If you had played Heavy Rain before, you probably would have high expectations for Beyond Two Souls, a game produced by the very same studio Quantic Dream. After being released in February 2010, Heavy Rain was well received and has sold over two million copies worldwide. This time round, however, we ask…..

Does Beyond Two Souls go beyond our expectations?

I played the game twice and referenced the experience against the one I felt when playing Heavy Rain three years back, and I have to say that the feeling was….disappointing.

 David Cage, the creative director and CEO of Quantic Dream listed storytelling, emotion and innovation for the studio’s goals. But just as too many cooks spoil the broth, there is too much ambition in the storytelling this time round. Playing Beyond Two Souls packs too many genres into the plot, from family drama, to espionage thriller, to horror, to action, to sci-fiction, to political conspiracy, to high school drama and everything in between. It leaves me feeling puzzled and confused in the plot line, which is made worse by the non-linear narrative (it is told in chapters in an non-chronological order). Told in the same way like the movie 500 Days of Summer, the story unfortunately tries to get you to cry before you even invested your soul (pun intended) into the game itself, leaving you muddied and confused. In contrast, Heavy Rain is very focused in developing its psychological crime thriller plot, which develops each character a lot deeper and has a greater hook to get the player drawn to the plot.

(Heavy Rain fans can imagine the tension from the father)

Another qualm that struck me was the lack of moral ambiguity and consequence behind various actions, conversation choices and decisions the player face in various points of the story, which felt to me as a wasted opportunity. For example, telling the truth or a lie in a conversation does not create a butterfly effect on the story’s plot, neither does having revenge on mean bullies have any impact in the main character’s future. Unlike Heavy Rain, Beyond suffers from a lack of critical plot deviations arising from significant moments. The story just continues bull-dozing its way through in its own fashion, giving the experimental player (especially one who is curious enough to replay) a feeling that he just got cheated.

(Should I tell the truth? Nah, it doesn’t matter in the end)

(Just eat whatever you like…)

Beyond’s saving grace and trump card, has to be the main character Jodie Holmes, the powerful yet tragic protaganist in the story. The character is rendered based on; and voice-acted by actress Ellen Page (who acted in “Juno” and “Hard Candy” in Hollywood movies). The remarkable likeness, coupled with excellent facial detail and raw emotions, allows you to connect with the character on a personal level. You would feel her struggles, her insecurities and her frustrations in life as you play out her life story; from a little girl, to a rebellious teenager, to a mature woman. In certain chapters where the plot connects on a human level, such as being part of a homeless group in a bitter winter, Ellen Page always seizes the opportunity to make Jodie a likeable, genuine yet misunderstood character. You see, Jodie Holmes is a girl with a unique gift. Since young, she is linked to a separate spectral entity called Aiden, which constantly watches over her and does her bidding sometimes. Think of having Casper the friendly ghost on steroids, but being friendly and loyal only to you, and you get a rough sense what that power entails. However, the power comes at a cost to her as well, as people around her gets freaked out by the poltergeist activity happening around her and distanced themselves away from her, making her isolated and feared.

 (Capturing the markers on the face)

Other characters get overshadowed by Jodie, mostly due to the confusing plot, and partly due to lack of screen time. Nonetheless, character Nathan Dawkins, rendered based on; and voice-acted by actor Willem Dafoe (who acted as Norman Osborne/Green Goblin in Spiderman) also gave notable performances as a guardian to Jodie after her foster parents left her in his paranormal research lab. His role as Jodie’s guardian gets torn with his motivations as a paranormal researcher, and sometimes it leaves the tantalizing feeling of questioning his motives in certain plot points (which would get unveiled towards the end of the plot).

(You probably remember him more as Norman Osbourne below)

Gameplay-wise, Quantic Dream has steamlined the contextual interactions with the in-game world with an intuitive swipe using the right analog stick, as opposed by the more challenging quick time events and button combinations in Heavy Rain. The challenge by Heavy Rain gives a greater sense of urgency in certain scenes, whereas in Beyond, one can slowly take your time to do certain tasks or respond to a conversation. The buttons to be pressed are lesser, and there are lesser play on the quaking and spiraling of visual choices during moments of distress. In moments of combat, the action is again a simple swipe using the right analog stick, and even if you suck at it, the outcome will be the same regardless. Jodie wouldn’t die and end the game early for you; instead she will get knocked about or at worst, Aiden will just heal her. This gives an easier time for beginner gamers, but leaves a slightly unsatisfactory feeling of being far too passive for a hardcore player.

Beyond brings to the table the interesting prospect of controlling Aiden, the spirit linked to Jodie, but it sadly feels that the potential is left squandered in that area. There are very few moments where the player is left to solve a puzzle using Aiden on his/her own, as Jodie would always give a command “Help me Aiden”, “Go for it Aiden” and so forth. Controlling Aiden opens up a lot more possibilities than Jodie wouldn’t have, as it could blast objects/people, possess people, interfere with electronic gadgets, choke people and so forth. Instead of letting the player utilize Aiden freely in creative ways to get around a situation, the game sadly hand-holds for you by colour-coding enemies or objects to only allow a specific action to be performed on them. Switching to Aiden is also tightly controlled, since Aiden is a “stubborn spirit”. The overly-simplistic gameplay and the obvious hand-holding bury the potential where the game could have truly shined in time-limited puzzle-like scenarios or puzzle-solving co-op modes. The game makes it clear that it is obviously not a Deus-Ex scenario it is working at. Nonetheless, there are certain scenes where I had a fair bit of fun playing as Aiden, especially against groups of enemies that get spooked out when items (read: dangerous objects) are flung at them.

(I’m going to strangle this guy as Aiden…)

In conclusion, being an avid hardcore (I would describe myself as hardcore) gamer, Beyond Two Souls seems to me like a super draggy movie that masquerades itself as a video game with minimal player inputs to fool you into it. The gameplay and combat is bland and non-engaging, masked by a confusing plotline that manages to collect itself together towards the end. The superb acting, along with certain tear-jerking “Awwww” moments, are probably the few reasons why I would ever buy this game (I borrowed it). It is not a bad game, but it leaves you not feeling too wowed by it either.