Just finished this game--thought it was great. I loved Heavy Rain but thought this was much better.
I honestly don't quite understand why this game gets beaten down in the reviews. Do all games have to be the same in their ambition, or in the control they afford the gamer? People suggest that an interactive movie/game is a bad thing, but I felt far more connected to Jodie because of it. Doing things like making a Curry dinner or walking around at a house party or deciding to take money from an ATM machine immerse me far more than a typical game, because it makes me factor in the character's mental and emotional state as I make decisions that I feel would be true to the character.
Don't get me wrong, I liked Tomb Raider this year. I was late to the Uncharted series but loved it, especially the second one. But Beyond is a different beast. I'm emotionally invested in the characters on screen, it goes far beyond beating levels, bosses, earning achievements and trophies. This game is about choices, relationships, and at times morals. So I guess people can bash it for being an interactive movie, but to me, that's a massive selling point with these Quantic Dream games. Nathan Drake is cool and Lara Croft is a badass, but I don't care about them beyond their ability to let me have a thrilling video game experience. But I actually cared about Jodie Holmes. I wanted her to be all right and have a good ending. I guess that's the biggest endorsement I can give it: I really cared.
In any other game, if my character is getting his a** kicked, it would be a thrilling action sequence that I'm excited to beat. In Beyond, I'm worried, because I feel those punches much more, and I'm concerned how the story might spin differently if the fight has a negative outcome.
I wonder if part of the negative reviews comes from the fact that you don't die, and maybe people think there's ultimately no consequences for your actions? I don't know how others feel, but I played Tomb Raider before getting into this, and I died quite a lot. What is the consequence, though? You just respawn and play the same sequence over again.
Playing Beyond, the lack of dying only made me feel more connected to the story. Seeing Lara Croft take a spike to the head and thrown off a cliff every 40 mins sort of breaks the immersion and connection with the character, in my opinion.
I'm usually not into the sci-fi or supernatural element, because it always seem to boil down to exploding things whirling around the screen, and this was no different. But I didn't mind it in this one whatsoever.
One thing I would say, if I were to offer up some criticism, is that I think they could've done a better job creating more compelling love interests for Jodie throughout the game. They all didn't have to have the depth of Ryan, but I felt that, by the end of the game, you didn't get enough story on any of the other male love interests outside of Ryan, and I never got the sense that Jodie longed for Jay or anyone else beyond the chapter they were in. So I think that could've been done better, especially due to what the game asks of the gamer at the end (I won't say more than that for others who may play the game).
On another note, anyone know how well this sold domestically and abroad?
