Beyond: Two Souls came out back in 2013 for the PlayStation 3, but I didn’t play till now thanks to the PlayStation Now BETA on PS4.
In the game you play as Jodie Holmes, who is portrayed by actress Ellen Page throughout the game, alongside separate soul linked to Jodie called Aiden.
I use the term game loosely, as this is directed by David Cage whom you might know is a fan of making interactive story based pieces, which he just uses games as the medium to do that.
With that the game is shown in 16:9 throughout and is very simple to play. In terms of gameplay, it is pretty much the left analogue stick moves Jodie and right stick lets you interact with objects and that’s it, apart from a few QTE’s or when you’re using a gun, you use R1 to shoot.
That’s it for controlling Jodie, but you can also control Aiden with a simple tap of button and he plays very much the same but in first person.
The main draw here is the story, which is very so-so; it plays out through various parts of Jodie’s life but not in a traditional chronological order but all over the place from a small child first finding out about Aiden to 17 EMO chick and back again. However, each time you learn more about the two souls.
You also learn why Jodie and Aiden are linked, thanks to the help of Doctor Nathan Dawkins portrayed by Willem Dafoe (I bet you can guess just by who plays him what happens) and joining the CIA. Yep, Jodie Holmes at 5 feet tall can join the CIA thanks to Aiden whom can do a lot of the dirty work for her, by taking control of people, distracting them by moving boxes, that sort of thing.
Whilst on this adventure you find out there is more going on than just working with the CIA, as where and why you have Aiden, but I’m not going to spoil that.
During the game you can make choices, such as kill this guy or have a lovely date with CIA Agent Ryan Clayton; which will make the story all your own.
The game looks great and all the performances are top-notch, but due to Miss Page looking like she’s about 17 since 2007 when she broke on the seen as Juno, but can be hard to tell the age of the character, unless she’s dressed very different, such as EMO which is younger, then slightly hipster Jodie or really young in the game, but I also see this a good thing for the motion capture of the game.
Is this game better than Heavy Rain is what you are probably thinking, and the answer is NO! That is still one of the best examples of interactive based games of this type.
However, I would still recommend picking it up (only £10 new on PS3) and playing it. Actually I think there is an even simpler way to play the game and that is you can just watch it instead.