Beyond: Two Souls

con

It is too bad that the things that separate Beyond from Heavy Rain are the things that work the least. There are probably a lot of people who want a more action oriented and interactive experience with these type of games, and while they do get it in Beyond, the controls in these situations are incredibly sluggish and uncomfortable. It just doesn't work as intended and becomes the least enjoyable feature of the game.

con

Another new feature is the contextual quick time event. It's an action prompted by the game going into slow motion, and you having to move the right stick in the appropriate direction. The problem is that it isn't always clear or obvious in which direction to push the stick. Some scenarios are more unclear than others and this becomes frustrating.

con

Cage's stance against fail states doesn't always work in Beyond. Not only is it harder - sometimes impossible - to fail a scene, but the game will artificially push you if you try to "break it". You will at times get pushed in different directions, but the end result will be the same. This is not the rule of thumb for the game, but it's pretty jarring when it happens.

pro

The story of Jodie Holmes and her invisible companion Aiden is an interesting one, even gripping at times. It is not told in a chronological manner, but in smaller chunks of self-contained story bits spread across a timeline. For some players the events will seem too random and too unrelated to each other, but it all comes together in the last quarter of the game, so keep at it. Cliches are unavoidable and it does take quite a few trips through uncanny valley, but it always manages to stay above the line of what's acceptable. The end result is a solid and strong story.

pro

It really looks the part. There's even a few spots in the game I'm sure will give the first slew of next-gen games a run for their money. The main focus of detail is on the characters of course, so you will at times see a dip in quality of your surroundings, but for most part the game looks absolutely stellar.

pro

The choice to use professional actors for its main characters boosts the quality of the performances quite a bit compared to Heavy Rain. The performances are pretty solid throughout the game, and this goes for pretty much the whole cast. The game is accompanied by a great soundtrack composed by Lorne Bafle and Hans Zimmer, so you know you're in for a treat.

pro

As with Cage's earlier work, Beyond has its twists and turns which adds a lot of replay value to the game. There are multiple endings and characters can die. The consequences are usually not as heavy hitting as in Heavy Rain, but there is a lot of variation and options in how you go about achieving the end goal of a chapter.

pro

The two-player mode - made possible by a second controller or an app you can get on iOS/Android - is fine, but really just a novelty. In duo-mode one player controls Jodie while the other controls Aiden, but you still have to switch between them. Playing it with the app makes you look down at the device to see where you should interact, compared to a controller where you know where the buttons are. It's a neat mode if you really want to play the game with someone else, but ultimately pointless given the way it works.