The system that allows us to interact with Jodie’s world has been streamlined for the better since Heavy Rain, and for the most part the action buttons - those much-maligned perpetrators of quick-time events (QTEs) - have been discarded. What’s missing, then, is the actual game built around this story. It is principally thanks to her, although Cage does deserve some credit here too, that I felt a lump in my throat at the end. Page – and yes, Willem Dafoe, although he’s simply doing his Norman Osborne routine here – knows when to downplay the crazy and put emphasis on those smaller moments. The rest of the cast don’t always grant him the same favour, and frequently slip into broad theatrical strokes (“for the love of God, she’s a monster!”) because the writing grants them this luxury. Page is an eminently likeable and capable actress and gamely takes on Cage’s crazy twists and turns, delivering her lines with nothing less than utter sincerity. In these scenes, Ellen Page has the opportunity to really make us care for Jodie. Helping a teenage Jodie agonize over which music to choose at a party is one such moment playing guitar on the streets in the middle of a bitter winter to earn enough money to buy food is another. Cage’s best work comes out in the quieter, more human moments in his stories. Occasionally, the plot does sing, and is dotted with moments that compelled me to continue playing. It is unfortunate there is no such discipline to be found here. This is a story about a girl and her ghost, and there is a reason filmmakers tend to stick with one genre or another: so as to craft a cohesive narrative. The story takes us from horror (where the influence of Brian de Palma and Adrian Lyne is strong) to drama, action, and sci-fi, and it’s peppered with pulp: evil government conspiracies, supernatural enemies, and cackling bad guys from distant climates abound.Ĭage has said in interviews that switching between genres and tone was a conscious choice, as nobody’s life is ever one flat note. Those familiar with Quantic’s previous works, most notably Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy, should not expect anything more focused here. In truth, Beyond’s plot would still feel disjointed even if it were told in order. Next to something like Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, this experiment with chronology feels unfocused we are frequently thrust into deeply dramatic scenes that claw at our tear ducts far too early, before we’ve had the chance to fully invest in characters and their circumstances. It gives Beyond a schizophrenic, alienating feeling, and left me constantly trying to catch up with the progression of the narrative. This flitting back and forth across multiple eras of Jodie’s life presents a couple of problems. Her plight is driven by an unwanted tethering to a Poltergeist-like spirit she calls Aiden, whom you can also control depending on the circumstance. Beyond dances between these chapters: Jodie as a little girl, Jodie as a stubborn teen, Jodie as a young woman, Jodie as a little girl again, and so on. Jodie’s story is told in chapters out of chronological order across 15 years of her life. She’s a character wonderfully realized by actress Ellen Page, who proves to be much of Beyond’s saving grace. Unlike Heavy Rain before it, which dipped into silliness but was at least thematically consistent, Beyond’s only consistency is its focus on Jodie Holmes, the game's tragic heroine. Beyond is an opus – a muddy and unfocused one, but an opus – packed with so much plot it feels like Cage has indulged his every whim and want in a single project. Indeed, if there was ever a game that suggested that Cage is a frustrated film director at heart, it’s this one. But Beyond is a game that made me feel too much like a passive participant, which made “playing” it a very confusing and unrewarding experience. This is principally because Beyond: Two Souls takes the vision that writer/creative director David Cage and his team at Quantic Dream have held onto for so long - that interactive drama is the way to make gamers conditioned to meaningless violence feel something in the depths of our brittle souls - to unprecedented extremes. If you are the type who scrolls down a review to see the score before reading the text, know this first: I have never found assigning a number to a game so difficult.
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