Thursday 25 December 2014

First Reaction Last Christmas

Sunday 2 November 2014

ISWT Review: Bayonetta 2



Oh boy. Last time I Reviewed Bayonetta I said I thought it was mediocre. Good combat and shit story. I'm going to be frank the second game is exactly that but I'll go into more detail and why I'm still not entirely sure how to feel about this game.

Also I'm going all in on SPOILERS so you have been warned.

Let me clear one thing up though I do think I was a touch too hard on the first game. While I still do think the story for the most part made no sense namely that stupid time travel child version of herself but to be fair she was one of the few characters I liked in that game with Bayonetta herself being the only other one I really liked. But in honesty It's a great game it's fun and it's ridiculous and that's what they wanted to achieve so I should have given it more of a positive slide to it. Still the combat was nothing THAT special and yeah the story sucked hard so I mostly stand by what I said.

Now I'm going to say this now. That sticker in the top right corner that says "comes with bayonetta one" Helps a lot for this game. Cause even though it's just a port, Effort is still effort and less then 35 dollars for bayonetta 1 or 2 IS a good deal as well. 

Now let's actually get down to business here. How is the story and the character? Well the exact same really. Bayonetta and now her father balder are the only two character who are really decent. with the new character Loki and Enzo being Godawful and his part in the plot being so predictable it still hurts me from how far away you see it coming, and Luka and Jeanne breaking even and being decent. The plot itself involves bayonetta rescuing Jeanne's soul from hell after one of her summons goes awol. I will admit the beginning is pretty good sans enzo being absolutely unbearable. 

She goes to the mountain Fimbulventr (It's Norse I'm sure) meets a kid with mysterious powers over memory and cards named Loki. He tries to be Luka but fails miserably kind of like Luka trying to be cool but most of the time fails (though still not terrible just not very interesting and does have a few moments) He is intolerably annoying and I'm going to be frank when you meet a child with mysterious powers and then learn of a god named Aesir who disappeared; What do you think is going to happen? If you said the kid is actually Aesir NO FUCKING SHIT! Hell I knew even before since I know the word Aesir is from Norse Mythology as is Loki. Now granted they do introduce a second half of Aesir named Loptr who ends up being the one who killed bayonetta's mother and the one who possessed Balder in the first game. I will say that Balder being possessed here and sent back in time is kind of neat and makes the two games form a kind of loop in time which is honestly one of the neater aspects of the game that it's both a sequel and a prequel at the same time.

Now while the gameplay is one of the better aspects being basically the same as the first game with a few minor changes as well as some powers available from the start one problem I have is the bosses. The bosses in the first game hunt your ass down for a few chapters before you ever fight them which is something I like in this game they really don't and because of that they are very unmemorable in comparison. Hell even the refights of the bosses from the first game are less memorable since they're part of a clusterfuck part of the game and because of how angels are designed it's hard at first to tell that they even are the first games bosses.

Not only that but There are two fights in this game that you fight repeatedly. The Lumen sage who is so obviously Balder I have no idea why they tried to hide it and make it seem like it's a twist who you fight three times and they are the EXACT. SAME. FIGHT! I mean one or two minor changes but I really never noticed anything huge in difference between them. Then there is the fights with Loptr or as I call him....

Metapod jesus Crossed with the Bald guy from The Dungeons and Dragons movie.

You fight this guy or a version of this guy which is more or less the same fight 4 times! INCLUDING the final boss!! and worse yet both fights; The lumen sage and metapod jesus have the same strategy. Dodge then attack. Seven boss fights in this game are uncomfortably similar.

I'm going to be honest that's not the only thing that's eerily similar. There was a boss in the first game named Golem a neat idea of an orb that controls metal pieces and transforms during the fight. When you beat it bayonetta summons a pair of hands and plays volleyball with it in comical fashion. The boss fight not only happens in the second game but the defeat animation happens in both games the EXACT SAME WAY!! That drove me berserk but even worse they recycle the final boss gets shot into the sun bit where you dodge planets except in 2 it's dodging rocks and moving the boss into an open dragon mouth which is both kind of uncreative and a massive anti climax.

Generally speaking The biggest problem with this game isn't the gameplay or soundtrack or anything it's the rather massive reuse of assets in a game that has been in development for years and the first game came out in japan a little over 5 years ago. Even if not in development for that whole time if you made the game SOMETHING new would have to pop in your head and especially since this game had to be resurrected by nintendo since the first game didn't sell that well. You would think that if you were given a second chance to make a franchise you would go all out not just reuse assets and show why the franchise was on the edge in the first place!

And while I'm ranting what the fuck was up with summoning Jeubelius at the end of the game as one of her summons?! I know she had help from Balder but Jeubelius is dead! When she died did she go to super heaven or just Detroit?

Sorry I know that last one was very nitpicky but I was on a roll.

I will say what it gets right is the more important parts of a hack and slash. The Gameplay which again I don't see as the grand beat all of beat em ups but is certainly good and enjoyable,and the soundtrack which breaks even with the original version having maybe a less impressive and generic boss fight music but the basic fight music got a massive upgrade from the meh original track to the AWESOME "Tomorrow is mine". Graphics have gotten a boost and a pretty good one too this game looks very nice.

(Cough) Very nice looking

I will say I do enjoy the new character designs for Bayonetta and Jeanne. Less traffic cone and princess leia more school teacher and....uh normal woman. Like I stated earlier both 1 and 2 were released in the same package and again the price can't be beat even with the negatives I mentioned....makes me wonder if that's why they put the first game in with it actually. The addition of demonic enemies is mostly for show but it is both a neat change of scenery and enemy variety even if slight.

I will say this. Even though I have mentioned and even raged on some of the issues I still do kinda want to replay it. While I don't think I'd ever buy this over Metal gear rising or Devil may cry 3 I do like this game even with it's faults because it is so Batsqueak insane and like I said the gameplay and presentation has nothing at all wrong with it. Now I will say if you do have the first game for ps3 or 360 and you have a wii U and are thinking about it; Wait until the price drops or a just Bayo 2 version is released for less. If you haven't played the first game then I would recommend it because for the price of one full price game you get 2 pretty good games. Like I said I'm not sure fully how to feel about this game. Some things enrage me and yet I want to keep playing. It's a weird Bit of business.



What you're waiting for me to mention either the Wii U exclusive controversy or the overly sexual stuff? Short answer Don't care and Don't care. The Exclusivity thing is because nintendo funded it so that's fine and The sexuality...well They never hide the fact so you know if it'll effect your opinion. Neither one effected me so....yeah I personally don't care but if you buy this expecting child friendly business, Learn to do your research first and foremost and Look at the M in the corner.

Tuesday 28 October 2014

The top ten villains Round 2 #7 Handsome jack



You want to hear a story? About a massive asshole cause this fucking guy is one of the biggest I've ever seen. This guy is what happens when you take an obsessive lunatic and someone with way too much money and combine them and oh dear god does it come out genius.

One of the reasons this is coming out as late as it is is mostly due to work cramping my time but also due to the newly released Borderlands Pre sequel Giving a lot more information about him and I'm glad I waited because this guy started off a fair bit different. He was honestly just a half way decent guy trying to prove his worth to his boss whom he hates. What's funny though is slowly through the pre sequel he turns from the half way nice guy to a complete self absorbed lunatic once He gets a taste for blood and his own paranoia takes over.

He went from risking his life and giving huge compliments to in Self-Defense killing the Meriff (That's mayor and sheriff....just go with it) But still getting that taste for blood to killing multiple innocent people believing one of them to maybe be a spy for the enemy. It sounds like a jump and maybe that is a leap but you still kinda feel for the guy since he is still doing it to save the moon's population. Now near the end of the game once his allies (the good guys from borderlands 2) betray him he goes full on berserk goes for the Alien vault on the moon and after lillith (again good guy from 1 and 2) Punches an eridium artifact into his face scarring the symbol into his face he goes full on lunatic learning about an ancient beast that could sear the entire planet of pandora and destroy all life on it making it perfect for his newly acquired company (after he strangled his former and aforementioned boss and took the company ) Hyperion to move in and make the planet civilized.

What makes jack ( now calling himself handsome jack) Interesting is that this whole time he refers to himself as the hero. He never really thinks what he's doing is wrong. He never once thought there were innocent people on pandora and only ever thought of the bandits and the killers. There is a part where he pretty tortures a scientist but in his own words

"But I let her live. Because that's what a hero does. He shows mercy"

Of course then there is the elephant in the room with debating jack and what really makes him a villain.


His daughter angel.

Angel was a character that helped the cast from the first game out and as for the second well she helped them out but half way through she reveled herself to be on jack's side and betrayed them mostly due to the fact she had no choice. When jack realized his daughter was a siren ( a being with both powers and a connection to the alien vaults ) He actually connected her to a computer system so she can use any hyperion technology from any distance. Problem is it's more like he enslaved her into the machine since she had no problem not only telling her father off, Helping the good guys, and actually sacrificing herself to help the good guys. Jack responds by Enslaving lillith as his new siren and killing her boyfriend. Jack does not take bad news well.

Odd thing is though he was incredibly protective of her even when she did betray him. Again it's like he's trying to be a good guy but his immense lust for power is getting in the way. This though I think cements the villain side though. Enslaving your own child who just wants to help and hooking them up to a computer for what I can assume is for the rest of their life just to help his own plans for domination of one planet and possibly the universe. The man is clearly over the edge.

So he's a rich and psychotic man with the knowledge to rule or destroy the universe. Pretty high on the villain list already but there is another thing with jack; his personality. Handsome jack is charismatic and this comes through beautifully. He is Hilarious. very early on in the game he not only taunts you about how you're poor or psychotic or what have you but there is a running joke about him buying a diamond pony....not a statue but a living diamond pony he at first wants to name piss for brains in honor of the player but eventually decides on butt stallion.

He's also prone to being actually pretty threatening sometimes. One audio log has a butler come in while he's choking someone and he ends up having an argument about the difference between choking and strangling. In a later log where he's talking to his boss he politely asks if he knows the difference. He can be threatening for a rich arrogant jackass surprisingly so and in fact he's just a damn good villain.

Saturday 18 October 2014

First Reaction: Flatline.....uh sort of.

Goddammit. My recording borked and I'm gonna be rather busy for the next few days....Okay long story short The new Doctor who episode "Flatline" Is BADASS. Very original concept one of the funnier moments in the new series and frankly just a cool episode.I'll have to keep it at that it seems to avoid spoilers.

I do apologize for this. It sucks particularily cause I thought it went well but oh well. I'll have the video up next week for "In the jungle of the night" or something to that effect.

Tuesday 22 July 2014

Doctor Who Series 8.The Hope and the Fears.

This is something I've wanted to write for a while now. Ever since the 11th doctor regenerated I've been very hopeful for how the 12th will be especially after the one bit he did get in "Time of the doctor" Still very off kilter (complaining about his kidneys being the wrong color) and it seemed very Doctor while being unique for the 20 seconds we saw at least. Then Steven Moffat did an interview and for the first time I started getting nervous. He said that this is going to be a very different doctor from the last two and to be fair change is neither good or bad it's just change but then he used one word to describe the 12th and I immediately started to sweat a little; "Gritty" 

I've learned to beware of this word. You see I'm a fan of the more colorful and cheerful stories not that they can't go into dark places but making a story morose and depressing and have a completely dark or yes gritty story usually ends up being uninteresting to me since if I don;t think it's gonna be happy at the end of the story why would I play it? Not that a bitter sweet ending is bad it's just if the tone gives away the ending...well without spoiling anything who actually though the last of us was gonna end with humanity being restored or someone actually being happy?
But how does this get into series 8 you may ask and what do morose and gritty have to do with each other? Well after the first trailer with the doctor asking clara if he's a good man and her responding that she doesn't know I was a bit nervous still very excited. I was always the one pumping excitement for the 11th just snapping but to be fair it was more because of the size of something like that happening as well as the Duality of the happy and silly 11th with a darker side. Take the captain run away scene from "A good man goes to war" very unnerving but it still was the doctor. what I'm worried about isn't doctor who having a doctor with a dark side. What I'm worried about is the doctor becoming a super serious and monotone gritty adult series rather then the more light hearted at times and dark at times show that can be enjoyed by anyone.

I love doctor who because it's positive even if it does become dark the message always ends up positive and the main reason I hate a lot of modern media is because of what they've done to zombies and how the main theme of it seems to be "zombies suck but humans are always worse because they're jerks" It's a purely negative message and no matter how many stories try to use the "but we're still good at heart" bit to make it positive the main thing they beat you over the head with is human's are dicks.

One of my favorite two parters in doctor who is "The hungry earth" and "Cold blood". They give the message that people aren't perfect they make mistakes but all in all aren't bad people they just have hard decisions to make. When in any modern zombie film game or otherwise do you refer to the bandits as anything other then bandits or enemies?

I know it sounds like I'm just complaining about depressing stories....and admittedly it's something I've wanted to get out of my system but it comes around. The doctor isn't a fully dark or serious character he has those sides and maybe that's what they want to get across but a fully dark and not a good person doctor is gonna be a tough sell.

That being said we do have quite a few reason to be optimistic. First of all it is under the watch of the same team that did the 11th's tenure and those are some damn good episodes so there is that. As well again the infamous kidney line makes me think he's still got that off kind of goof to him. As well think back to the 10th doctor's first episode. Aside from the awesome lion king joke he was fairly dark. They could easily have made a trailer similar to the "Am I a good man?" trailer for the tenth and at times the eleventh.

So do I think a dark doctor would be objectively bad? Not really but I know quite a few people would have issues if he got too edgey. The doctor isn't aggressive and if they go too far with that then we'll have a lot of issues with older fans and a lot of the newer fans alike. Some people may like something darker and him having a realization about his methods of old and honestly again I was always on the "doctor going nuts" train too but it all depends on how they do it. Again doctors have dark sides and in fact one picture they used from filming with the doctor in a jungle wearing a rubber glove brandishing a scalpel made me laugh quite a bit.

I don't think this series is gonna destroy the franchise or come even close. But I am worried of it becoming too dark or falling into tropes that come with that darkness or....Grit as it were. I have full faith in Capaldi and Moffat to make this a great season but it's the niggling feeling that me and most people feel and that I can't blame them for that gave me the reason to write this....that and I really wanted to bitch about negative stories and how much I hate them.

Wednesday 2 July 2014

Top ten villains round 2 # 8 Medusa gorgon


I've mentioned at number ten a villain so goofy yet effective You have to enjoy him in Dr Nefarious. And a devious yet very deranged rollicker and lover of fun at any cost in Xenagos. Now however we get into a different kind of villain. The one you love to hate.

If you've seen my review of soul eater you may recall I mentioned Medusa Gorgon
and her offspring Crona. Now while medusa is in her present actions more or less a twisted scientist who experiments with people both mentally and physically. Now I love this kind of villain and fun fact The name of this blog site is named after the bleach chapter that introduced a similar character in Mayuri Kurotsuchi.


Love this villain but I've long since stopped paying attention to bleach so uh let's just get back to business.

Like I said Medusa is a scientist determined to spread madness and one of the ways she has is by using her own child as someone to spread it against their will. Lemme describe Crona gorgon to prove just how fucked up medusa is. Keep in mind medusa made crona this way.


Keep in mind this is an anime so the pink hair is normal.


First of all they are insanely skinny and seem to be malnourished. This is proven in the fact that during a flashback it's shown they were basically kept in a small black room around the age of five to kind of convince them to do what they're told and fed little. Some of which gets eaten by that thing on their head. that thing on their head is raganrok. Ragnarok is their blood. It is a weapon (weapons meaning a living being that can turn into a weapon in this context) who was melted down in weapon form and mixed with her blood. So it's not just her own offspring she's a dick to.

Medusa basically fused a bully into their blood that steals their food and hits them but here's the kicker. Who knows what other things they did because crona....well


I think I used this joke before but eh.

They have no gender. The english dub says it's a guy but they also said that they did this to avoid calling them an "It" which they said would be disrespectful. They with lack of a better term mutated their own child to cause them to become deranged and turned their blood into a weapon just so they could become a demon god (or kishin)

One of the other things with Medusa is their ability to manipulate people. I mean their child is one thing but they also disguised them self as a nurse in the weapon school to experiment with them as well. Because mutating their own child for personal gain just wasn't enough she wanted to experiment on EVERYONE ELSE'S TOO!!

And not just kids. She seduces another teacher named stein (and yes it's a Frankenstein joke) who was already a bit wobbly on the sanity part and tries to bring them to the dark side. tricking another witch into believing shibusen (said weapon school) killed their sister when they did. threatening to kill a somewhat innocent witch name Eruka who is scared out of her mind most of the time because of her. She forces crona against their will to implant a magic hex inside of stein girlfriend which warps him even more so. Dies.....then comes back by possessing a little girl. Betrayed her own sister leaving her for death ( to be fair on that one her sister arachne is kind of a bitch too but nowhere the uncrowned queen here.)

Here's the kicked though. She evantually takes arachne's body for her own once the little girl becomes more of a hassle to her ( she was okay in both versions but she did use her as a kind of hostage) she then fucks around for a while (fusing her child with a being of pure madness and helping to turn a priest to the dark side as well may I add ) And makes crona basically nuke a town in russia. afterwards she in a weird moment...


Welcomes them home in a loving manner and makes them their favorite food?

What happens here is up to debate but in the end this was the final straw for crona. I sincerely doubt that they just became good but crona's actions were to her delight anyway. Crona snapped and killed medusa with her last words being " I love you" Whether it was to cause such a whiplash they'd go nuts and kill her and emphasize their guilt to make it worse even after (kill me and taint yourself how very johan/joker of you) or not is again debatable but considering her it wouldn't surprise me at all.

The only real downside to medusa as a villain is that she never really gives a reason for why she wants to spread chaos other then she's so smart she's insane but honestly she's so determined in her mission to spread chaos that she'd do anything. romantic manipulation, Mutating children including her own child. manipulating innocents and semi innocents (seriously what is your deal eruka) and then the very johan-esque death just to make her child even more deranged.

Jesus christ what a bit...

O.O

She also makes this face....intimidation....forgot to mention that one.

Monday 21 April 2014

Top ten Villains round 2 #9 Xenagos The god of revels.


Well I have some splainin' to do. First of all my apologies for my absence as of late. work has been rather rough lately that combined with some personal issues let's just say march and April are not favorite months of mine. Second of all I though I said I was going to crack open the doctor who bag early. Well I was originally going to put Mr. clever here but...well first off I just heard the booing of that decision considering how most people reacted to him but second while I do love the character I honestly couldn't think of much else to say other then " He's really fun to watch bravo to Matt smith." So consider him Number 9.5

Seriously that look says it all.

But onto the case at hand. Xenagos is a planeswalker from theros and.....Oh....I may need to explain somethings here. Xenagos is from magic the gathering. You may find it odd including a villain from a card game. It may sound odd but if you aren't a fan of magic you wouldn't know the storylines from their sets can be pretty damn good if you look into it. Case in point Theros. Theros is a plane from the MTG based on greek myth. As such gods play a massive part and Xenagos is one of them. Xenagos started as just a satyr a creature content in rollicking and frolicking through the hills Until his spark ignited. A planeswalker is a being from MTG that can travel to other planes. Xenagos awoke to this power when said spark ignited and through traveling to other planes he realized something horrifying to him. His existence was meaningless in the massive scheme of things and the gods reach meant nothing outside of Theros. This caused him to become a lot more ambitious with the powers he had gained and knowledge he had learned. He not only wanted to become a god but to become the only god in theros by wiping the rest out.


So you may be wondering what powers does xenagos have?  He has the power of revel. The power to stir things into a frenzy and to cause the frenzied to become even more enraged and psychotic.

Whoop de doo tarantula town right?

I mean being able to frenzy things is one thing but this isn't that powerful is it? Well tell that the three major cities in theros that got the shit kicked out of them by frenzied monsters. The main one to focus on is Akroas. Akroas got attacked by minotaurs not frenzied by xenagos but by the god of slaughter mogis. Xenagos waited though for the sun god heliod's champion another planeswalker elspeth to win and when the victory was acheived (at great loss ) The survivors held a victory celebration which xenagos amplified using his magic. Using a ritual and the energy of the grand revel as it became known he used the power to ascend to godhood as the god of revels.

Think about that for a second. Using outer plane magic which the gods have no power over and causing massive chaos to blind the gods by either killing or wounding the oracles of each other god so they couldn't see what happened or what he was planning. Then basically waiting for another powerful being to win a simple victory against angry minotaurs then using the victory celebration to ascend to godhood. In other words...
 
Xenagos threw such a bitchin party he became a god! 
 
 
 
Now granted because the stories are a bit vague It's hard to tell whether he timed his attack with the minotaurs or whether he frenzied them or whether mogis sent them in in time with the chaos it's the main reason he's this low because There are a lot of unknowns in this. Hell After elspeth got blamed for causing xenagos' ascension she would later find the spear godsend and kill xenagos. Some believe this was all according to the plans of erebus the god of the dead to gain either the soul of a god or that of elspeth. again a lot of unknowns. But because of this there is some leeway for interpretation. Between that and the fact that when he became a god he went about wrecking as much shit in theros as possible. He used his power to frenzy everything he could get his hands on and try to disrupt the gods as much as possible and before elspeth put an end to him he may have weakened the gods enough to overtake them I believe that xenagos is just a genius villain perhaps a little overdependent on other things going well but everything went so perfectly I have to enjoy this god of revels.

Also he BECAME A GOD THROUGH PARTYING!!! That's seriously badass I'm sorry it just is.....Ahem....sorry got a little carried away there....anyways next time I've got someone I've mentioned in passing before and the fact xenagos is from a greek setting seems appropriate for this cold hearted snake at number 8.

Thursday 27 February 2014

Top ten Villains Round 2 # 10 Dr nefarious and/or Alister azimuth

That's right ladies and gentlemen. When I first started this blog I Did a top ten list of my favorite villains. And looking back there are a few choices I have to change. Cybermen and The silence? Scarecrow? That chick from bioshock 2 Really? (Though I still say Bioshock 2 was a good game) Some decisions are hard to defend and Honestly better villains have come and gone since then so I'm doing Round 2 of my favourite villains and this time I Mean it....Well until a few more years go by anyway. But a few rules. First off With one exception one villain per franchise. So while there are two doctor who villains that's the worst It'll get. Second this is just my opinion I want to make this clear. I know some people hate villains I like and for that matter games I like (see bioshock 2 again) so take this with a grain of salt. Third and finally no ties....Stop looking at the title I'll get to that in a second. 

By which I mean now.

Dr nefarious

And Alister Azimuth



Remember how I said no ties. This isn't a tie. While Dr nefarious was in multiple games in the ratchet and clank series Crack in time and Up your arsenal are both amazing  and partially because of him. He's an absolute rush and partially due to amazing Voice acting done by Armin Shimmerman. Yes the same person who voices Andrew Ryan from Bioshock Voices Dr nefarious. I'm still incredibly impressed by that.

What gets me about nefarious is that He's clearly an idiot but he still manages to pull some impressive things off. Namely nearly taking over An enormous Time machine at the center of the universe (give or take a few meters) And turned half the occupied universe into robots through what I can only describe as Scientific brute force. He's smart enough to Create amazing weapons and then forgets to plug them in. This makes him an absolute joy to watch. And while you may say he's A terrible villain because of that and I can't argue but at the same time he has done some impressive things like I mentioned earlier. 

"But Immortal K..." You ask because you don't know my real name is Chris. "...Why is Alister here? he's a good guy." Alister Azimuth is a good guy but He's also the final boss of Crack in time after Nefarious. Much like Doctor nefarious He wanted to Abuse the great clock. Unlike Nefarious Who wants to use it to take over the world, Alister Wants to use it to bring the lombax race back from another dimension. For those Not familiar with ratchet and clank This may sound a lot like Doctor who and the time lords.....you aren't wrong. Anyway using the clock could cause immense damage to the universe so Clank won't allow it causing the conflict between Ratchet and Alister. He tries to take it by force and this is why He's on this list. He would possibly Destroy the only other member of his race for a chance to bring it back. If you saw The time of the doctor think about it this way. What if the doctor had to kill someone to bring back the time lords....and he did? While Alister was a general and murder isn't as much of a thing for him the crime is still there. So why are they both listed at Number 10?

Both of these two fit different roles and yet the same. They both Want to use the clock which is not a good thing. One is Directly evil but the other isn't. They show two sides of the mind. That both good and evil can end up wanting the same ends sometimes. That's fascinating to me and I think the story of A crack in time to be amazing because of that. Good villains make a good story and both of these whether or not they're evil are Antagonists in the end And to me that makes them villains. One defiantly and one arguably. Regardless both of them together make an amazing combination.

As for my Number 9?....Well let's crack open the doctor who bag early shall we?

Saturday 22 February 2014

ISWT Review: Beyond: Two Souls


Let me tell you about a company called Quantic Dream. Before this mist known for their games Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain they make very heavily story driven games often plagued by weird controls or hilariously bad voice acting. Just do a Google search for "Press X to Jason" and you'll see what I mean by that. But when this game was announced A lot of people started taking them much more seriously Seeming to fix both the VA problem by hiring some pretty decent actors (namely Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe.) And using much more simplified and yet still very unique controls. When the game came out however it was met with a unified "meh" Due to it's weird way of storytelling and just bizzarre plot in general. What do I think? 

Well first of all let's get one thing out of the way.While I never played Indigo prophecy, Heavy Rain I have a pretty good chunk of experience with. A pretty good plot and Game play for what it was muddied by often oddly funny voice acting (again Press X to Jason) and the fact that the game worked once in a blue moon and only once in said blue moon. The game was a glitched mess. But for what it was worth it was pretty good I'd say.

This game on the other hand was a weird grab bag. I was not expecting much going into it but coming out I was quite surprised and in a pretty good way for the most part anyway. First off the game is a lot more stable then heavy rain which would freeze or bug constantly. While Beyond honestly never had any major problems that I can recall anyway. The Voice acting is also a massive improvement with namely Ellen Page and Willem Defoe playing the main two characters Jodie and Nathan Dawkins.

It's sad but a character I legitimately Love I had to look the name of up because I always just called him Willem Defoe.

 Speaking of the characters how are they? I love the hell out of the characters in this game. Seriously the characters are so likable I honestly felt incredibly bad during more then a few times during this game namely a few incident involving Dawkins. For some reason his character always got me to really feel for him. I think it's just because the first few times you see him he's just a nice and very understanding character and honestly he may be one of my favorite characters in gaming.

No Kanji Tatsumi but still.

Jodie is also a very good character but it's kind of odd seeing her speaking to her invisible friend Aiden. It's very foreign seeing someone talking to thin air or from Aiden's perspective and knowing that something actually is there and that you actually get to play as. And for someone who doesn't know the story that sentence just weirded the hell out them. Speaking of lazy segues the story is kind of the strong point and kind of the weak point. The story is told in completely diced up order jumping from childhood to adulthood randomly which works in some ways but in some you can tell it's just to keep certain things hidden and flow the plot points how they want to. Again that does work okay but it's very bizarre.

But how is the actual story? The story itself is the story of a Jodie who discovers that she has an invisible friend who can actually move things around and interact. Her friend Aiden is a spirit that got attached to her somehow and the story progresses through her life finding out she had powers joining the CIA and evidently going on the run. The plot itself is strong enough but like I said it's really the characters that drive everything not so much the actual situations. It's more how is this going to affect Jodie then how is this going to affect the world or where is this going in the long run. I personally think it does more then it's job but I wouldn't say It's a work of art by any means often being a little ham fisted though only once or twice.

Graphically speaking the game is gorgeous. A few steps below the last of us but still a very good looking game again giving a very spooky feel the first few times you see the faces of Defoe and Page considering they are real people. granted a time here or there it looks off with the odd bush or the like but it's nothing to really call home about.

The game play is remarkably basic just like it's predecessor Heavy rain except with some improvements. The game play does it's job of fading into the background making the lasting memories be of the characters and story less the game play. I was almost ready to mark that as a bad thing but the more I think about it that IS what they're trying to do here so why is underwhelming game play a bad thing here.


From this point on I'm going to spoil the story a bit for the ending so you've been warned past here be spoilers


I'm predictable if anything

Throughout the story we learn of the other side. Rifts into the other side, Devices that can open portals to it and the creatures and spirits of the dead on the other side. Mr Dawkins earlier in loses his family to a car crash in one of the better emotional moments of the game. The thing is he ends up becoming a big wig in the CIA and creates a massive stable portal to the other side to study it. He reveals that he wants to De-stabilize the world in order to bring his family on this side over. This moment....is remarkably stupid and the worst part of the story. Some would say he was blinded by his wanting to bring his family back but that happened at least 20 years before he even got the portal and when he did he gained a way for his family to talk to him via a machine similar to the portals in which they flat out said "Don't merge the worlds and let us go" Since the machine they talked to him with caused them immense pain. He refuses to listen to them despite warning from his family and Jodie and it's easily the one problem I had with Dawkins. A great character who went evil for no good reason. While I do think the end is generally good with the rest of what happens and I won't spoil that part Dawkins going crazy at the end is very out of character considering and it's a big problem with the story.

END OF SPOILERS

So The progression is neat if perhaps a bit confusingly done, The end good if with a very bad twist to it, The story good but nothing that special all things considered, and littered with a cast of characters that are all very likable and enjoyable to watch. This game all in all surprised me but I will say that I don't think it's quite as good as heavy rain even considering. The story and characters are the main points of both games and the story of heavy rain is amazing and the characters are fantastic too. Beyond has amazing characters and just a good plot. I would say though This is worth the money it's up for even if it's not as good as it's predecessor. It's Something that like myself may catch you by surprise