pm, 19th October 2019

The PC version is free http://m.majorgeeks.com/files/details/psi_ops_the_mindgate_conspiracy.html

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GarySheppard
GarySheppard - 07:32pm, 20th October 2019

excellent

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gtamike
gtamike - 12:40am, 21st October 2019

There's also a working widescreen screen fix on the psi ops Wikipedia page near the very bottom.

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GarySheppard
GarySheppard - 07:18pm, 29th June 2017

I was also a Second Sight man, never came across this. I might have to scour eBay.

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jeffe
jeffe - 06:55am, 1st July 2017

One of the most original games I played, the skills were a lot of fun

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Brutussge98
Brutussge98 - 02:13am, 24th January 2020

I enjoyed both psi ops and second sight. It's a shame they were passed over for sequels and lost in time.

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