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.