Playing the original Psi-Ops was great: solid graphics, many cool ways to use your mental powers to torture and kill the enemy soldiers, and a solid sense of humor. I'm not sure how well it did in terms of sales, but whenever I bump into anyone who has played the title, they have nothing but positive words for it. If you've missed it the first time, FilePlanet is offering an ad-supported download of the game-free for the PC.

The terrible thing is that the game ends on a frackin' cliffhanger, and back in 2006 it was pretty much confirmed that there wouldn't be a sequel. Ever the optimist, I brought it up when I interviewed Jason Kaehler, the art director for Stranglehold, when I found out he had also worked on Psi-Ops. His answer doesn't give much hope. "In some ways, Stranglehold is really the next iteration of Psi-Ops. We're the same team under Brian Eddy's direction and have brought a lot of the 'sandbox' gameplay directly into Stranglehold," he told Ars. I'm going to start crying.

Here is one of the ways you can deal some death in the game. Use your powers to take over the mind of an enemy soldier, take control of his sniper rifle, and force him to kill his friends. Then simply make him walk off his watchtower, as he screams in terror. When his body dies, your mind snaps back into your own body, and you can now walk the level unmolested. It only gets better from there.

If you've never played the game, grab a game pad, and get to downloading. The game is ad-supported, but that's a small price to pay for such a solid experience. Maybe if we make enough noise, Midway will rethink its decision and give us a sequel. I'm going to go shake some pots and pans.