Game Review: Beyond: Two Souls

Game: Beyond: Two Souls
Console: Sony Playstation 3
Developer: Quantic Dream
Release Date: 8th October 2013

Beyond: Two Souls is one of the strangest games I've ever played, for many reasons. I knew what to expect from David Cage and Quantic Dream games; a cinematic element, QTE's and some outlandish plot elements and twists towards the end of the game. That said, I was still surprised by just how little gameplay and choice there actually was, and how little emotional investment I ended up with in Jodie, the game's main character, and in events as a whole. The game's timeline plays out like a Tarantino film, jumping all over the place, yet with little reason to do so.

The game begins with Jodie being pursued and wrecking a small town police station, as SWAT teams converge to surround her. With the help of Aiden, her friend on a spiritual plane who never leaves her side, she manages to escape, and we begin at the start of her life, growing up with what appear to be strange powers (which are actually just Aiden's actions). Players can control both Jodie and Aiden at various times in the game, and often the action cannot progress unless something is done on the spiritual plane by Aiden, in order to solve a problem.

Much of the time, the range of actions given to players is small and affects the overall plot marginally. An example of this is when Jodie decides to sneak out for the night and finds herself in a rough bar on the edge of town. Depending on what players do, she can either stay or leave, with the former resulting in a rather unpleasant experience for her, compared to simply leaving the bar after feeling uneasy. That said, the following chapters are unaffected by the choice made, and this is the case for several other seemingly big decisions made by players. Dialogue choices also seem to follow this rule; though there usually seems to be a wide choice of things to say, the responses will often be very similar, regardless of player choice.

The story itself is rooted in science fiction, with large gaps in time which aren't explained by the parts of the story which we do see. While it's safe to say that Jodie endures several important events during the course of the game, it's not entirely clear that her character is shaped by what happens to her, and the sparseness of actually storytelling is hidden by the constant time skipping. There are some important emotional moments within the game, but confusion and apathy meant that I felt next to nothing for Jodie by the time those moments arrived.

Graphically the game is impressive, with some of the best facial detailing on the Playstation 3, some well created environments and special effects, and movie-like dialogue sequences. If there's one thing the game succeeds at, it's looking almost as good as a movie; the characters are visually realistic and although the locations tend to be less detailed than they might be in real life, it's a good effort. Soundwise the voice acting is also of very high quality, with clips for all situations sounding natural and well voiced.

Overall it's easy to see what Beyond: Two Souls was trying to do, following Heavy Rain as Quantic Dream's next production. An over-reliance on help from Aiden, decisions which affect nothing, and a sub-par plot prevent the game from reaching it's full potential. There seems to be only one true ending, despite the choice of 5. Having sat through them all, it was clear to see that 4 of them had been thrown in as a failed attempt at branching paths in the game. I enjoyed a few parts of the experience, but much of the game was boring, predictable or destined to happen eventually, whatever choices I made.

Rating: 72/100
Grade: C