Beyond: Two Souls

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Beyond: Two Souls

Developer(s) Quantic Dream
Publisher(s) Sony Computer Entertainment
Director(s) David Cage
Producer(s) Guillaume de Fondaumiere
Artist(s) François Baranger
Benoit Godde
Writer(s) David Cage
Composer(s) Normand Corbeil
Lorne Balfe
(Score produced by
Hans Zimmer)
Platform(s) PlayStation 3
Release date(s)
Genre(s) Interactive drama, action-adventure
Mode(s) Single-player
Distribution Blu-ray Disc

Beyond: Two Souls is an interactive drama action-adventure video game for the PlayStation 3 console, developed by Quantic Dream. Among others it stars actors Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe, and was released on 8 October 2013 in North America,[1] 9 October 2013 in Australia,[2] 11 October 2013 in Europe[3] and 17 October 2013 in Japan.[4]

Gameplay

Plot

The game centers around Jodie Holmes (Ellen Page), who since birth has been connected to an entity named Aiden. After being left by her foster parents she is brought up by researchers Nathan Dawkins (Willem Dafoe) and Cole Freeman (Kadeem Hardison),[5][6] who conduct research on the infraworld for the fictional United States Department of Paranormal Activity, the DPA.[7]

The game begins with Jodie attempting to remember her past, and how she comes to grips growing up living a sheltered life at a military base. When older she is quickly thrust into working for the CIA before she decides to abandon the agency and flee as a fugitive. At the CIA she meets Ryan Clayton (Eric Winter), whom she hates at first but depending on player choice she may enter a romantic relationship with.[7]

The player is allowed control over both Jodie and Aiden, and the plot is developed through nonlinear narrative, skipping back and forth between different points in Jodie's life covering a period of more than fifteen years. Many different locations are visited and the story covers many different themes, some of which are: a war-ridden Somalia,[8] a family of Native Americans living in the desert haunted by an evil spirit (Yé'iitsoh - Navajo for Big God),[9][10][11] and a group of homeless people struggling to live through the winter.[12]

Concluding the game the player has to choose between life and death for Jodie, the game offers multiple different endings. Depending on player-choices varied constellations of characters can survive through the entire story.[13]

Development

Quantic Dream CEO David Cage first announced Beyond: Two Souls at Sony's press conference during the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012. A debut trailer featuring in-game graphics was released during the press conference. Unlike Quantic Dream's previous game Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls was not to be PlayStation Move compatible.[14] Actress Ellen Page noted that the script for the game was around 2000 pages long.[15] Like earlier games by Cage which have been called "wrought psychological thrillers" it is implored that emotional narrative was and has been an important point in the development of the game.[12]

Beyond: Two Souls was the final project of composer Normand Corbeil, who died of pancreatic cancer on 25 January 2013.[16] Composer Lorne Balfe, who composed the soundtrack for Assassin's Creed III, replaced Corbeil as the game's composer, after Corbeil's death.[17] Balfe's long-time collaborator Hans Zimmer joined him as producer in August 2013.[18]

On 27 April 2013, a new trailer was released, and 35 minutes of the game were screened at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival with both Page and Cage in attendance. This marks the second time a video game has been recognized by the film festival, the first time being 2011's L.A. Noire.[19]

Release

On 5 September 2013 it was announced via the PlayStation Blog that a demo for Beyond: Two Souls would be released 1 October 2013 in the United States, 2 October for Europe and 3 October for Japan. Despite the demo's official release, a few users of the paid subscription service PlayStation Plus received the demo earlier than the expected release date which is 24 September 2013. GameStop gave out a limited number of beta keys on the 24th of September 2013, allowing gamers to play the demo before its official release.[20][21][22][23] The European version of the game is censored to keep the PEGI rating at 16 instead of 18. Two changes were made to the version, amounting to 5–10 seconds of gameplay.[24]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings72.04%[25]
Metacritic70/100[26]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid5/10[27]
Edge5/10[28]
Electronic Gaming Monthly7.5/10[29]
Eurogamer6/10[30]
Game Informer7.75/10[31]
Game Revolution[32]
GamesRadar[33]
GameSpot9.0/10[34]
GamesTM8/10[35]
GameTrailers7.2/10[36]
GameZone7.5/10[37]
Giant Bomb[38]
IGN6.0/10[39]
Joystiq[40]
Official PlayStation Magazine (UK)8/10[41]
VideoGamer.com4/10[42]
Digital Spy[43]
Forbes9/10[44]
Metro4/10[45]
Polygon8.0/10[46]
ScrewAttack7.5/10[47]

Beyond: Two Souls received mixed to positive critical reception upon release.[48] Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic rated the game 72.04% and 70/100.[25][26] Reviewers praised Ellen Page's character portrayal of Jodie Holmes, many of the other actors' performances, and the amount of technical details in the game's animations and graphics. Praise was also generally given toward the elaborate motion capture and the game's emotional soundtrack.

IGN criticized the game for making the gaming experience too passive and unrewarding, and its plot too muddy and unfocused.[39] Joystiq criticized its lack of solid character interaction and unbelievable plot, noting its unintended silliness.[40] Destructoid criticized the game's thin character presentation and frequent narrative dead ends, as well as a lack of meaningful interactivity.[27]

At Spike's VGX award show Beyond: Two Souls was nominated for both "Best Voice Actor" (Willem Dafoe) and "Best Voice Actress" (Ellen Page) awards.[49][50]

It was reported on January 10, 2014 that Beyond: Two Souls sold one million copies in 2013.[51]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Osgood, Derek (1 March 2013). "Willem Dafoe, Ellen Page Star in BEYOND: Two Souls October 8th". Playstation.com. Retrieved 25 June 2013. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Roberts, Brendan (4 June 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls Release Date Announced". Progress Bar. Retrieved 27 June 2013. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ivan, Tom (3 June 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls UK release date confirmed". GamesRadar. Retrieved 27 June 2013. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "BEYOND: Two Souls Release On 17 October In Japan". Senpai Gamer. 1 August 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2013. 
  5. ↑ "Beyond: Two Souls -David Cage, Ellen Page and Kadeem Hardison". Gamespot. Retrieved November 12, 2013. 
  6. ↑ "Willem Dafoe not starring in Beyond: Two Souls, Kadeem Hardison is". Retrieved November 12, 2013. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Gamespot review: Beyond Two Souls". Gamespot. Retrieved November 4, 2013. 
  8. ↑ "IGN Beyond Two Souls: Somalia demo E3". Retrieved November 4, 2013. 
  9. ↑ Beyond: Two Souls - Navajo. 
  10. ↑ Robert S. McPherson. Navajo Land, Navajo Culture: The Utah Experience in the Twentieth Century. 
  11. ↑ "Native American Indian Legends - Monster Slay and Ye'iitsoh". Retrieved November 4, 2013. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Beyond Two Souls review". Keith Stuart. Friday 22 March 2013 10.34 GMT. Retrieved November 4, 2013. 
  13. ↑ "Beyond: Two Souls - Fastest Way To See All Endings - NowGamer". Retrieved November 4, 2013. 
  14. ↑ "Heavy Rain dev confirms work on PS4 game has begun". Eurogamer.net. 21 March 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2013. 
  15. ↑ Pham, Alex (19 July 2012). "Ellen Page is ‘Beyond’ real in ‘emotional and subversive’ game". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 August 2012. 
  16. ↑ "Heavy Rain Composer Normand Corbeil Passes Away, Age 56". Joystiq. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2013. 
  17. ↑ "Lorne Balfe to score the video game BEYOND – TWO SOULS". Hans-Zimmer.com. 14 April 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2013. 
  18. ↑ Conditt, Jessica (22 August 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls soundtrack from Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe". Joystiq. Retrieved 23 August 2013. 
  19. ↑ Pinsof, Allistair (28 April 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls Tribeca trailer + 35 minutes of footage". Destructoid. Retrieved 25 June 2013. 
  20. ↑ "Beyond: Two Souls Demo Coming October 1st – PlayStation.Blog". Blog.us.playstation.com. Retrieved 25 September 2013. 
  21. ↑ Meitzler, Ryan (12 September 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls Demo Giving Early Access to PS+ Subscribers Later This Month". DualShockers. Retrieved 3 October 2013. 
  22. ↑ "PlayStation Store update: FIFA 14, Ratchet Gladiator, Lone Survivor, more". PlyaStation Blog. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013. 
  23. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (24 September 2013). "GameStop now offering Beyond: Two Souls beta keys". GameSpot.com. Retrieved 25 September 2013. 
  24. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (1 October 2013). "Sony confirms Beyond censored in Europe". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved 1 October 2013. 
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 "Beyond: Two Souls for PlayStation 3". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 "Beyond: Two Souls for PlayStation 3 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Sterling, Jim (8 October 2013). "Review: Beyond: Two Souls". Destructoid. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  28. ↑ "Beyond: Two Souls review". Edge. Future plc. 8 October 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  29. ↑ Harmon, Josh (8 October 2013). "EGM Review: Beyond: Two Souls". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  30. ↑ Welsh, Oli (8 October 2013). "A Flawed Epic – Beyond: Two Souls review". Eurogamer. Eurogamer Network. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  31. ↑ Helgeson, Matt (8 October 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls". Game Informer. GameStop. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  32. ↑ Tan, Nick (8 October 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  33. ↑ Betka, Zach (8 October 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls". GamesRadar. Future plc. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  34. ↑ McShea, Tom (8 October 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  35. ↑ "Beyond: Two Souls Review". GamesTM. 8 October 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  36. ↑ "Beyond: Two Souls Review Text". GameTrailers. 8 October 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  37. ↑ Liebl, Matt (8 October 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls Review: A captivating story with shallow gameplay". GameZone. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  38. ↑ Navarro, Alex (8 October 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls Review". Giant Bomb. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 O'Brien, Lucy (8 October 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls for PlayStation 3 Reviews". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 Kietzmann, Ludwig (8 October 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls review: Ever Tethered". Joystiq. AOL. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  41. ↑ Iwaniuk, Phil (8 October 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls review – an essential purchase for interactive-drama fans". PlayStation Official Magazine. Future plc. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  42. ↑ Burns, Steven (8 October 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls Review". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  43. ↑ Langshaw, Mark (8 October 2013). "'Beyond: Two Souls' review (PS3): Breathtakingly cinematic". Digital Spy. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  44. ↑ Tassi, Paul (8 October 2013). "'Beyond: Two Souls' Review: Paranormal Interactivity". Forbes. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  45. ↑ "Beyond: Two Souls review – Heavy Rain part 2". Metro. 8 October 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  46. ↑ McElroy, Justin (8 October 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls review: hand in hand". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved 8 October 2013. 
  47. ↑ Hinz, Sean (10 October 2013). "Review - BEYOND: Two Souls". ScrewAttack. ScrewAttack Entertainment LLC. Retrieved 10 October 2013. 
  48. ↑ IGN Entertainment. "Why is Beyond Two Souls so polarizing?". IGN. Retrieved 13 December 2013. 
  49. ↑ "Best Voice Actor". VGX. Spike. Archived from the original on 7 December 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013. 
  50. ↑ "Best Voice Actress". VGX. Spike. Archived from the original on 11 December 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013. 
  51. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (10 January 2014). "PS3 game Beyond: Two Souls sold 1 million copies in 2013". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 10 January 2014. 

External links

Games developed
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Publishers
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