Beyond Two Souls Dissapointing?

It’s hard to review this since it’s more of a movie than a video game…consisting of more cutscenes and story than any other game I've ever played before...most of the time you are looking for a little white dot so you can pull the joysticks and move on to the next story point. As a gaming experience it's one of the worst I've had, but as a storyline it's a 10 out of 10! I played it simply because Ellen Page (who I had a crush on but made me sad when she came out as a lesbian this month) and Willem Defoe make such a great plot work well, just kind of wish this was a movie and that the sequences were not back and forth in Jodie's (Page's character) script. Overall, well worth playing if only for the top notch storytelling.

I love the visuals and the story. When I played this game, I never felt like I was not in control of the character. It was everything I expected and better than Heavy rain (which I loved also).

But of course not everyone is going to like it. Especially quick time event games, a lot of people hate them.

@phantasm:

"It's hard to review this since it's more of a movie than a video game, consisting of more cutscenes and story than any other game I've ever played before"

Have you ever played Metal Gear Solid 4? I think it has roughly 10 hours of cutscenes from memory, and roughly a few hours of gameplay. Beyond: Two Souls has nothing on that in terms of how long you go without actually touching the controller, that game literally has huge bits to it that more resemble a film than anything in this game.

Anyway, I agree, the story was excellent. I definitely don't wish it was a movie instead though! The over-arching story was well suited to something you'd see in a film and not in a game but the beauty of it being a game is that a lot of us would have had different feelings to certain events, and likely responded to choices differently as a result, specifically the...

*SPOILER*

...birthday party scene. I just let the other kids walk all over me.

Overall, I played through the entire game pretty passively, but it felt right to me. I love that if I'm having a bad day though and I go back through it again ( just like 'Heavy Rain') it could be an entirely different experience and I could vent some frustration by going 'Carrie' on everyone to see what it feels like plus see what I missed the first time around. That interaction with the narrative is always a nice option to have. I'm yet to see a film that can give you such a bi-polar change in emotions towards it from one viewing to the next, perhaps something like 'Fight Club', 'A Beautiful Mind' or 'Memento' where the entire context is different on a second viewing...I don't know? I'm glad it was a game though!

Yeah I really enjoyed it too (as I did Heavy Rain). But it's not for everyone obviously.

I never got to see it when it was theaters sadly. I'll check it out when it comes to blu-ray, hoping for a special feature where David Cage rants about video games not being innovative.

Beyond Two Souls was a great game with a really well done story. It may have had one of the best stories that I had played through in a video game, and I have played alot of them. It also seems to be the best looking game on the PS3.

I started replaying it a few weeks ago and I totally forgot I wasn't playing my ps4. Looks like it could be a next gen game.

I didn't like it as much as heavy rain, but it was still really good. david cage has a really bad habit with letting his stories go a little too crazy towards the end tho

Yes, its not for everybody, but its good to see the interactive story genre growing. Mystery-Puzzle games need more play in the gaming world. All the FPS out there are so same old cookie cutter. At least Beyond was something different from the norm. The director of Heavy Rain & Beyond does seem a little creepy and should make more games with female protags.

I love these types of games QTEs or not. I hope this generation brings more of them.

Not dissapointing really if you know what you're getting into with the kind of game that it is. I did like Heavy Rain better because characters could actually be killed, and I was interested in it's thriller like murder movie script more than Beyond's paranormal activity premise. I do like Beyond though. Graphically I think it's probably the best the PS3 has to offer next to God of War Ascension and Last of Us.

Read you only play for the girl and her dead brother, not like in Heavy Rain, where you play for 4 different character including the villain??

I actually really enjoyed it, they captured ellen page wonderfully well. The QTEs are actually interesting because you match your actions with the movements. Rather than just pressing random buttons to create an action. It's not consistently good though, some sequences are weak either coz they are too short or because they feature lame gameplay elements that missed their intended target (cia training). But I found the story really interesting and consistent with its themes. The sub stories were diverse and I never felt bored. I would rate beyond and heavy rain about the same, imo heavy rain is slightly overrated and beyond is underrated.

Gamers who brought the wrong expectations to Beyond TS are the ones that had trouble enjoying the game. There are a ton of unhappy, control-freak gamers out there who, if they don't have complete control of everything in a game, just can't seem to enjoy a piece of entertainment for what it is and are always bemoaning what they think it should have been.

Personally, I enjoyed the game as its highs were stronger than its lows . . .

It looks interesting, but i really doubt that i am going to pay a lot for it. If i am going to play it, it's going to be for the story

I will get it around 19.99. Tbh I'd rather play Heavy Rain again but do crazy things to get different endings and scenes lol

Same here or on a sale

Yeah mos def. I rented Heavy Rain and I did enjoy it a lot, but for the price it is now I would love to own it and replay it constantly. Back then when it was 59.99, nooooo lol.

I thought it was worse than Heavy Rain aside from Ellen Page's acting. I miss the more elaborate controls, and greatly preferred the story told from 3 different perspectives in a desperate race to save that boy. Just my take on it. I thought Beyond was below average... but Ellen Page was great. Hated the ending though.

I enjoyed the game, just wish the QTEs were more like Heavy Rain. The random slow motion thing was a bit weird.

@donalbane:

Yeah, agree with you there. The ending did fall flat, a big build up to something a bit meh.

In truth, I spent the entirety of Beyond Two Souls wishing I was playing Heavy Rain again. I was really disappointed with it and in particular didn't like how the narrative was all jumbled up.

Have you played the game they had on PS2, heard that was a really good game as well. Coolyfett wishes Playstation would put it on the PSN store.

indigo prophecy... :)

It pained me to finish the game whilst the game did look nice TLOU graphics and acting were miles better. I just didn't like the constant switching of times in her life and the fact you couldn't die or fail thats mostly what a videogame is about.

@ chocolate1325

Well to be Fair.... Beyond is definately not a Video Game in the traditional sense. Its a Story, and you can't faill in a story, nor is a story challenging to experience. If you could fail, Imagine doing that burning building QTE sequence 6 times to get it right. It would make it a better video game but a worse story. If you're a total gamer then Quantic's Dreams are not for you.

I bought Heavy Rain, never beat it and gave it to my nephew... graphics are one thing but don't make a great game. I hate the button sequence nonsense, it's bad enough in mini games but to build and entire game around that concept is beyond stupid, pun intended. I'll probably never play this game.