Will Beyond Two Souls go Beyond the boundaries of video games? Reviews say otherwise…

Beyond Two Souls review embargo was just lifted. It received a very mixed set of reviews with scores ranging from 4/10 to 10/10. Why is it receiving such a polarizing opinion? Should this even matter how much it scores on some fixed scale? In Quantic Dream’s Co-CEO’s own words “Play and discuss it! Worth a 5/10 or 10/10?”.

[GarrusVakarian]

To hell with the reviews, from the demo and the footage ive seen on YouTube, i know with all certainty that i will love this game.

As i said before, its an acquired taste.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

@Lukas it is an acquired taste.

To me it seems like some reviewers don't want to like it because its not a traditional game. Which is funny because they can't bash the graphics, acting, characters and the overall presentation a.

I mean honestly they reviewed Heavy rain you would think they'd be prepared to review a game with a similar cinematic and gameplay concept.

At the end of the day, if you like David Cage's game you will like his work.

[ginsunuva]

Exactly, who cares if it's not a "traditional game."

As long as it's quality entertainment, I don't see the problem.

We're paying to be entertained, so it doesn't really matter how that entertainment is delivered.

[Xsilver]

"The bottom line here is: If you loved Quantic Dream’s previous work like Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain and managed to like the Demo, forget the review scores, just go and buy the game. Don't let the opinion of others distract you."

that all i needed to hear.

[JsonHenry]

I loved Indigo Prophecy! This game is sold!

[Mr-Dude]

I don't care about reviews. The game is awesome but the point is that it's different and not everybody likes these games. Some people like the zombie brainless yearly shooters... and people with taste buy these games

[admiralvic]

"Some people like the zombie brainless yearly shooters... and people with taste buy these games"

No need to be an ***hole and claim that you're better than anyone else. The thing some people (like you) need to understand, is that "taste" is a conceptual thing, which is going to be different from person to person.

It's not like you're a cultured gamer because you rather play .Detuned, Ico, SOTC, Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, Journey, nor do you become a uncultured gamer by playing Mario, Zelda, Disgaea, Final Fantasy, Call of Duty, or Grand Theft Auto. In fact, you're probably going to see some GTA fans that loved some of those "cultured" games and vice versa. In the end, people deserve to have a choice and don't deserve to have their choice pissed on because you or anyone else thinks it's low class in comparison to other games.

[Mr-Dude]

I don;t feel better than anybody else, maybe you need to check on yourself before calling other people an ***hole. That's my point of view dude..

[_QQ_]

"Some people like the zombie brainless yearly shooters... and people with taste buy these games"

you realize the main criticism for this game from the negative reviews is that other than ellen paige the acting sucks. The timeline jumble is a failed pulp fiction attempt, along with the fact that the game focuses more on hollywood theatrics over a meaningful story... so why don't you take your so called "refined taste" and shove it up high because from what reviews say this would be a C movie, B movie at best. This game is pretty much trying to be a movie so let it be judged like a movie. saying you have taste because you play these games is like saying you are highclass because you drink walmart Wine.

[Mr-Dude]

Clearly people feel like they are dirty peasants or something... Or feel offendend. If that is the case, then my apologies... Jesus...

[LoveOfTheGame]

Look at Mr. High and Mighty here. He's got more taste than any of us peasants of gaming do.

We should clearly bow down to his opinion as we would be much better off to listen to someone who has class.

Your statement might be the most asinine and ignorant thing I have read on this site, and that's even with Kotaku still showing up on here.

Edit: Saw your apology, Kinda lol, I don't think any of us were offended, but if the others are like me they just don't like people thinking they are better than others for their "taste"; clothes, movies, games, etc. If you didn't mean to put yourself above others then I apologize for our statements.

[Mr-Dude]

congratulations!

[admiralvic]

I don't see why so many feel a need to address this in the first place. It was a given from the start that this game would not appeal to everyone (perhaps even most people) and this is exactly what we're seeing. Everything from the demo, impressions, reviews, comments pointed to this exact thing happening, which makes me wonder why it needs to be addressed.

In the end, Beyond can push the boundaries and get nothing, but 1/10's, since praise and pushing the boundaries do not go hand and hand. In fact, the low scores seem to support this, as change is usually met with resistance and many people apply what they want in a game against it. Like I am willing to bet more of the low scores are about it not being a type of game they wanted, than the game being buggy, controls being dreadful (though I didn't care for them in the demo) and the story being terrible.

[SeraphimBlade]

I wasn't expecting anything mind-blowing or industry-changing. All I know is Quantic's games tend to be up my alley, once you get through the pretentiousness.

[tigertron]

I thought the demo was excellent and I'm a big fan of Heavy Rain, so I'm really looking forward to Friday. I don't care if people say otherwise.

[strigoi814]

coz beyond two souls isnt your FPS game...thats why its getting low scores and somehow mixed reviews. only open minded gamers can appreciate this kind of genre...

[Heisenburger]

While of course you have to be open minded to appreciate games such as this, I hope that you aren't implying that people who do not enjoy it are close minded.

Ot: I really enjoyed Heavy Rain, and I loved the demo for Beyond. I'm very excited to play it later this evening.

[Bundi]

TLoU must have been a massively generic FPS cause a lot f reviewers loved it...your logic.

[ruefrak]

The only review that matters is how much money the game makes. If people buy it and enjoy it, then it's a successful game.

Opinions from people who dedicate their entire lives to playing games has to be taken with a grain of salt. I bought The Walking Dead because of all the rave reviews of it and for me it was so bad that I wanted to rip my eyeballs out while playing it. I forced myself to finish it because I wanted the Platinum, but if I was scoring it, I'd give it a 2/10.

[_QQ_]

LOL there were 2 walking dead games which one did you play? just curious. i haven't played either but the latest on was a disaster and poorly received

[admiralvic]

"I bought The Walking Dead because of all the rave reviews "

I don't recall a single Survival Instinct review above 6, so this is obviously the Telltale game.

"I forced myself to finish it because I wanted the Platinum"

Finishing the Telltale version gives a platinum (if I recall correctly), so this is 100% about the Telltale point and click game that won GOTY awards (which is closer to this topic too) and not SI.

[_QQ_]

yeah i just thought it would be funny if he played SI thinking it was telltale not knowing that there was 2 games.

[BabyTownFrolics]

"What’s particularly patronizing is that it often doesn’t matter what you do during an extended interactive sequence. As an experiment we just put the controller down and didn’t do anything through two of the major fight scenes and we won anyway, just in less glorious fashion."

http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/...

While I will still most likely play the game at some point its stuff like this that turns me off. Same as it would for any game that rely on quicktime events.

For anyone who has played it, how is it compared to Heavy Rain, which I loved.

[Sketchy_Galore]

Sadly I might wait because from the sound of it I would probably find myself siding with the lower reviews even though I was really starting to hope this game might be great. I really enjoyed the first sections of the demo but really didn't like the cheesy blockbuster action sequence it ended with, especially since the gameplay became 'hunt the blue dots' without even any puzzle element I could see. The main criticism I've read so far also seems to be hamfisted cheeseball writing which was my biggest problem with David Cage's past projects and my biggest worry about this one.

[wishingW3L]

the more unique a game is the harder it is to review it because is such a departure from the more traditional approach that we are so used to. Some will love its uniqueness while other will hate it for not being what they expected.

That's why games like Call of Duty and Pokemon get good scores even though they are all the same. Because those game don't go out of our comfort zone.

[Bundi]

That's why LBP got such poor rev OH WAIT!!