Beyond: Two Souls

The title says it all, this is one of the most tonally inconsistant, completely random, batshit insane games I have ever played and I loved every second of it. I played the game in the Original order first time around (I 100% intent to play this game again later) and I highly recommend it, the seemingky random order of events honestly leaves you questioning whether or not your even playing the same game and honestly I found that so entertaining. In terms of performances, its a mixed bag, Elliot Page gives a mixed performance, sometimes it really works and other times it feels like he is sleepwalking throughout. Willem Dafoe on the overhand was phenominal, he gave it his all 100% of the time and you can really hear the hurt in his voice. Graphically it is also very pleasing although there are some Artifacts i noticed while playing, with plenty of Z-fighting especially near the endgame. The game plays well on a 21:9 display as well, I personally had no problems. Overall play this game if you like batshit insane stories.

Ce qui est bien avec Quantic dream c'est la constance (certains mauvais esprits diront l'acharnement) à vouloir créer des jeux dont les trames narratives sont sympas mais avec des gameplays insupportables. Avec Beyond two souls David Cage arrive à gâcher le gameplay et l'histoire. Je n'ai pas terminé. Je me suis arrêté au moment ou Aiden (le fantôme) de la protagoniste (Jodie) se tapait une crise de jalousie parce qu'elle recevait à diner un joli gars de son boulot... Avant de le recevoir il a fallu que je fasse la cuisine, que je découpe l'oignon en pleurant, le poivron, rajoute la viande, que je rajoute du sel et puis le poivre, que je range les livres éparpillés sur le divan dans la bibliothèque, que je ramasse le linges sale qui trainait par terre, que je le mette dans la panier de linge sale, que je prenne ma douche, que je choisisse ma robe etc... le tout très lentement comme pour savourer chaque geste parce qu'évidemment mon personnage ne sait marcher que tres lentement... C'est la qualité de la narration, la qualité du texte, l'ambiance sonore, visuelle et la cohérence globale qui détermine mon envie de me faire emporter par une histoire. Ce n'est pas parce que mon personnage va faire des actions proches de mon quotidien irl que je vais me sentir proche de mon personnage... Et j'ai l'impression que tout est comme ça dans ce jeu. Des actions pesantes alourdies par un gameplay pénible, par des émotions fictives parce que mal pensées, trop démonstratives peut être, mal réalisées surement. Je passe sur les silences dans la narration qui plombent déjà une trame fatiguée et je ne parle même pas de la caméra qui fait sa life (presque un jeu dans le jeu). La division du jeu par chapitre (qu'il est possible de faire dans le désordre ??? ) rajoute de la confusion et sacrifie le peu de désir qui me restait à continuer ce jeu. Allez faire un tour sur "The Quarry" de Supermassive Games, pour réaliser à quel point Beyond two souls est particulièrement raté !

The game is still good, but with the years, flaws are much more visible. The gameplay is rigid, the fighting system messy and controls clunky. However, the core of the experience remains intact. A quantic dream classic with QTE and choices that will impact how things are going to be (and end). Even if the story can be sometimes predictable (or not coherent) there are genuinely touching moment thanks to a voice acting on point and a really good music. The great strength of the game is in the writing the main characters and their evolution through the story, not the ageing gameplay and controls For that, i enjoyed it. And for that i understand some will not like it. Give it a try !

Beyond: Two Souls isn't the worst thing Quantic Dream has ever put out, but that's only because of how phenominally bad of a developer they have shown themselves to be. For most other studios, this would be far and away the most embarassing effort they ever had the gall to release. The story is typical David Cage fare, with half the scenes written like first drafts from before the writer knew what the story was ultimately going to be about, and the other half feeling entirely superfluous, only added in to extend the run time of a game that already feels like it's dragging it's feet in getting to any kind of point. The decision to tell the story out of order doesn't help, especially since it's such a pointless and baffling narritive device. The game's story and how the player experiences it would change not in the slightest if it had been told linearly, so it feels like no more than a last ditch effort to give a boring game any kind of personality. Normally, a Quantic Dream game can at least be recommended on a purely ironic level, due to how hilarously incompetent the writing is, especially when it comes to dialouge, and while Beyond: Two Souls certainly has an abundance of so-bad-it's-good moments, the sheer amount of time David Cage devotes to creeping on Elliot Page by constantly shoehorning in weird sexual situations severely undercuts any humor one would typically find in one of these games. That is to say, even if you're used to the bizarre amounts of scenes of sexual assault that take place in Cage's games, this one may be too much for you. Gameplay in Quantic Dream games is almost beneath mentioning. It's walking around occasionally broken up by QTEs. You'd think this would be hard to screw up, but Two Souls reaches innovative new levels of trash by having you guess what direction you need to press on the thumb stick based on one of Quantic Dreams' famously poorly directed cutscenes. No worries though, you can't die in this game, so there's no tension. Awful

I'd give this one a 10, but alas, only 5 are possible. Pros: The game is diverse, with many gameplays and styles involved (and exploited), the story is rich, the actors are, well, world-renowned ones. The graphics may look a little rough at first, but then one remembers that it's a 2013 game. Nevertheless, you get used to it soon enough. The ending is satisfactory, and leaves you longing to replay it again, to see the other outcomes. Cons: Quite a few continuity mishaps: one frame (The Party intro) the driveway is empty, next cut - people are taking photos of the sun. The Dinner - you order pizza, they take two slices, then only two slices are left in the box. A few more, but only those two come to my mind at this hour. Nevertheless, this game gets a 5-star from me, with the clear intention to start it over tomorrow evening. Thank you, Quantic Dream, and thank you, Sony, for this experience!