14 DAY TRIAL // One of the big criticisms that was leveled at Beyond: Two Souls when it was launched was that the game did not offer any actual choice, with the core elements of the story moving in the same direction regardless of the input coming from a player.
Developer Quantic Dream gives some major plot points away pretty quickly and some of the scenes that follow main character Jodie Holmes during the early childhood have been described as lifeless.
Regardless, I believe that Beyond is the kind of game where the journey is more important that the final destination.
I cared deeply about the protagonist and I never wanted her to do something that I felt was outside of the personality I had created for her.
My Jodie was not shy about using her entity and its powers to punish those who made fun of her or challenged her, because she knew that the world was filled with individuals that could not understand her plight and would not even make the effort.
But she was also gentle and understanding of the failings of humanity, which she shared, and was quick to help strangers as long as she had the resources to do so.
I saw glimpses of another Jodie that I could have guided through Beyond: Two Souls and I even did a few things I was not proud off when I was forced to survive on the street.
The trick that Quantic Dream manages to perform is to make the limited freedom of the player more important than it really is, investing a simple click of a button that delivers a shrug with more meaning than whole levels filled with lead in first-person shooters.
I lack the time at the moment, but I plan to re-play through Beyond later in the year in order to test out some alternative paths for Jodie Holmes.