Beyond: Two Souls and IOS Games

Beyond: Two Souls

I really liked David Cage's last game Heavy Rain.  It was more like interactive fiction than an actual game.  Most of the time was spent watching an interesting story unfold and at times it asked you to complete certain actions.  These actions did have consequences though, based on how and what you performed it would alter the story.  There were no game over screens or loading from a checkpoint to retry, the choices were final and sometimes a character you controlled would die and that would end their story arc, so most people's experiences were different.  It was a novel idea that I really liked in a story based game.  If you haven't played Heavy Rain I highly recommend it, they did add move support after I finished the game so I may replay sometime.  

His latest game is similar in that it's more of an interactive story than constant twitch actions with a controller, there is even support for controlling the game with a phone or tablet.  The story has you playing a teenage girl which looks very similar to the girl in The Last of Us.  Ellen Page is the voice lead in this game and they even use her real likeness, the facial graphics are superb and you can really tell emotions of the character by her expressions.   She is not the only character you control, she has a 'friend" who is a supernatural character that is tied to her through what looks like a magic blue umbilical chord.  He is like a ghost in that no one can see him, he can move through walls but is able to interact with the environment and take control of certain characters.

So far I've put in about 5 hours and it's been great.  The story is intriguing and I don't mind that I'm basically watching a movie with some interaction.  There is combat in the game and when it occurs time slows down and you just press a direction, sometimes it's hard to tell which direction, but I don't think there are fail states so you just get a tweaked action section based on your performance.  Ellen Page does a great job and they also have William Defoe as her doctor so the acting is very well done.  The story is told from different points in time so it keeps things interesting and guessing how she got in certain situations.  The game has gotten very mixed reviews, most are low to middle, while some are quite high.  Some people will be turned off by the main character being a girl, but I've liked the fact that I'm able see the world a bit differently.  If you liked Heavy Rain then you should give this game a shot.

IOS Games

Dead Mans Draw  -  Awesome card game that has me hooked.  It's solo only and has a lot of luck involved but there is enough strategy to keep things interesting.  Highly recommend.

Marvel Puzzle Quest - It's Puzzle quest but with Marvel Heroes.  It F2P and has micro transactions so I haven't spent too much time with it yet as characters have cool downs unless you pay. 

Wits and Wagers - It's a version of the board game where the questions have numerical answers and you bet which player has the closest answer.  It's pretty fun and is played solo but if your friends play the game it takes their answers and uses them in your game.