So about two months ago I reviewed a pretty great game called Heavy Rain, and there was someone in the comments or it could have been in a chat I had with someone regarding the game, they recommended I get my hands on this game by the same developers. All I can say is "wow", what an unexpected great story this actually was, if any of you liked Heavy Rain, you're going to feel right at home here. For those of you not that familiar with these games, it is a completely different kind of play experience. The best way to explain it would probably be to say that's it's almost like being in control of a movie you are watching. This is basically a choose your own adventure video game, for those of you who can still remember those books.
The game takes you on a very different kind of emotional experience, and it's a little different than what you are probably used to. To give you an example, with a scary movie the emotion that you are expected to feel is fear, with this game at times it really taps into what the character is feeling. Which most of the time here is frustration, and how it slowly builds as you progress through to chapters. The lead is played by actress Ellen Page, who does a wonderful job at bringing depth and complexity to this troubled character.
Since the day she was born, Jodie has had a very strange psychic connection with a mysterious entity known only as Aiden. Jodie has the ability to communicate with Aiden and perform telepathic acts, such as possessing other people's minds and manipulating and moving certain objects. After an incident that happened with some of the neighborhood kids, which resulted in Aiden almost killing one of them. Jodie's foster parents have no alternative but to find someone who can help with her condition. They decide to then permanently leave her in the custody of doctors, Nathan Dawkins, who is played by Willem Dafoe, and Cole Freeman played by Kadeem Hardison. They are specialist doctors working for the United States Department of Paranormal Activity.
Jodie slowly learns to control Aiden and the powers they both share with the help of the two doctors. At the same time Nathan and Cole are in the process of building the "condenser", a sort of portal that connects the world of the living with the world of the dead. One night while Nathan is busy with Jodie, he learns that his wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. While trying to comfort him, Jodie then discovers that she can connect with those spirits who have passed into the Infraworld. She is able to help the spirits speak to the living through a psychic link created by her physical contact to a loved one. As Jodie starts getting older she wants to get away from both the doctors and Aiden who she feels are basically controlling her life. Each time she tires to get away, Aiden intervenes, always ending in disaster.
The game jumps between different stages of her life, from when she was a little girl and the traumatic experiences she had trying to control this entity that is part of her, then as a frustrated teen dealing with others her age and trying to fit in, then with Jodie as a young woman. There is also the option to play the game in chronological order, which is something I would like to try next, but I thought it best to go down the road the director wanted me to go, which I really enjoyed. This style of story telling really added to the character and in an almost subconscious way, it makes you feel schizophrenic and alienated, which is what Jodie is going through. Another aspect of the game I really enjoyed was the switching between difference genres, at times it would be a very human emotional drama and other times you go from all out action to a suspense situation.
One thing is pretty clear, the developers have come a long way since Heavy Rain, it is much more streamlined and they have gotten rid of the sometimes impossible button combinations for the quick time events. This is basically when you need to press certain buttons in moments of high tension to avoid something terrible happening, and is much more user friendly in this game. The overall interaction with the world has been fine tuned, which also expands what happens in the story, so be sure to pay attention to everything around you.
"I was born with a strange gift, the ability to see what know human being has ever seen before. It's all mixed up in my head. The images, the sound, the smell. I need to remember, put things in order right up to this moment. Remember who I am. If I had to say how it all began, I might just as well start here." - Jodie Holmes
I would probably have to say that this is far more of a story than it was a game, the choices you get to make feels more like they add layers and do not directly influence the outcome. Like when you are about to go on a date, you can choose what to wear, what to eat, but regardless of what you do it won't affect the outcome of the date.
Another thing that I'm not entirely sure was either good or bad, was the definite similarity between Jodie and the character of Eleven from Stranger Things, obviously this came first, but it almost felt like the same story at times. The combat could also have been much better, the controls where really impractical, and the only reason it worked was because of the whole Matrix style, time slowing down. All in all, Beyond: Two Souls is a pretty great story, where actual gameplay take more of a back seat. This would be a good game to recommend to someone who is not a veteran gamer, it's like watching a great series and then helping out from time to time.
The same folks who brought us the 2010 game Heavy Rain, which has very much the same style of gameplay as this, as well as the recently released Detroit: Become Human which I definitely will be review in the coming weeks. This game was published by Sony Computer Entertainment and released in October 2013. Unfortunately this is one of those PlayStation exclusive titles that was only available on PS3 and PS4. If you are lucky enough to have a PlayStation Plus subscription, then you were would have been able to download this as one of the monthly free games. Don't fret as this is a pretty old game and you'll most definitely be able to find for next to nothing with any one of your favorite online stores.
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