Tag: paranormal romance

Recently, the crazy Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals we had here in the States afforded me the chance to buy and play a couple of games that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise: Sweet Fuse: At Your Side, an otome visual novel localized by Aksys Games (the same people who localized Hakuouki, one of my favorite VNs and anime series) and Beyond: Two Souls by Quantic Dream (the same company behind Heavy Rain and Indigo Prophecy, both great games where your choices determine the outcome of the story).

I expected Beyond to be good, and it was just as visually stunning and beautifully written as I expected. However, I wasn’t expecting much from Sweet Fuse other than some brief entertainment, and instead I was pleasantly surprised because it turned out to be much deeper than the setting let on.

The short story is that if you haven’t played these games, GO OUT AND PLAY THEM! Seriously, if you like games with strong female protagonists who aren’t painfully stereotyped “strong independent women who don’t need no man,” or if you just like visual novel-esque games with romantic elements, then you will like these games.

If you want more reasons to like them, or if you’re just curious as to my thoughts, then keep reading. Minor spoilers!

Since I played Beyond first (after standing in line for two hours at GameStop on Black Friday), I’ll start with my thoughts on it.

First, let me just put this out there: I love Jodie, the main character. She’s painfully awkward in most situations, she’s a total drama queen, and she relies on Aiden (the source of her psychic-y powers) way too much, but I freakin’ love her because she’s just so… human.

There are definitely times when she is brave and strong – for instance, when she faces a building full of monsters (with the bodies of brutally murdered scientists and soldiers strewn across the floor) alone, or when she sucks it up and works her ass off training for the CIA even though it wasn’t her choice to join. But there also times when her weakness shows, like when she throws angry fits or breaks down during missions (or puts her faith in the wrong people…). She can kick ass and take names when she wants to, but for the most part, she doesn’t – she just wants to do the right thing, and live as normal a life as possible. Ultimately, she’s just so vulnerable and genuine that you can’t help but feel for her, even if you’re like me and roll your eyes at some of the stupid things she does sometimes.

Gameplay

The game is essentially a play-through movie. In between the (awesomely cinematic) cutscenes, you move your character around and investigate things (or perform certain tasks if it calls for it). Not only do you control Jodie, but you also control Aiden, a spiritual entity connected to Jodie who can do typical poltergeist things like making objects shake, making lights/electronics flicker/static, briefly possessing people, etc. To progress through each chapter, each representing one of Jodie’s memories, you have to utilize both Jodie and Aiden’s skills to explore, solve puzzles, and take out enemies.

Where the story can change slightly is through choices you make during dialogue (though most dialogue choices don’t seem to dramatically affect the outcome of scenes) and by how well you do in quick-time events. If you’re unfamiliar with Quantic Dream’s games, quick-time events comprise fighting and action scenes, and require you to press the right button at the right time. Failing these events generally doesn’t end in game over, but rather affects the story by letting certain characters die or leading to different scenes (or just making you wince as poor Jodie lets out a cry of pain BECAUSE A GIANT MONSTER JUST STABBED HER IN THE LEG WITH A BIG BLACK TENTACLE – GOOD JOB).

Personally, I appreciate these kind of gameplay-light games because I’m not that great at games that require a lot of coordination and skill. And in this case, I liked that Jodie’s strength wasn’t based on her physical abilities (though her takedown sequences are pretty badass), but rather on her mental abilities – using Aiden to solve puzzles of locked doors or missing items, or using stealth to avoid enemies or take them out before they see you.

Romance

There are opportunities to engage in several relationships over the course of the game, some of which are more important and dramatic than others (*cough*Ryan*cough*). I thought it was nice that the game actually did give you a bit of a choice in which romance to pursue to the end rather than forcing one on you, along with the choice to forgo the romantic ending altogether and meet up with an old friend (and live with her and her baby) instead.

I’ve only played through once so far, and during my playthrough, I was determined to end up with Jay, the hot Native American boy, after I played his chapter. The other romantic option was Ryan, who was obviously the main love interest, but he was such a jerk during his introduction scene that I was like “F* you” and made it my job to break his heart as many times as humanly possible (“I don’t care if you’re freezing to death, I HATE YOU AND I ALWAYS HAVE, SO STOP PROCLAIMING YOUR LOVE TO ME, YOU JERKFACE”). However, after completing the game and having a not-so-satisfying ending with Jay (it was just a silent “Welcome back” followed by a brief after-sex scene…which, while I appreciated seeing Jay all hot and nearly naked, had no actual interaction and was thus pretty lame from a romantic standpoint), and after seeing Ryan’s generous and unconditional love for Jodie, I think I’ll pursue him in my next playthough.

Jodie’s relationships with the boys weren’t really that important, though. Her relationship with Aiden, who is such an important part of her and who she is, and her relationship with the doctor, Nathan, who acts as her surrogate father for most of the story, are so much more important. I could rant forever about her relationship with Nathan and whether he ever actually cared about her or not, but I’ll leave that for another time (if anyone is curious, though, feel free to ask about it).

Recommendation

Honestly, though I thoroughly enjoyed it, the game is pretty short – it only took me a day to beat it – and the plot is a bit muddled and confusing (especially for the first half when you still have no idea what’s going on), so I would suggest either buying the game on sale ($60 is just way too much for such a short game) or renting it.

If you’re a completionist who plans on choosing every single choice and finding every bonus package (some are pretty cool, like a CGI short parodying an RPG), then you might find it more worth the money to buy it. If you’re worried about not liking the gameplay style, try playing Heavy Rain first (it’s been out for a while so it’s cheaper) – if you liked it, then you’ll probably like Beyond. I know I did. 🙂

Feel free to comment or discuss the game with me. I would love to hear your opinions!

Originally posted December 7, 2013 on Tumblr.