Context of Practice AAA Research: Beyond Two Souls

The next game that I wanted to look at was Beyond Two Souls, which is an interactive drama action-adventure game developed in 2013 by the same people who made Heavy Rain. You play as two characters, either Jodie Holmes or the ghost named Aiden, a seperate soul who has been linked to Jodie since birth. The game is told in a non-linear narrative, so the story is told out of order, and
you watch as Jodie's life unfolds around her and how she has to deal with growing up with this spirit inside her, and then how she has to deal with events in the army that lead to her becoming homeless.

It's a brilliant story that is all jumbled up and explained in full at the end, as you realise how all of the events tie together and how difficult Jodie's life actually is because of Aiden. But in truthfulness, Aiden is actually there is help here, whenever she is in trouble he has always got her out and made her safe, but is still the reason why she is going through such a difficult time as well. The character of Jodie though isn't particularly unique in anyway, she is pretty normal looking and doesn't really have anything special about her, making her a forgetful and unrecognisable character to many who don't know the game. Even if you had never played Tomb Raider you would still know Lara Croft when you see her.

But even though the character isn't actually that good, along with the rest of them, the environments are absolutely stunning. They are beautiful and you can get lost in them so easily due to how perfect they are. Due to the fact that this game is very cinematic and doesn't have any really action packed scenes means that it can concentrate solely on cinematography, following the character at certain camera angles so to get the best angle without compromising the gameplay as it still follows the character, and due to the fact that you hardly ever move faster than walking speed it works really well as it shows off not only the beauty of the game but the stunning background and how every little detail has been added into it.

This is a fantastic game to look at for this module as it includes such wonderful little detail in the huge environments and the story-driven focus makes it even better. The story that drives the game is so focused on what its doing and works so well to draw the audience in and engage them in Jodie's life, even if it is depressing and suicidal. Its the kind of game that you can play in a relaxing mood as you can become the character for a while, making the decisions for her and deciding her fate, as once again like heavy rain, your choices matter, and you can choose how you act towards people.