Going 'Beyond: Two Souls' On the PlayStation 3
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CREDIT: Quantic Dream |
PlayStation 3 developer Quantic Dream pushed game presentation forward with the dynamic "Heavy Rain" in 2010. And it will again next year with "Beyond: Two Souls." Company president David Cage, who is the writer and director of this stunning game, recently gave us a brief walkthrough of what to expect.
In "Beyond: Two Souls" you play Jodie, a troubled girl, across a 15-year span of her life. She’s on the run from the police for some reason, and throughout this adventure you’ll alternate between controlling her and a secondary spiritual character who aids her in time of need. [Ghost Trick Mobile Mystery Game for iOS] This includes flying through objects to get a view of the area surrounding Jodie, and occasionally taking control of certain things: making an object jump (such as from a coffee cup to a car) or possessing people to create a distraction (such as making a cop crash his car into a guard rail repeatedly as you slip through a police checkpoint).
When you control Jodie, you’ll be prompted to follow on-screen commands to successfully get her through a sequence, highlighted by button presses and occasional directions with a control stick. Do it wrong and she’ll be arrested (though that won’t be the end of the story; you’ll be given a chance to escape captivity).
Quantic Dream has put together startling improvements to its game engine, especially with better character models, bigger environments (your run through a dark forest is one of the game’s key highlights) and weather effects. To make the performances in "Beyond: Two Souls" hit the right pitch, Cage enlisted Academy Award-nominated actress Ellen Page ("Inception,""Juno") to play Jodie, not only providing her dialogue but her emotions and actions, through motion-capture technology.
"Beyond: Two Souls" isn’t scheduled for release until 2013. But it’s definitely shaping up to be a thrilling new game, and considering Quantic Dream’s track record on the PlayStation 3 so far with "Heavy Rain," that should come as no surprise.
