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| The Cover for Beyond: Two Souls |
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Creator: David Cage from Quantic Dream
Console: Playstation 3
ESRB Rating: M for Mature
The
story is told out of chronological order. Telling it this way allows for
several things, one of them is better plot pacing. You switch between being on
the run from the CIA, to living a quiet life in a lab. Doing every quiet thing
from when Jodie was eight years old would be a very dull beginning, as well as
bring an awkward balance to the plot as questions from when Jodie was younger
get answered soon after when we flip ahead in her life. Another thing is that
it allows for more questions and answers to be developed, this allows for the
player to see the changes in things like relationships with particular
characters at different angles then when a character was first introduced. The
story moves in three phases, one where the background is laid for important
characters and is Jodie’s beginnings, the second phase builds on relationships
with characters and reveals more of Jodie’s life, and the third phase answers
many questions left open and concludes the story nicely. A blotch on this great
game in regards to the plot would have to be certain areas of the dialog. Some
of it isn’t at the strength it should be to fully help the player realize the
character or to fully display the scene and the mood of it. It could have been
stronger, however in no way am I saying the dialog is bad-- for the most part,
it was well or decently done, and most of it is done very nicely and overall
does bring out the character’s voices well and uniquely.
How long it takes to beat the
game varies on what you are doing. It can take between 8 and 14 hours to beat
regularly, while replaying for trophies can take anywhere between 14 and 22
hours (depending on how far back you need to replay). Again this all varies
however depending on how fast you play through the game and what you do while
playing. The game’s replay value isn’t high or low. There are many individual chapter choices you
can replay to earn trophies, play for the fun of it, or try and see different
outcomes. This adds a lot of value right there, but because the majority of plot
outcomes don’t change dramatically for the most part, it decreases some value.
So, there’s a moderate value of replay for this game, as yes, characters can
live or die depending on what you do, but really replay value is whether you
want to try for trophies, and if you enjoyed the game the first time.
Our lady protagonist, Jodie, is
our playable character in Beyond and is voiced and acted by Ellen Page. The
other playable character is Aiden, the entity tethered to Jodie, who is played
with directly alongside Jodie. Both characters are endearing and as this is a
story of a life and beyond, the plot works well to have the characters grow on
the player. This also influences decisions the player can make in the future as
Jodie, as many decisions can impact the events that follow.
The gameplay is directly woven
into the game, as you do actions to further advance the plot in each sequence.
The game is divided in two: QTE (Quick Time Events) and “free” events. For a
lack of a better way to put it: events where you usually have a task to do, but
have full motion to do it rather than the game running for you and you pressing
buttons. The gameplay itself is
integrated into the story, so doing things is what drives each sequence
forwards, and it does so in a very direct manner. The two play modes merge very
nicely, as much of the time there is “free” play, rather than QTE’s, in
contrast with Heavy Rain’s action sequences. Several of the action events
involve stealth movements rather than charging in and attacking. When actual
fighting occurs with enemies and Jodie, a different kind of QTE takes place:
you have to move the analog stick in the direction Jodie is moving to advance
the fight. Time slows down to allow this action to be done. When playing on
easy, the advantage is a big arrow appears on the screen to show you which
direction to go, however this ruins the cinematic effects of the scene. When
playing on normal, the arrows do not appear, however it is sometimes difficult
to tell which direction Jodie is moving. If you move the wrong way, a red flash
appears on screen, and the game does an alternate route to advance the fight
scene. The “free” gameplay is fun, as you mostly get the choice of viewing
things from Aiden and interacting with the world as either Jodie or Aiden. When playing on easy, you can’t have free
roam as Aiden, you have to press a button to get to the next interactive
object. While when playing on normal, you get full roam, which is having the
ability to float through things like walls and doors. The button-pressing or
analog stick interactions make a return to interact with the environment as
Jodie. A fault in this game is that it is no longer as obvious to see which way
the analog stick needs to be turned to do an action. However the fact I played
on a smaller screen may have affected this.
One gameplay complaint though is
that the game is a little too “forgiving”. In Heavy Rain, if you mucked up too many times, a main character could
die and the game would progress without them. Here, the game “forgives” and
moves on with itself. It is understandable since there is only one protagonist
this time around, but I’m sure the developers could of thought of some other
punishment for messing up an important QTE (e.g. failed the mission, made
something directly linked more difficult later, etc.) I’m not saying there’s no
punishment (believe me, there is-- minor characters can die, things can go
wrong within chapter at certain points), but there’s not that much of it, and
it’s at times where it’s so easy that you pretty much have to decide to let
things go wrong just to have a little excitement. Another complaint is the lack
of differing core endings. Heavy Rain
had core endings that were different, while this game divides the endings into
branches, rooting off one branch, that don’t change much about the games world (except
for one bad ending you get for failing all the end QTE’s, but that’s not a
full-throttle ending). However, the ending choice the game gives you is a
daunting, beautifully well done one.
The game’s enemies are few, and
only are found in some chapters. The only enemies are soldiers and evil
spirits. Soldiers can sometimes be killed from Aiden’s POV, but most are fought
by Jodie. All the spirits, however, are fought with Aiden. There are a couple
of large spirits that require some more difficulty and preparation in-game to
fight. One of them makes a wonderful “HOLY $%!#” moment when it first appears. The
game also does have a few other creepy moments regarding spirits. The game does
feature a multiplayer mode, in which you progress through the main plot with
two people playing. One player assumes
the control of Jodie, and another of Aiden.
Although the gameplay is simple,
it is very fun and it makes for an interactive movie or a cinematic game. I’m
not going to pick one view to define from as half the fan base gets ticked off
when you call this game an interactive movie, so create your own opinion on
what it is. The difficulty comes in a bad way-- if you’re playing with too dark
a screen or with the brightness too low, during several dark screens, you don’t
have a clue as to where you’re going. Even then, it can be hard to tell. I
enjoyed the immersion of the gameplay to the story, and it blended very well.
The game’s soundtrack is
beautifully done. It was originally done by Norman Corbeil, but he passed away
during the project, so it was finished by Lorne Balfe and Hans Zimmer. The
soundtrack is subtle and beautiful, and fits very well with the scenes that are
going on within the game. It adds perfectly to the atmosphere of Jodie’s life
and the story at the time. Another well done part is not just the soundtrack,
but the placements of silent moments. It’s done so well and adds exceptionally
well to the moment and tone of the current event. A nice touch was when we saw
Jodie, guitar in hand, sing “Lost Cause” in a cold, winter street.
The game’s graphics are a work of
art. Done to be realistic, it does its job perfectly-- the faces move as if
they were real (then again, actors did also
fully act, not just give their voices), everything looked incredibly realistic,
and the only thing to say is how beautiful and realistic the graphics are.
Graphics don’t make a game by any means, but dang, this game looks gorgeous! The
game can be described as “smooth”, among other things. The controls reacted
when told and reacted well. The graphics slid well, and the camera angle was
much, much better than it was in Heavy
Rain -- a major improvement done by Quantic Dream. The soundtrack
transitioned almost unnoticed and matched the atmosphere perfectly. The pacing
was nice. The graphics were beautiful, and ran seamlessly. The entire game
blended exceptionally well. One thing classed as “unsmooth” in the game is that
every so often the game will freeze for a second, and then continues. It’s a
minor bug that occurs every once in awhile.
The game, without the player even
noticing often, can really toy with emotions. The events that happen in Jodie’s
life to build up her experiences and this story are fantastic. A relationship
builds up with an invisible character you play as who has no ability to
communicate actually builds just as the love for Jodie does. When the finale
happens, it is heart-wrenching. Not because of sadness, but because of
everything that happened, and everything that can happen, and will. Right at
the end, I cried, and I have no problem in admitting that.
This game is truly an experience.
Everything that happens is done so well. I sincerely recommend this game to
anyone who would be willing to play it to the end. It’s not for everyone as the
gameplay isn’t the heaviest thing here, but rather, the plot is, and the
characters. It’s an enjoyable experience for anyone willing to indulge. This
game truly was an artwork. The media usage to portray the story of the life of
Jodie Holmes was done excellently, and this is a game that will not soon be
forgotten at all.
- Maddiystic
9/10
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| Screen Capture of Gameplay |
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| They Developed The Game Using Actors |
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