Beyond Two Souls Review

Beyond Two Souls:

Information:

Developers: Quantic Dream

Publishers: Sony

Platforms: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4

Alternate Recommendations: Heavy Rain, The Walking Dead.
Type: Stand-Alone
Modes: Single Player
Genres/Perspective/Flow: Interactive Drama, Action-Adventure, Quick Time Events, Point and Click.
Rating: "ESRB: RP", "PEGI - 16"
Release Dates:
PlayStation 3
NA: 8/10/13
EU: 9/10/13
AUS:  11/10/13
JP: 17/10/13
PlayStation 4
WW: 24/11/15
Series: None
Average Completion Time: 11 - 12 Hours
Trophies/Achievements: 46 in total
Other Editions: Special Edition
Additional: Review done in Playstation 3 version.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Synopsis:
Beyond: Two Souls is a single-player Adventure game that utilizes a combination of a superior storytelling and gameplay mechanics, and cutting edge motion capture techniques to present a stunning adventure that is not to be missed. The game is a PlayStation 3 exclusive and features an in-game timeline set across several years of the player character's life and experiences, several possible endings and outcomes, a unique and powerful in-game companion, and in-game contributions by top Hollywood talent. (Source: howlongtobeat.com)

Review:

To start of the review the Story of Beyond Two Souls follows Jodie Holmes as she struggled with her life while being haunted by the entity Aiden taking place across all portions of her life from early childhood, teenage years to adulthood while allowing you, the player to decide how the events of these periods in her life play out and will affect the overall end of game that will result in a player getting one of twenty different endings. The story will tuck at your head strings as you watch Jodie go through traumatic, scary, sad and happy experiences over the course of the 10 hour long campaign while deciding how she deals will each of them such as big plot points like does she start a romantic relationship with this guy, or does save certain characters from smaller options like choosing how to present yourself during a date to choosing want music should be played at a party; these decisions will all affect the story further on and make it a fun interactive experience you will play over and over trying different options in the game to get different endings.

Characters in game are great and lovable from the good to the bad and even the ugly are masterfully done to fit in with the narrative and are fun to interact with no matter how small their role in is the plot they will affect Jodie's life from the bullying teenage part goers to Jodie's abusive parents all feel alive and have real depth rather than seeing a bunch of polygons moving on screen.

The gameplay can be broken down into two core elements the first being when you the player are Jodie which works similar to Heavy Rain's gameplay which plays from a third person perspective and you can explore game environments and use the right analog to interact with different things with that environment such as opening doors to more smaller things like choosing clothes to sitting down but unlike Heavy Rain's it doesn't tell you the direction which can lead player to randomly moving the stick in all directions until you find the correct one which can be rather tedious. Another mechanic similar to this one is the combat mechanics which by the way if you like heavy action games I don't recommend this to you but back on track the combat is similar to the interactions mechanics I mentioned earlier as you use the right stick to fight against enemies which your supposed to move in collaboration with Jodie's body which sound easy but it’s not as it can be difficult to tell at times and will lead to doing the wrong actions which becomes rather frustrating later on.

The next core gameplay is Aiden which the player can control in game who is an entity who is always round Jodie who helps her do thinks such open doors and interact with objects in the environment but don't be fooled as Aiden just isn't just a help tool he has his own personality and can go against Jodie's wishes as you see hid from ruining dates to sometimes attacking Jodie herself.

The graphics in game are simply amazing and it's hard to tell at first what is cut scene and what is gameplay as they use the same graphics as each other which simply pushers the limits of what the PS3 can do looking better than some next-gen games of today (Currently 2014 as I write this) and forever stand as I pinnacle in what games can accomplish from breath taking realistic character models looking just like their voice actors to amazing environments that vary from deserted labs, modern houses to big wide open deserts all look amazing and are simply art in themselves.

The OST is amazing making all known scenes in game feel great and worthy of praise with breath taking emotionally orchestra music directed by world famous Hans Zimmer making all scenes in game feel alive and refreshing where ever the player is. On that note the voice actors also deserve worthy praise after being strapped into motion suits they give a heart-warming performance whether they be great voice actors to world famous actors like Ellen Page who plays Jodie wonderfully from her teenage years to her adult life no matter the scene she is in as well William Dafoe who also does a wonderful role as Nathan Dawkins really making the characters feel alive.

Final Verdict:

Story & Characters: 9.0

Gameplay: 8.5

Visuals: 10

Sound: 8.7

Final Score: 9.1/10 (Excellent)