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
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.
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
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
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