Publisher: Sega
Developer: Hertz
Size: 1 meg
No. of players: 1
Got it for: $4.90, cart only.
In a remote research station, experiments dealing with ESP have been taking place for quite some time. Dr. Knavik, with help from his two assistants, sisters Lucia and Cecile, carries out these experiments on the local animal population(he wants to see if cats really can read your mind). Late one night the animals break free and drag Cecile with them...to where ever psychic animals like to hang out. After receiving an ESP enhancer from Dr. Knavik, Lucia sets out to find Cecile...
What's it all about?
It's a sidescrolling adventure game that plays a lot on quick shooting and your character's psychic abilities. Playing as Lucia, you run through the various levels destroying any mutants that get in your way and collecting new ESP abilities and that you'll come across. ESP abilities fall into two categories: Attacks and Assists. The ESP attacks are unlimited, the Assists will drain your ESP meter, and both sets can be built up resulting in a more powerful version of the ability. Using both you'll quickly romp through the scenery, solving very minor puzzles(all involving just figuring out which ESP attack/assist to use at the time), taking out the level's mini-boss and then finally moving on to the main boss before heading to the next area...
Graphics - Excellent! The graphics are extremely colorful and well detailed. The backgrounds have some nice special effects in them, and the enemies and Lucia have an adequate amount of animation going on. As for the bosses, they are really something else. Each one takes up a good portion of the screen(nearly half the screen for some of the bosses) and are graphically very impressive.
Sound - Very good. Has some memorable musical pieces that'll stick with you for a long while(especially that main theme). The sound effects are also very good, with variety of "spacey" attack noises and other things. The sound even has some nice stereo effects, not that most will notice with the GG's single speaker setup...
Control - Solid. Lucia gets around where you need her to go, with full control in the air and a quick step on the ground; she can even break out into an incredibly quick dash after just a few steps. About the only thing that takes some getting used to is the odd method the developers have chosen for you to select/use your ESP abilities. Rather than letting you hit the Start button to bring up some sort of select screen, and go from there, they've kinda almost made it realtime. Activating the ESP select menu consists of you hitting Down and button 2(jump), the screen freezes and you're shown the list. You highlight what you want, and let go of the button and it activates the ability. Like I said, it takes some getting used to...
AI - The AI itself isn't so bad, it's the whole damage scale scheme that'll fuck you up. For projectiles and such, it's pretty standard: You get hit, you take damage...no big deal. Thing is, when you touch an enemy(which happens pretty frequently) your life bar just begins to go flying down at an amazingly quick rate. Having an aggressive enemy just plow into you can sap your lifebar in a matter of *seconds*. To get around this, you're given an Invincibility shield that can be used as many times as your ESP meter allows. It *really* helps, and without it the game really would be near-impossible.
Replay value - It's relatively short, but really a lot of fun to play through...so you'll probably come back quite a bit. It never really seems to get old, and the quick gameplay helps a lot in that....not to mention that just experimenting with the various ESP attacks and assists always seems to keep a degree of interest for the game alive.
Tips for better gaming experiences:
Use the Invincibility assist a LOT. It will help you out in right situations...and by that I mean just about anytime you're running low on health, or fighting a boss, or making a jump over spikes, or being sniped by some enemy, or avoiding laser beams, or...

Knowing which ESP attack to use on the various enemies is a must. Listen carefully to the noise that is made when you hit an enemy, this will tell you if your attack is effective or not.

Remember that certain ESP attacks can affect the environment(Ice can freeze water, Fire can melt Ice, etc), there are sections in the game that will force you to make use of this knowledge.

I'll tell you nothing!
 Though he probably doesn't want to, I'll bet you could persuade Dr. Knavik to tell you how to beat the final boss...

Never use the damn Teleportation assist. All it does is take you back to the beginning of the stage...with everything you entered with(just like dying will do). I have no idea why they thought this would make a good addition to Lucia's arsenal...

To access the Hidden Options, at the title screen hold Up, Left, 1 and 2, and press Start. This give you access to a sound test and stage select. Also, anytime you start the game via the Hidden Options screen, all of your ESP abilities will be jacked up to their maximum power.
My rating: 85(out of 100) - A great, first generation title for the Game Gear. Solid sidescrolling action, great graphics and some memorable tunes make this one something to see even after all these years. Unfortunately, the game can be overly difficult at times, and it is just a bit on the short side...but that really doesn't drag it down all that much...
GamePro gave it: 4.0(graphics), 3.0(sound), 5.0(gameplay), 4.0(funfactor), 5.0(challenge) (out of 5)

Cat's thoughts: Way too hard! The health refills are few and far between, and with enemies draining your lifebar faster than I chomp down some Friskies, it makes this one a real bitch. Keep it away from this kitty...
Using ESP on the ASP!
Prairie-mutant hunting.
Chilling Lucia's ass in the Ice Field...
The steely interior of the Fortress.
Sloshing on down the line...
Planty plant plant!
Psychic Master System:
Psychic World is also available on the Sega Master System. Though I'm not sure which came out first, they are pretty much the same game...but it's interesting to see the differences between them. First, the graphics in the SMS version aren't nearly as good as they are in the GG's version, but past that there are also some major changes in the level layouts and such. Both are pretty good, but if you had to pick, go with the GG version...