Beyond: Two Souls

The story was fantastic with a good amount of choices. That being said I found some to be vague. Without going into spoilers some options were far more extreme than I expected them to be or just go in a direction I had wholly gauged wrong. It didn't happen often so it wasn't a huge deal. I played through the game in it's original mix which means it jumped around from year to year a lot and everything was out of chronological order. I actually liked it like this and still found everything easy to grasp and understand. It's nice that the game gave the option to play it in chronological order if i wanted to. The controls were a bit of an issue. I found dodging during combat to be a bit of a pain. The game gives an indication as to which way to push the stick but for whatever reason I seemed to misinterpret this quite a bit. For instance sometimes the game wanted me to swing away from something or towards something but for whatever reason I seemed to do the opposite a lot. Another controls related problem I had was the camera. I found it very difficult to adjust it so see what I wanted often enough for it to be annoying. It did pick up my F310 and change the prompts for it which was good. The graphics were fairly well done with keeping it in context of a game released in 2013. Everything from the hair, clothing, environments, objects, etc were all either average or above average. The music was pretty well done, especially one scene which had Ellen Page singing a song on an acoustic guitar. The voice acting was great throughout. One thing I will say is that using Aiden's abilities was very inconsistent. Sometimes you could use him and others you couldn't with very little logical reason as to why. There were a good variety of things you could do with him but you were railroaded into which ability you could use at that moment. Why could I strange some guards but not others, possess some but not others, etc. Overall the great story trumped the poor controls for me. 8/10

Contains SPOILERs and possible TRIGGERs! I read this game was meant to be for non-gamers (what? why?), and without gratuitous bloodshed. True that many shooters have that, but this game's character traumatizes test participants, mind-controls her friends, and has the wonderful option of killing her own mother by telekinetically stopping her heart. Good times. Non-gamers will have spent their time on movies and series instead, and will find the plot so old, chewed through, and unoriginal, I wouldn't recommend it to any one of them. Nothing is new. Not the characters, not the powers, or the supernatural ideas. The protagonist is a woman (plus, normally) who is two heads shorter than any of the guys and has to be constantly saved while crying, A LOT; despite acing CIA training, she huffs and puffs going up a ladder. Also, seen in her underwear and showering a lot, is almost raped as a teenager, tries to commit suicide on several occasions, and the games forces a relationship with the cold guy who traps her into beocming a murderer and is of course much older. The other women in the plot are devices - the mom she longs for, the pregnant friend who gives birth and you get to help, aaaand that was it - with the only silver lining being the old Navajo lady who helps you with a spirit ritual. Then dies. I have never been confronted with controls this awful. They make you guess where to move the controller/mouse while holding: down to open this door, side for the next door, down again. Becasue of no saves, if you fail at any task you wanted to be good at, you have to play the entire chapter again. The super power is arbitrarily limited in range and ability, you can only control either the PC or the power BUT the game still offers a multiplayer option so two people can suffer through the gruelling controls. The only good thing I can say is that the delivery out of chronological order is interesting (in this case made it bearable) even if unlogical, and that the graphics are indeed pretty good.

3.5-4. Story was great. Controlling the characters were unfamiliar and a bit strange.

I enjoyed the story a lot. The focus on just one character allowed the athors to make the plot deeper ang more engaging. I remove one star due to unclear controls (sometimes), because the QTEs with the movement of the right stick do not explicitly indicate the required direction but instead suggested to be understood from the animation which is not always clear. This small issue with the controls is not significant though. The game must be played with a controller!

Oh David Cage games, they are essentially the Sword Art Online of narrative focused games. What do I mean by that? I mean that they are very love them or hate them. Now I wont be commenting on the politics that can get thrown into this game because of the main character's actor. You can come to your own conclusions and thoughts on that. I will be solely commenting on the game. So onto the Pros and Cons! Pros - - Graphics (Given that this was originally a PS3 game on PC it still looks fantastic) - Character Animations ( The movement of characters in story sequences and facial animations and lip sync is really good again given this is a 10 plus year old game now.) - Choice/Consequences (the story does diverage and branch depending on those choices.) - Sound ( Voice acting is fantastic, overall audio is good, decent soundtrack) - Story ( All I can really say while it takes a bit of turn into left field when everything is fully explained, the dynamic between Jodie and Aiden is easily the selling point as it relates to the story.) Cons- - Gameplay (QTE and David Cage about sums it all up.) - Story (Once full explained youll either love it or hate it again the typical David Cage trope, and the bouncing back and forth of how the story is presented can make the story feel even more confusing.) - Length (for the gameplay style its about 10 to 11 hours which can feel long and they could have shaved it down to probably 9) So overall I think strictly speaking Beyond: Two Souls as a narrative driven game is good IMO. So if you like the choice consequences, branching narrative styles games this should be right up your alley. If you hate QTE's or David Cage or both, this game will definitely not change your position at all.