1362: Caged Animal

I like David Cage’s stuff, and I’m not ashamed to say that.

I shouldn’t have to point that out, really, but it seems it’s become rather fashionable to bash Cage’s work in journalist/critic circles recently and frankly I’m not altogether sure why — it seems to be one of those things that has just become accepted without much argument. Fahrenheit, Heavy Rain and now Beyond: Two Souls all have their flaws, sure, but they’re also some of the most genuinely impressive interactive stories I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing through. (I haven’t finished Beyond yet, but given that it’s had me absolutely glued to the screen for the last several hours, I feel I can say that with some confidence.)

Let’s talk about Beyond, because it’s had enormously mixed reviews.

Beyond is the spiritual successor to both Heavy Rain and Fahrenheit in that it combines Heavy Rain’s realistic appearance with the more supernatural aspects of Fahrenheit’s narrative. It’s got a peculiar structure in that it jumps back and forth in time rather than unfolding chronologically like Heavy Rain, but there is at least a narrative framing device in place to justify it. (Whether or not you think it’s a good narrative framing device is a matter of opinion, but I have no objections to it.)

Like its predecessors, Beyond is an interactive movie above all else. That is, this is largely David Cage’s story, and you have the opportunity to influence it along the way with your action or inaction rather than having complete freedom. In this sense, it is more like a fully animated visual novel than a traditional “game” per se, and the experience is crammed full of contextual actions and quick-time events. These are, much like the interactive movie style as a whole, very much a matter of taste.

One of the most common complaints levelled at Cage’s work is that he might as well be making movies. He might, since he’s clearly a talented director and cinematographer, even if — arguably — his writing skills don’t quite match. However, I’ve still found all his works considerably more interesting, enjoyable and engaging than a traditional movie for the simple fact that even the relatively limited interaction offered by contextual actions and quick-time events means that you’re involved in the game. You’re physically doing things to participate in the game; perhaps you’re not controlling the character with complete freedom, but that doesn’t matter — you’re determining whether they succeed or fail at something, and you’re making choices that actually have an impact. It’s the same reason a visual novel, where 90% of the “gameplay” is you pressing a button to advance the text, can still be compelling.

This isn’t to put down games with strong emergent narrative or freedom to do as you please, of course — my recent stories about Grand Theft Auto V should be enough to convince you of that — but as a card-carrying narrative junkie, I’d always, always much rather play a game with a strong, pre-composed story and perhaps limited freedom than something where I have the ability to go completely off-piste and run riot.

Short version: if you liked Cage’s past work, you should most definitely pick up a copy of Beyond: Two Souls. More thoughts — both here and at USgamer — when I’ve actually beaten it.