Beyond is Quantic Dream and David Cage's third crack at cinematic adventure games, following on Fahrenheit and Heavy Rain. I was hoping that experience earned from these two games would result in an improved product, and to an extent it is indeed a better game in some areas.
The positives of Beyond is mainly in the presentation. The graphics - particularly the human faces - are much improved from the Uncanny Valley effect faces in Heavy Rain suffered from. It is easily Quantic's best game yet in terms of visual depth. Praise also needs to be given to the smart casting of Elliot Page and Willem Dafoe. The acting talent of these two makes nearly any scene watchable if not interesting, and the rest of the cast are usually superior to the FakeAmericans seen in Quantic's earlier works. I'm relieved to see that the treatment of Page's character is not as exploitative as Madison in Heavy Rain, though it still feels the need to have some very uncomfortable scenes should the player make certain choices. I wish Quantic Dream would stop this obsession with putting its female leads through borderline fetishistic scenarios in every game.
Unfortunately, this game still has all the base writing issues that harmed Quantic's past games, not the least is a poorly done romance arc that can't decide if it is optional and a third act that flies completely off-rails into a Cliché Storm. Beyond further compounds its plot issues with a non-linear editing style that appears to be a Homage to Memento. This non-linear plotting in Memento worked because it had a clear explanation why this was done from the start, and provided anchor points that kept every scene in perspective. Beyond has no such anchors and the reason for this isn't given until the ending. This ordering of scenes makes it very easy to lose track of the plot, it harms the emotional impact of a number of otherwise well-done scenes, and muddles the choices that are meaningful. I have not been able to play the Playstation 4 version, which supposedly allows players to play through the game in chronological order, so I cannot say if the plot is stronger in that case.
In gameplay, the game's QTE controls end up rather clumsy in practice, with the motion controls being the biggest offender by far. While I understand the game wants to be as cinematic and immersive as possible, a more conventional control scheme might have helped. The ways the game bends to prevent game overs can be absurd. I personally think the reaction to Cage's "Game overs are a failure of the game designer" comment overblown, but finding that there are virtually no consequences for failure can kill the tension to many action scenes once you know you can't really fail them.
I hope that Quantic Dream's next game, Detroit: Become Human, can show the studio at its best.
Acted well, but questionably written
Beyond is Quantic Dream and David Cage's third crack at cinematic adventure games, following on Fahrenheit and Heavy Rain. I was hoping that experience earned from these two games would result in an improved product, and to an extent it is indeed a better game in some areas.
The positives of Beyond is mainly in the presentation. The graphics - particularly the human faces - are much improved from the Uncanny Valley effect faces in Heavy Rain suffered from. It is easily Quantic's best game yet in terms of visual depth. Praise also needs to be given to the smart casting of Elliot Page and Willem Dafoe. The acting talent of these two makes nearly any scene watchable if not interesting, and the rest of the cast are usually superior to the FakeAmericans seen in Quantic's earlier works. I'm relieved to see that the treatment of Page's character is not as exploitative as Madison in Heavy Rain, though it still feels the need to have some very uncomfortable scenes should the player make certain choices. I wish Quantic Dream would stop this obsession with putting its female leads through borderline fetishistic scenarios in every game.
Unfortunately, this game still has all the base writing issues that harmed Quantic's past games, not the least is a poorly done romance arc that can't decide if it is optional and a third act that flies completely off-rails into a Cliché Storm. Beyond further compounds its plot issues with a non-linear editing style that appears to be a Homage to Memento. This non-linear plotting in Memento worked because it had a clear explanation why this was done from the start, and provided anchor points that kept every scene in perspective. Beyond has no such anchors and the reason for this isn't given until the ending. This ordering of scenes makes it very easy to lose track of the plot, it harms the emotional impact of a number of otherwise well-done scenes, and muddles the choices that are meaningful. I have not been able to play the Playstation 4 version, which supposedly allows players to play through the game in chronological order, so I cannot say if the plot is stronger in that case.
In gameplay, the game's QTE controls end up rather clumsy in practice, with the motion controls being the biggest offender by far. While I understand the game wants to be as cinematic and immersive as possible, a more conventional control scheme might have helped. The ways the game bends to prevent game overs can be absurd. I personally think the reaction to Cage's "Game overs are a failure of the game designer" comment overblown, but finding that there are virtually no consequences for failure can kill the tension to many action scenes once you know you can't really fail them.
I hope that Quantic Dream's next game, Detroit: Become Human, can show the studio at its best.