If you enjoyed Heavy Rain-you will love this!
User Rating: 10 | Beyond: Two Souls PS3
No spoilers here: I absolutely agree with Gamespot's review score of Beyond: Two Souls. I was a big fan of Heavy Rain, so I was planning on getting this game at launch, but chose to to hold off (sadly) because of IGNs low review and the mixed meta critic reviews. So I've just kept plugging away at GTAV chipping away slowly at the 100 percent trophy. But, I tried the demo last, and was immediately hooked. I picked up the game at seven PM last night and couldn't put down the controller until about 2 AM. I have been completely blown away by the story and gameplay. Here some of the major talking point lately and how I feel about them: The flashback story telling style works exceptionally well. I'm really glad it doesn't play out in chronological order. Even though each chapter or mission is crucial to the story development, if the "early" years were lumped together-playing through them would get boring quick (Remember fallout 3's intro?) Even though it's not in chronological order, you start to see early on how your choices and uses of Iden affect the the game later on. I've seen some reviewers complain that it doesn't feel as though the choices you make change the story much. When I reached the chapters of the game I had already played on the demo, I played them differently and had very different results. Story: amazing so far, and doesn't have as many plot holes as Heavy Rain (though I may find some later on since I'm probably only about 60% of the way through.) Controls: Huge improvement over Heavy Rain. It's a lot easier to control. The fighting mechanics are a nice change- moving the analog stick in the direction the character is reaching indicated by a slow-motion effect, rather than intrusive button symbols popping up on screen taking you out of the immersion. Overall the controls are a lot more fluid and natural than Heavy Rain, which really help the overall immersion. Occasionally I've had a few frustrating moments with pressing the same button over and over in a specific rhythm. Sometimes you have mash to a button as fast as possible ( which I'm fine with) but I have a hard time with the ones that require perfect timing, like X, slight pause, X slight pause, and repeating this for what feels like an eternity. If barely miss the timing, you have to start all over. I hope Quantic Dream removes from all of their future projects. Interactivity: one of the biggest complaints I've seen in reviews is the lack of objects in the world to interact with. It's true, you have a lot less random things to look at and explore, but I like the change. In my opinion, Heavy Rain was cluttered with too many mundane tasks and Radom things to touch. I know several people who got fed up in the first hour or two of heavy rain, getting frustrated with things like brushing teeth, eating, pushing your kid on the swing etc. the distractions in Beyond are limited and I like that. Almost everything you do has purpose and impact on the story. Gameplay: Like heavy rain, this isn't the kind of game that requires quick finger chops, it's an interactive story game, not God of War. That being said, it does have a lot more fun "gameplay" elements than Heavy Rain. The Iden, (sp?) moments are a lot of fun, you have a lot of control over him and can fly through walls with plenty of exploration options. If you were a fan of Heavy Rain, I highly recommend this purchase. You won't be disappointed.
