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Beyond: Two Souls - Review Thread

DukeBobby

Member
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Reviews are live:

Metacritic

73/100

Reviews

EDGE - 5/10

The studio’s commendable dream – of a marriage of mechanics and storytelling that takes videogames to new emotional heights – remains out of reach, and the rivers of photorealistic tears aren’t quite enough to make up for it.

Giant Bomb - 3/5

All I can say is that in spite of its sometimes dopey script, its slavish dedication to control mechanics that don't always quite fit, and its unrelenting desire to stuff in as many obvious blockbuster movie references and cliches as a single game can hold, I enjoyed the experience of playing Beyond: Two Souls. It certainly won't change the minds of anyone not interested in Cage's particular brand of game, but for my money, I think Cage at his best still earns your attention by sheer virtue of what he aims for, and sometimes even manages to capture, if only for fleeting moments and sequences.

Gamespot - 9.0

Beyond: Two Souls is a gripping adventure that doesn't get lost in its supernatural setup. It's Jodie's transformation from scared child to confident adult that's so mesmerizing, and you grow to care for her as you become invested in her plight. The story's biggest failing comes in how it handles dramatic sequences. Heavy-handed music often lays the emotion on too thick, which is a shame because the outstanding acting performances are more than able to invest you in the experience. Top-notch acting makes the characters you interact with sound believable, and their faces are expressive enough that you understand their thoughts even when they remain silent. Beyond: Two Souls so easily melds story and mechanics that you become enamored with this young woman and her extraordinary life.

Polygon - 8.0

With Beyond: Two Souls, Quantic Dream has smoothed away nearly all the rough edges in how it presents its stories. The other edge of that sword is that it lays the stories themselves bare to be judged entirely on their own. With so many of the traditional elements of gameplay stripped away, like challenge and exploration, a tremendous amount of weight is put on Beyond's story to carry the day. While it's exhilarating to see a team that has worked so hard to perfect a new way of telling stories, I couldn't help wishing they had a perfect one to tell.

IGN - 6.0

Scene by scene, Beyond: Two Souls is compelling enough, principally thanks to a remarkable performance from Ellen Page. But never before have I felt like such a passive participant in a video game, my choices and actions merely icing on a dense, multi-layered cake. Playing Beyond is a memorable experience, yes, but a good video game it is not; and while the credits were rolling I admit to thinking I would have been happier to sit back and watch a movie version that was eight-and-a-half hours shorter.

Eurogamer - 6/10

But the film stars, the motion capture tech, the black borders, all that expensive striving to look just like a movie, don't make it any more valid either. Perhaps what David Cage and his dream need are limitations - limitations that Sony's blank cheque has singularly failed to impose on this sprawling, over-reaching game.

Destructoid - 5/10

For all the complaints that can be leveled at Beyond -- and they can be leveled in feckless abundance -- the overwhelming problem with it is that it's just plain boring. Like a sociopath, Beyond: Two Souls knows how to act like it has a heart, while providing nothing of the emotional depth required to connect with an audience. Its characters can smile, and cry, and tell us they're feeling all of these feelings, but their paper-thin presentation and the frequent narrative dead ends prevent any of their pantomime from becoming too convincing.

And that's all Beyond: Two Souls is -- a pantomime. A childish play at being a meaningful journey, a vapid illusion of passion and poignancy. Nothing but a pantomime.

A perishingly dull pantomime.

Digital Chumps - 7.0

Beyond: Two Souls' ideas are occasionally inept, sometimes brilliant, and often an unstable in-between overloaded with emotional ephemera, predatory clichés, and unconscious behavior. At the same time, Beyond exhibits a willingness to generate an impassioned response from the player, and it sees that missions through to its conclusion. Beyond doesn't reach its declared level of sophistication, but its confidence and occasional effectiveness render it a fascinating piece of work through any lens.

Next-Gen Gaming Blog - 9/10

Beyond: Two Souls is another stunning example of the types of risks Sony is taking right now. Quantic Dream have taken everything Heavy Rain put on the table and refined it to perfection, creating a deep and engrossing narrative that twists and turns its way to a satisfying conclusion. A truly engaging experience from start to finish, Beyond: Two Souls is a superb title, and yet again, Quantic Dream are at the forefront of pushing the boundaries of interactive entertainment.

IRB Gamer - 4.5/5

This is another one of those games that shows its next-gen readiness way before systems launch. Quantic Dream’s games will look absolutely phenomenal with next-gen graphics as their quality speaks for themselves. And while Beyond has a few quirky changes in controls, the story is superior and very well worth partaking in the experience.

Pelit (Finland) - 68/100 (No link)

Beyond: Two Souls is a seriously flawed experiment in interactive storytelling. Is there a game to be found? This reviewer is still looking.

NY Times (No score)

Beyond: Two Souls is a misstep for Mr. Cage and Quantic Dream, but its failings are not the result of the limitations of Mr. Cage’s preferred medium. That it is interesting at all hinges on its interactive nature. It would be one of the worst movies you’ve ever seen, even though Ms. Page and Mr. Dafoe give fine performances.

There’s still something mesmerizing about what Mr. Cage is trying to achieve, even if the gumbo endemic to his work is seasoned with too much awful and not enough wonderful this time around. I can’t help but look forward to playing whatever he makes next.

High-Def Digest - 4.5/5

Despite losing interest in some of Jodie's experiences and often times wishing for more freedom with both Jodie and Aiden, I was transfixed by the game's committed narrative. Not only do I want to pry out some of the variations in play that I may have missed thus far, but my fascination with the game as a whole has only grown since finishing my review playthrough. It's possible that the game's similarity to adventure games and Cage's obsession with being similar to films make for an acquired taste, but the level of production lead character depth, and overall product found in 'Beyond: Two Souls' are well worth the price of admission.

Official Playstation Magazine UK - 8/10

Beyond’s a huge technical step forward for interactive drama, but seems less resolute than Heavy Rain not to stray back into familiar game territory. Commit to it like its actors do to the eccentric plot, though, and the rewards are gigantic – Holmes is where the heart is. Another essential purchase for interactive-drama disciples featuring a knockout turn by Page, but one that spreads itself thin telling its story through so many genres.

Game Informer - 7.75

Fascinating and frustrating, this game doesn’t always play to Quantic Dream’s strengths. Still, it holds many genuinely affecting moments

Metro - 4/10

In terms of graphics and actors’ performances there’s almost nothing to touch Beyond, but in terms of an enjoyable game, or even just an interactive story, it barely even approaches B-movie leve

Videogamer - 4/10

It's a shame, because Beyond is by far one of the most interesting games to be made this generation. And, when it gets it right, it has promise, such as when Jodie is forced to live in a homeless community. There, where I found my desire to keep Aiden under wraps yet also wanted to help my new buddies survive the winter, a tension was created that's not found elsewhere. I was making an actual choice, and it was being reflected in-game.

The problem is the rest of the experience, what with its mechanical deficiencies, terrible dialogue, obvious twists and ending that betrays pretty much every choice I made. Stories like this can be told in video games. They just need better storytellers.

Gametrailers - 7.2 - (Video review)

For a work that prides itself on its story and your role in it, Beyond: Two Souls can’t help but make you feel a bit inconsequential in the ultimate scheme. The looks, the action, the acting, will have you see Jodie and Aiden through to the end, but not without shaking your head at what feels like a missed opportunity, bandaged by ghostly pranks and callbacks to more established games and movie staples.

Machinima - 8/10

Diversity is also the how the gameplay excels, from combat to exploration to controlling Aiden. While we could have done without the non-linear storytelling, it wasn’t hard to keep tabs on the scattered episodes of Jodie’s life. Beyond: Two Souls is certainly an overall advancement on the mechanics of Heavy Rain, just don’t expect it to be David Cage’s magnum opus… that’s still to come.

Kotaku - Yes

This flawed, interesting game’s greatest paradox may well be that it can succeed at things few big-budget video games have attempted, while failing so consistently at things less ambitious games accomplish regularly. If David Cage would simply put aside his fascination with the spangly charms of Hollywood and embrace the smaller, more intimate possibilities of interactive fiction, he might finally seize the masterpiece he’s been chasing all these years. Until then, we have Beyond: Two Souls: Quiet, compassionate and smart, when it isn’t busy being loud, brash and dumb

Rev3Games - 5/5 (Video review)

Jeuxvideo - 16/20 (French)
 

DaBuddaDa

Member
NYTimes (no score)

Beyond: Two Souls is a misstep for Mr. Cage and Quantic Dream, but its failings are not the result of the limitations of Mr. Cage’s preferred medium. That it is interesting at all hinges on its interactive nature. It would be one of the worst movies you’ve ever seen, even though Ms. Page and Mr. Dafoe give fine performances.

There’s still something mesmerizing about what Mr. Cage is trying to achieve, even if the gumbo endemic to his work is seasoned with too much awful and not enough wonderful this time around. I can’t help but look forward to playing whatever he makes next.
 

inm8num2

Member
http://games.highdefdigest.com/159/beyond_two_souls

4.5/5

Despite losing interest in some of Jodie's experiences and often times wishing for more freedom with both Jodie and Aiden, I was transfixed by the game's committed narrative. Not only do I want to pry out some of the variations in play that I may have missed thus far, but my fascination with the game as a whole has only grown since finishing my review playthrough. It's possible that the game's similarity to adventure games and Cage's obsession with being similar to films make for an acquired taste, but the level of production lead character depth, and overall product found in 'Beyond: Two Souls' are well worth the price of admission.
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
Yup. Expecting this game to be an extremely mixed bag that people both praise too highly and criticize too harshly.

probably...
as for Heavy rain: I didn't like it at all, while a colleague of mine loved it. and I think that we were both right :p
 

Derrick01

Banned
Seems like Cage's awful writing is going to ruin yet another game. I'll wait for more reviews but I'm feeling better and better about holding off on this.
 
Yup. Expecting this game to be an extremely mixed bag that people both praise too highly and criticize too harshly.

You combine the controversial nature of Quantic Dream's games and philosophy with the critical and commercial success of surprise hit Heavy Rain, and you're going to have a very dramatic review thread in store. There will be too many emotions even for David Cage to handle.
 

Foshy

Member
I really don't give a shit about reviews this time around, liked the demo and pre-ordered it. Don't care if it's not "a game", I'll take whatever it is.
 

Heyt

Banned
You combine the controversial nature of Quantic Dream's games and philosophy with the critical and commercial success of surprise hit Heavy Rain, and you're going to have a very dramatic review thread in store. There will be too many emotions even for David Cage to handle.

Shots fired.
 
Seems like Cage's awful writing is going to ruin yet another game. I'll wait for more reviews but I'm feeling better and better about holding off on this.
It's pretty good. Most reviewers seem to lament that it would be awful as a movie, which is good since it is a game. The structure is completely different and can only be done in a game. The game focuses much on character scenes and not so much on a traditional plot. Reviewers seem to dislike that.
 

Jackpot

Banned
That NYTimes writer really seems to know gaming (not sarcasm).

David Cage, the writer and director of Beyond: Two Souls, a thriller released on Tuesday for the PlayStation 3, starring Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe, is among the most divisive figures in video games. That’s partly because of his outlandish pronouncements about the future of the medium, like when he said last month during a lecture to the British Academy of Film and Television that developing an algorithmic Martin Scorsese — artificially intelligent software that imitated Mr. Scorsese’s camera style and recreated it on demand — would be an interesting way to improve video game storytelling.

It’s partly because of Mr. Cage’s backward-looking emphasis on borrowing techniques from cinema to try to tell better stories in video games. And it’s also because Mr. Cage, who is the founder of the French studio Quantic Dream, seems to think that his games are the only ones about something other than killing.

But mostly he’s divisive because his games are a weird mixture of wonderful and awful. More precisely, they’re weird in their wonderfulness and in their awfulness. How you feel about Mr. Cage and his work depends largely on which weirdness you think is dominant.
 
Can't bring myself to do it.

Not yet anyway. I liked the flexibility of the story and the outcome in Heavy Rain but I could never bring myself to play it all the way through again.

The only gameplay I've seen so far is switching to Aiden to push things around or out of the way to clear the path to the next cutscene.
 
From what I've played of the game, not finished yet, it feels like two steps forward and one step back. Especially with the way the character interacts with the environment, which is now just boiled down just pointing the right stick in one direction once, as if it was a button.

I really miss the "do the motion your character does" that Heavy Rain pulled off amazingly well for me. And I feel that in the hunt for making you actually look at the game and not the buttons during QTE's, they lost a lot in the combat sequences.
 
Can't bring myself to do it.

Not yet anyway. I liked the flexibility of the story and the outcome in Heavy Rain but I could never bring myself to play it all the way through again.

The only gameplay I've seen so far is switching to Aiden to push things around or out of the way to clear the path to the next cutscene.
You haven't seen much then.
 

kazebyaka

Banned
I expect final metacritic at around 75-80. It's a good game, but looks like many will hate it for a bad story,characters and writing. Basically everything but graphics.
 
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