So I recently finished Beyond: Two Souls…
It’s hard to review a game such as this, because most of my praises or condemnations need to be on the story, but since said story is such a vital part of the experience, pointing out specifics risks spoiling the experience for new gamers. So while I may be bringing up some situations in my review, I will not put them in any sort of narrative context so that the experience won’t be hurt.
As I said previously about gameplay, if you’ve played Heavy Rain, you’ve basically played this. Simple movements on the analog stick, QTE’s and single button presses reign supreme. Also, like Heavy Rain, you can’t “Game Over” as much as just continue in the story. However, since Heavy Rain contained numerous characters, making the wrong decisions could end up in a character dying. Beyond doesn’t have this since there is really just 1 (well okay 2 but mainly 1) protagonist, so it’s hard to take any of the “Life or Death” situations very seriously throughout the story until the very end.
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Another difference is the control of Aiden, the other soul attached to Jodie. Using him is basically like flying an airplane with very loose controls. You then will lock on to various spirit “things” and do various movements with the analog sticks. Aiden can manipulate various objects and people, but in good old fashioned video game logic, there’s absolutely NO consistency on what Aiden can do, or who he can do them to. The reason why Aiden can choke some people, mind control others, and do nothing to others is never explained for any other reasons than “Because then the game would be even easier than it already is!”
So as far as the story goes, I’ll say that it is better than most, but not without some rather glaring flaws. Is it better than Heavy Rain? Well, it’s hard to compare, specifically because I haven’t played Heavy Rain in 3 ½ years (I played it when my oldest was born) and the plots are significantly different. I thought they were comparable in terms of quality from what I remember, but don’t hold me to that.
The big question of “Do your decisions make any difference?” can be answered with a “Yes.” Depending on who lives and who dies throughout the game, apparently your ending is affected a bit, similarly to that of Heavy Rain. However, much like Heavy Rain I don’t know how many people will want to sit through the game the multiple times required to unlock all these endings. Without trying to spoil, basically at the end of the game you get one big decision, and then depending on what you did in the game, you may then get some more choices as well. Decisions also are more immediate and can change scenes. One has an incident where you have been wronged by some jerks and locked away in a small room. You get out and have the decision to either just leave, OR use Aiden to get some revenge. At one point I was trying to talk down an insane guy with his gun pointed at Jodie, and the first time I played the scene the guy ended up calming down and not shooting. However, the second time I played, knowing the outcome, I decided to be more curt and direct with my feelings. That did not rub said character in the right way and he ended up shooting at Jodie.
Still, is said story well realized? For the most part, but not without some issues. For one thing, because this is scattered in an out of order sequence with gaps, some scenes and arcs are not well realized. One character goes from grieving in one part of the timeline to balls out insane in another, and when the insanity is revealed, it feels awkward because nothing was ever built up about it. Also, because this game has DLC planned, one has to wonder whether parts of the story were held back or excluded and repackaged in an effort to get more money.
Finally, the whole mystery and “story” of Aiden is rather, ummmm… how you say… off. One thing I’ll say is that luckily, Beyond wraps up the main story and questions rather well, including the whole “Aiden Mystery.” When it’s revealed, you’ll likely think, “Well, that’s a little weird, but that explains how that other part worked, so okay.” However, the more you think about it and after seeing the endings, you’ll likely have more than a few unanswered questions to ponder.
As I said, most of my complaints have to do with specific plot points that I can’t get into without spoiling, but I will say that none of them left a really bad taste in my mouth. There was nothing in the story that turned me off the same way that say, the final third of The Last of Us did. Overall I do recommend Beyond, especially if you liked David Cage’s previous work. However, much like his previous work, it is VERY hard to justify a full $60 purchase of this, given the little amount of replay value there is. It’s not like Heavy Rain, where the game was broken into so many small chunks that it was easy to replay scenes to see what happened if you did A instead of B. Here, you have 20 chapters which can vary greatly in length. For example, to get back to the “One BIG Decision” I mentioned earlier, I had to replay the entire final chapter, which took about a half hour, mainly just because of all the unskippable cut scenes. Yes I know I could have just brought it up on Youtube, but there’s no fun in that. Still, it does hurt the overall replayability of the game. I suppose if you’re REALLY into the story and want to get all the collectibles (which the game doesn't tell you about from what I can tell) and unlock all the hidden footage then there is some extended time to be had.
I give it a B-. Worth a look, but I wouldn't blame you if you ended up using it as a coaster.
Sure glad I waited until I could get all my Move gear for half of MSRP.
