REVIEW: Dark Souls II (PS3)

I've been waiting a looong time for this game. In fact, I think I'd had the damn thing preordered on Amazon for well over a year before it finally landed in my desperate hands. And now, after finishing the sequel to one of my favourite games of all time, I have the same feeling all over again... a hollowness, an emptiness, that I know no other game will satisfy until they (hopefully) release the next edition of this dark fantasy RPG. The first game in this series, Demon's Souls, was a complete surprise for me when I picked it up along with my PS3 all those years back, I had grabbed it on a recommendation for it being one of the best exclusive titles on Sony's platform. I was blown away and instantly addicted to it's hard and dismal gothic-fantasy world, which was unlike anything I'd every played, save for the overtones of Shadow of the Colossus, my all-time favourite video game. When they announced a "spiritual successor" I was overjoyed and Dark Souls did not disappoint. While initially I was unsure about the changes from Demon's Souls (like the move to an "interconnected open world" and the whole rejiggering of many things) eventually I came to love this new game every bit as much as the first; more in some areas and less in others. Like everyone else, I eagerly awaited the announcement of 'Dragon's Souls' or something like that and when they instead announced a direct sequel I was both excited and nervous at the same time. Please From Software... don't f**k it up!!

Upon loading up Dark Souls 2 you are instantly taken back to that dark fantasy world from the first game, only this time hundreds or thousands of years into the future, where kingdoms of men have risen and fallen since the escapades of your first character; but the dismal cycle of death and rebirth continues unabated. You are yet again an undead ( or 'hollow') out of a quest to rid yourself, and perhaps mankind, of "the curse", only this time through it might not be as simple and straightforward as that. Initial comments from the game's new director about making the story "more accessible" seem to be unfounded, as if anything the actual lore is even more shrouded in mystery and interpretation this time. The actual direction to take and what to do in Dark Souls 2 is more easily signposted this time around though, as there are more characters to steer you in the right direction, and more freedom in which order you tackle areas. A lot of this freedom to travel and explore is facilitated by an almost-return to Demon's Souls's "hub structure", and you are given the ability to fast-travel from the very start; allowing you to return to the central point of 'Majula', the only place you can level your character up, reset stats, increase potency of healing items etc.

Freedom is the main theme of Dark Souls 2's design choices as you now also have more slots for weapons, armour and useable items on your belt. You also have more options in terms of healing, either by using fixed 'Estus Flasks' from the previous game or by using consumable items similar to Demon's Souls. Indeed, you even have the freedom to play around with the "new game plus" option by burning 'bonfire aesthetics' and resetting all the baddies, bosses and items in an area in the same what you would do with a complete second play through of the game! Obviously, because it's a From Software game, a lot of these things are not fully explained by the game, leaving you to find out for yourself or online in guides, but the fact this is all here makes the game extremely enjoyable and customisable. I took advantage of all these things during my first play through, and re-specced my character half-way through into a "Dark Knight", hurling hexes at foes, using dark-infused weapons, and reaching top-tier in a covenant designed to explore The Abyss. Next time, I'm going to spec my character for dexterity and faith and make a halberd wielding temple knight (although disappointingly there are no divine weapons this time 'round), and it's this complete ownership over both your character and over how you play the game that makes it so enjoyable, addictive and endlessly replayable.

The world of Dark Souls 2 is very well designed, and there is a good variety of locales, enemies and bosses this time 'round. While there is some (intentional) reuse of things from the first Dark Souls early on, there is very little reuse of assetsfrom early to late game this time, unlike the latter half of the first game, which the creators admit was rushed. Here you get the sense they had a good plan for the development of the game and saw it right through to the end, with a particularly strong second half leading some some spectacular final areas. Bosses are all challenging and pose their own strategies and tactics to overcome, which is also helped this time with a more robust multiplayer system, meaning it's very easy to summon assistance if you get stuck (although due to the idiocy of some players I often overcame the most difficult bosses solo). Music is top-knotch, graphics are much improved in terms of frame rate and special effects, although I didn't find the art direction to be quite as good as either of the first two games, it's still leagues above most other fantasy RPGs! All-in-all a very worthy sequel and while I would like to talk all day about the many features that are exemplary and the many secrets and unlockable events that happen, I would much rather just say: go play this game.

Thus begins the long drawn-out wait for another in the 'Souls games, hopefully made more bearable with some DLC to tide me over (the game checks for DLC on start-up so I'm hoping it's a hint of things to come)...

REVIEW: Beyond Two Souls (PS3)

Firstly, a little disclaimer. If you have any interest in this game (and if you have a PS3 then you should), then be warned that even looking at the pictures in this review is going to be entering 'spoiler' territory. This is a game that is probably best approached knowing nothing about except that a.) it's an "interactive drama" and relies on contextual controls not conventional gameplay; and b.) it's bloody brilliant!! This is the second PS3 exclusive game from second party studio Quantic Dream and the director David Cage. The first, Heavy Rain, polarised critics with it's approach to video games as a medium, like films and books, through which to tell a story. People will often band about statements like "it's just a load of quick time events" and make the accusation that there is little gameplay, inferring that it's like watching a game-long (8 hour) cut-scene; incidentally these very same sentiments are often expressed towards Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. I personally find this kind of attitude to be backwards and shortsighted to the extreme. Heavy Rain tried to do something different by presenting a complex interwoven story, usually outside the scope of video games, and used what I would refer to as "contextual controls" rather than having a rigid control scheme; definitely not quick time events, which by their nature are "press X now, oh too late you died!" In fact, a later re-release and patch allowed Heavy Rain to be played with the Move Controller, allowing a very real connection with the game through gesture and motion control.

Speaking personally, I was a massive fan of Heavy Rain and it has remained, for me, one of the defining games of the PS3 and a "must-buy" title. When it was announced that David Cage was following it up and releasing a new game in the same genre, I was stoked and Beyond Two Souls became one of my most anticipated games last year. Obviously, like it's predecessor, it released to mixed reviews. Also like it's predecessor, critics just didn't get it!! Beyond once again explores the idea of using video games as a medium for a complex narrative, this time focusing on the character of Jodie Holmes, a girl born with a paranormal connection to a spiritual entity called Aiden. This time, rather than jumping between the viewpoints of different characters (as was explored in Heavy Rain) Beyond's narrative structure is non-linear and different chapters hop and skip to different parts of a timeline; always logically filling in bits of backstory before diving into a relevant later chapter in Jodie's life. This keeps the game extremely compelling and each time a new chapter begins you'll want to know what new secrets it exposes or how it develops Jodie's character. Once again all this is realised with mostly context dependent controls, however this time the game has been confidently made so that intuition (rather than on screen button prompts) guides you. This doesn't always work flawlessly, and sometimes you'll have to walk about and experiment to further the scene, but it definitely adds to the immersion of the game by not having a heads up display or other intrusive elements. Often the only time you'll see a face button popping is when choosing dialogue options, which is why in screenshots there is nothing to suggest how the game actually plays.

The other control scheme used is a fixed, almost third-person-shooter, setup that allows Beyond to contain some more traditional gameplay sections. These lengthy sequences, mostly regarding Jodie's time working for the CIA, feel very much like a Metal Gear Solid game, as you are tasked with sneaking about and completing objectives. I found these parts of the game to be immense fun, and I can see why people might wish the entire experience had been like this. But that would be to miss the point, as while these sections give the player the most traditional "video-gamey" experience, they don't usually have as much emotional gravitas as some of the slower purely-storyline driven sections of the game. The chapters where you play as a little girl in particular pulled on my heartstrings the most; but that might just be because she is so adorable, and goes through such a crappy childhood, poor thing! Speaking of the storyline, the game also has a multiple endings, twenty-six of them in fact, which means there is potentially a lot of reply value. Like Heavy Rain before it, there is a lot of reason to play again through sections of Beyond to see how your actions affect the scene, and to earn different trophies as a reward.

Lastly, it's worth mentioning the technical achievements of this game, which regardless of your own opinion regarding the storyline, player agency or whether this is all a "game" in a narrow inflexible definition, no-one can deny that this game is stunning to see in motion. The graphics engine in Beyond produces some of the most realistic life-like visuals I've ever scene, with lots of hidden level-of-detail jumps bringing out some insane depth to close-ups of characters faces, allowing you to truly read emotions and thoughts in character's eyes and expressions. It helps that the motion captured performances from everyone involved is Hollywood caliber stuff, especially from Ellen Page in the starring role as Jodie; even the bit-parts and cameos are all very well done from the different actors. While playing I was frequently picking my jaw from off the floor. The soundtrack, while not as memorable as the previous game, is still excellently well done and I believe nominated for some awards. To sum up this review, Beyond is a fantastic video game (and perfect follow-up to Heavy Rain) that does some interesting and new things with the medium, perhaps not appealing to snuffly-nosed boring old purists, but great if you are open to try something that requires you to think and feel rather than twitch and shoot.