Platform: PlayStation 3
Release: October 8, 2013
ESRB: M
Beyond: Two Souls is the
latest narrative heavy game written by David Cage, of Indigo Prophecy
and Heavy Rain fame, and put out by Quantic Dream. Much like Cage's
past creations, Beyond: Two Souls focuses mainly on human emotions
and character interactions rather than on guns and action. While its
slow pace and emphasis on characters and drama may deter many gamers
who are searching for a more intense experience, those who do decide
to play through its often winding narrative will discover a
compelling and satisfying story.
Beyond: Two Souls follows
Jodie Holmes, played by actress Ellen Page, who has been linked with
an entity named Aiden her whole life, or at least as long as she can
remember. The story follows Jodie over ten years of her life, from
little girl to adult, showing the many winding turns and struggles
she has had to overcome due to her odd “gift.” Aiden often
interferes with her personal life and makes living a normal life for
Jodie, who “just wants to be like other girls,” nearly impossible
at times. Beyond takes some interesting turns at times putting Jodie
in unexpected situations, like joining the CIA, and while at first it
can feel as though the game is having an identity crises, Cage does a
good job of making even the strangest turns believable given the
situations and happenings in Jodie's life.
It is Ellen Page's
portrayal of Jodie that is Beyond's biggest draw. Page gives a
captivating performance that makes the players feel for Jodie and
really care for her when making the many decisions that litter the
game that will impact Jodie's life. In fact, Ellen Page's
performance is so good that, at times, it can over-shadow the other
actors in the game, even Willem Dafoe who also stars in the game as a
scientist who studies Jodie and Aiden as well as serving as her
surrogate father, during more emotional scenes causing an empty
feeling in the narrative when other actor's cannot match the level of
intensity brought by Page to her performance. It's hard to say
whether or not this is a flaw because the supporting cast is not bad
by any means, players will come to care for many of the secondary
characters as much as they care for Jodie, but it is extremely
noticeable when Page is outshining other actors and can be very
distracting. Whether or not this is a flaw in the game or not may
just have to be up to the individual player's discretion. As for me,
I'm going to have to say that it is an ironic flaw that the acting of
one character is so good that it demeans the rest of the excellent
acting in the game.
Beyond: Two Souls is hands
down one of the best looking games on any current generation console.
The immense amount of detail put into the vastly different
environments, that range from suburban homes, forests, and military
bases, creates a believable world to surround an already compelling
story. The use of full body performance capture by Quantic Dream
adds a level of individual personality to each character as they
perform and there are subtle touches added to things as small as
moving Jodie around a level that start to blur the lines of game and
movie. Jodie will flail her arms if mad, wipe her face if crying,
and look around while passing different items in the environment. It
is these small touches that make Beyond's presentation stand out
amongst other games and do much to aid in bringing games into a more
immersible, believable experience.
Much like Heavy Rain,
Beyond uses primarily prompts to execute actions on screen, such as
pointing the right analog stick towards an item of interest or
tapping L1 and R1 when needing to run away from something or someone.
Unlike games such as Heavy Rain and Telltale Games' the Walking Dead
that rely very heavily quick time events, to the point where you feel
like your thumbs are playing a glorified version of Dance Dance
Revolution, Beyond does a good job of integrating movement and button
sensitive prompts fluidly into the gameplay to give a more dynamic
and seamless experience. When in combat instead of just pressing a
button at the right time to dodge or attack your foe, time will slow
down on-screen and you must point the analog stick in the direction
of Jodie's movements to gain the upper-hand. While this feature is
much better than a QTE oriented battle, at times it is unclear of
which way Jodie is moving and will lead to failure, but as there are
no gameovers in Beyond this will merely change the story rather than
start you over from a checkpoint.
While moving Jodie around a
level can sometimes feel like controlling a slug, players are also
given the ability to control her entity companion, Aiden, at nearly
almost any point in the game, who is far quicker and easier to
control when moving around a level. Aiden has the ability to fly
through walls, interact with the environment, such as opening locked
doors for Jodie, but also to kill and/or posses NPCs. The use of
Aiden adds a new dynamic to the gameplay, esspecially during stealth
or action oriented levels, where you can use Aiden to fly around and
figure out your approach to the level.
It's hard to categorize, or
even talk about, Beyond: Two Souls because of how different it is
compared to other video games, even compared to other David Cage
games. The fact of the matter is, many “hardcore” gamers will
NOT enjoy Beyond, due to its non action oriented nature. It is as if
Beyond is the Lars Von Trier of games against the Jerry Bruckheimer
that is Call Of Duty. Beautiful and eloquent to some, yet boring and
pointless to others. The willingness by Cage and Quantic Dream to
break down the stigmas of what a game should be and harken back to
games such as Siberia and Myst to make a more personal story is an
exciting thing that will hopefully be adopted by other developers.
For those who are willing to open up their mind enough to play a game
that will challenge what they have come to know and expect from a
game, Beyond: Two Souls will be a pleasant experience.
4 out of 5
Blake Hester
Parentsbasementgaming@gmail.com
