Review of Beyond: Two Souls

In line with previous releases by Quantic Dream, Beyond: Two Souls is an attempt to create an interactive drama as much as a video game. The gameplay style was very much in the same vein as Heavy Rain although the controls were slightly refined with most button pressing sequences being more simplified, as well as the removal of on-screen prompts during fighting sequences. During the combat elements the player must move the action stick to attack the enemy or dodge their attacks which sounds fine in theory but with the camera moving around a lot this was more difficult than it should have been due to the changing perspective on the action. It was also disappointing that moving the characters around was still as difficult as it had been in Heavy Rain, this being one of the weakest aspects of both games.

Where the game really shines is in the graphical presentation. Every scene has a sense of realism to it and the characters are superbly animated and believable with only a few instances of uncanny valley moments. Environmental effects such as snowstorms and rainfall are highly accomplished. The sound design was also extremely good with appropriate effects being used throughout the game. The soundtrack was also fine although for my money it was less memorable than the score for Heavy Rain.

The story was derived from various influences including Stephen King novels, the X Files, Black Hawk Down and movies of the James Bond series as well as several James Cameron productions. I found it to be compelling although the non-linear structure took some getting used to and it did jump around within the timeline more than was really necessary. The cast were mostly excellent, Ellen Page is superb and brought out the emotional aspects of the story very well. She was ably supported by Willem Dafoe, although his role was much smaller so he only appeared in a few scenes. None of the voice acting was ever bad, but some of it was a little uninspired at times. The script was mostly good with the proviso that some of the dialogue could have done with a little polish, especially in the final scenes.

Overall I found this game to be highly entertaining with only minor defects which weren't significant enough to really spoil the experience. It is definitely worth a look if you enjoyed Heavy Rain or are looking for something a bit different to the norm.

9/10