Beyond Two Souls: Hands on
As time ticks down to the launch of the PlayStation 4, you
could be forgiven for thinking that the game developers would be throwing all
their eggs in that basket.
You’d be wrong – the recent launch of The Last Of Us showed
that, if anything, even more is being thrown into the games that are launching
exclusively on the PS3.
And so it is with
Beyond Two Souls which is due to launch in
October from
Quantic Dreams, who brought us Heavy Rain.
Not only is this latest a cross between strategy and
supernatural, it’s also managed to score Hollywood heavy weights, Ellen Page as
its lead, Jodie Holmes – and also Willem Dafoe as a scientist who has
mysterious ties to Holmes. With a script reportedly in the 2000 pages long
territory, it seems this will be quite the game to play.
A hands-on play of two levels of the game promised – and delivered
– much of an experience; at times, the action transitioned so smoothly into cut
scenes, you were unsure if it was a game or a movie.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.
It was unclear whereabouts in the game the two preview
levels had come from – that will, no doubt become clear in time. In the game
you get to play over a 15 year period of Jodie’s life and see the relationship
between her and Aiden explored.
The first level is set in Somalia, and sees Holmes using her
military training to take on a mission to assassinate a Somali leader deep
within a compound. However, Holmes has a little something up her sleeve to help
with the task in hand – a supernatural entity called Aiden, who can be called
on to aid directly in the missions and influence the action (via a FPS feel).
The ability to switch between Jodie and Aiden becomes key to
ensuring not only your survival in this mission but also its success. By using
the triangle button, you can switch between the pair of them at key points (not
at any time during the game, it initially appears) to execute what you need.
You can choke or possess the opposition by using the L1 button and pulling back
on the analogue sticks – helpful hints appear in the game on characters or
locations in the forms of dots, indicating what needs to be done or giving you
some clue as to what Aiden can or can’t do in his trippy floating form.
The switching angle is a fascinating one – by using Aiden,
you can head through buildings and past enemies where normally you’d require a
degree of stealth. It takes just a few moments to work out how to do what with
this character, but it’s fairly easy to pick up after an initially
disorientating start. Though you learn very quickly that these two are linked
and if you push too far out of those boundaries, the link breaks and Aiden
becomes useless.
The Somali story is an interesting one – while the key to
the game appears to be in the action and planning (there are apparently
different outcomes a la pick-a-path mentality), the designers have not lost
focus on the engagement of the emotions. When Jodie’s first seen in this level,
she’s befriended by a small kid called Salim who’s keen to help her. However, upon
completion of the mission, the emotional and moral consequences are pretty dire for Jodie
– and it’s great to see the game developers haven’t lost sight of the actual
story telling or sacrificed it at the expense of the action and the cut-scenes
which are almost cinematic in feel.
A second level, entitled Hunted, starts on a train, with the
distinct feeling that Jodie’s on the run and wanted for treason.
But decrying the fact she’s shattered and not slept for
days, you start off as Aiden, floating on the train and basically, acting like
a bored poltergeist, knocking over coffees, shaking water bottles and generally
being a naughty toddler.
However, all that playful malevolence changes when the
guards spot Jodie and a chase ensues, and you need to channel both Aiden’s
destructive side to get onto the roof of the train and Jodie’s speed to avoid
being captured.
Jumping off the train puts you in the woods and on a
collision with the hunting dogs set to track you down – it’s a desperate dash
to freedom and all culminates in an Aiden-led showdown with SWAT forces that
either ends explosively – or ends in a capture because you’ve taken too much
time to try and free her. The ability to possess SWAT forces and wreak havoc
from within is very reminiscent of some superpower films and is a nice idea. Though,
the fact that a shield can be created by Aiden to protect Jodie can be used
whenever may make the danger feel a little distant.
Graphically, the possession / choking by Aiden is
beautifully executed with flames hurling out of the screen from the victim; and
it all looks incredibly smooth throughout with the camera seamlessly
transitioning from the action on the ground to the action above. You really
feel at times like you’re in a movie – whether that could prove frustrating as
cut scenes kick in without warning or a bonus as the narrative plays out
remains to be seen.
The whole Hunted sequence ends with Jodie and Aiden using
their powers to their maximum capability and Jodie warning that next time,
anyone who crosses them will be killed – it hints at a grittier story to come.
There was no mention or sighting of Willem Dafoe’s character
in the preview, so that mystery’s yet to be unlocked – but it looks as if Ellen
Page’s brought her A game and the motion capture’s worked beautifully.
Beyond Two Souls looks like it has the potential to be very
impressive. I certainly left the hands on wanting more and feeling like I’d
seen something different. Granted, a couple of problems with some of the Quick
Time Events in hand-to-hand combat with Jodie left me pondering where I was
going wrong, but the morality and fact there were consequences of using humans as conduits
for Aiden seriously impressed me – it looks as if Quantic Dreams are about to
release something which could show the PlayStation 3 isn’t ready to be
consigned to the history books just yet.
Beyond Two Souls is out on PlayStation 3 from October 11th.
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