A Gods Will Be Watching Review

Written By: Tyler
Platform Played On: PC

Rating: 6/10
Verdict: It's got an amazing premise, and solid ideas for fun gameplay, but it's unfortunately held back by some poor design choices.

Gods Will Be Watching is the expanded version of a Ludum Dare game. In the original, you were tasked with surviving for forty days by managing your resources, making hard choices and possibly sacrificing people for the greater good. Even though I never played the Ludum Dare version of the game, the level from that version is in this one, and a lot of people were excited for the full game. I was excited too because I thought it looked like a cool idea... the kind of thing that indie games get a lot of recognition for. If it isn't outright innovating in at least some miniscule way, it's doing something that is very uncommon these days.

The concept of the game is that with each chapter, you are thrown into a different environment, with different goals, and you have to control your team in order to successfully complete the mission. This will involve a lot of clicking on the different characters. You will manage them and also keep an eye on the resources you have. There is a lot of variety in the missions, as one has you taking hostages, one has you being tortured, one has you walking through a desert, and much more. 
 

So I started a new game...

I have some pretty negative things to say about the game, but I have to admit that I absolutely adore the premise of the game. I love that the game throws you into a mixture of different kinds of situations and expects you to figure out how to best solve the problems while never holding your hand, and at best, only giving you a little bit of information on how to proceed.

I also give a lot of credit to the artistic side of things. While the pixel-art may turn off some people, and many have proclaimed that Gods Will Be Watching -- and other games of its ilk -- have terrible graphics, you have to compare it to other games with the same style. Because I do that, I can safely say that there was a lot of work put into the visuals and it shows. The characters are about as detailed as they can be, which is an important element because the game relies a lot on visual cues to inform you how the characters are doing. It's a testament to the talent involved that it is usually pretty easy to tell when the people are feeling a certain way.

...then this happened, a few times, and I was very confused.

The environments are varied and beautiful, with a lot done to breathe life into them. You may only see one room at a time, but they are a joy to look at and really add to the atmosphere, especially some of the outdoors levels. The indoor levels do a satisfactory job of making you feel claustrophobic and shut-in, like a survival game should. 


At first I was going to say that while I enjoy the soundtrack, I'm glad I didn't buy package on Steam that included both the game and the soundtrack, but as I write this review I'm listening to some of the tracks on Youtube and I'm changing my tune a little bit. At first I didn't think the music stuck out, but in retrospect it may have been because I was so caught up in making decisions that I didn't pay a lot of attention. Now that I sit here and listen to the songs individually, it's very clear that the music does a good job of (usually) making you feel like you may be going insane. Since the nature of the game is that things get tougher and tougher as they go on, and you're constantly being pushed to the brink, it makes sense that the music reflects that, with a lot of the songs slowly building... like your insanity.


There are minor issues with the game, such as some poor English, but those can be brushed aside because there are flaws that are much bigger; such as the lack of narrative-cohesion and how tedious it gets.               

Gods Will Be Watching attempts to tell a strong narrative but there are some painfully obvious hiccups in that. For the most part the story is fine; you play as a group of people who are trying to stop the "terrorists." It's a game that tries to tell the side of both factions and does a good job of explaining that things aren't black and white in a conflict such as this. I really have no gripes about the plot as a whole, but they've done a terrible job of making your actions have any kind of consequence. You can literally lose a member of your team during a mission and he/she will be there the next mission. I lost Jack during a torture scene, and I was still talking to him during the rest of the chapter. I thought I was just talking to a ghost, and while I think that's a bit of a cheesy mechanic to employ in storytelling, I accepted it. Then in a future chapter, people were talking to him and he was performing tasks like he was alive. I could sacrifice people and they'd just show up next level. This is pretty much unforgivable in a game like this and breaks the immersion immensely. They really needed to fix this because once you figure that out, outside of accomplishing the challenges, who cares if so-and-so dies? And really, the challenges isn't enough glue to hold it together when the game is so story-driven.
 
Take a look at the first image on this page: I picked it for a reason. Unfortunately I chose "Exit Game" more than I would have liked when trying to play through it. I read preview after preview, watched video after video, of professional critics being in awe of how bad the game made them feel, or how intense the missions were. I can see why someone would get sweaty when playing this because it does expect you to multi-task a lot. Ultimately though the game gets bogged down in tedium because a) I don't think the choice-making is that interesting and b) the chapters are too long with no mid-level checkpoints.

You could spend 45 minutes playing a level only to die and have to start it over again because there is no saving in the middle of a chapter. The problem with this is that the game isn't exciting enough to warrant that. The first time you play a mission it's fresh and there's a joy in figuring it out, but then it becomes routine and the choices you make are more static than kinetic, and this gets highlighted when you die. You will end up falling into a pattern at some point, and their solution for that seems to be to add parts in each mission that are insta-death. These are random and there's nothing more frustrating than having to play something for so long only to be killed by something you have absolutely zero control over. The game stresses that you are the master of your own destiny in a lot of ways, but then the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I understand that in real life anything can happen, but this is still a poorly thought-out design choice. With that said, I can get past the random death but I have a much harder time with it when it takes so long just to get back to that point again in a replay.

I kept turning the game off because I just couldn't bring myself to do it again. That's where the game loses probably two points for me, because I can't get past this aspect of the game. There is a great idea in here, but it was implemented poorly.

Gods Will Be Watching had a lot of promise, and some people clearly enjoy this game more than I do. As it stands, it's actually one of the bigger disappointments of the year for me so far. It's only $10 on Steam though, so by all means give it a shot... it may appeal to you more than it did me.

Beyond: Two Souls Review... Man I Love That Movie!

Written By: Tyler Selig

Rating: 9/10

Verdict: Beyond: Two Souls isn’t a game for everybody. It’s very story-driven, and doesn’t always offer the most fascinating gameplay… but for those who want a unique experience and have an open mind, it’s worth every second.

 

Damn, what kind of mess did Ellie find herself in this time?

                Beyond: Two Souls is always going to be a memorable game, whether you love it or hate it. Like Heavy Rain and Indigo: Prophecy before it, Quantic Dream has created an experience that is very story-driven. You’ll notice I said experience and not game, because this is where the controversy is.

                What is a game? What should the focus of a game be? Should the number one priority always be making something that is fun to play? Or can we treat it like a movie, like a serious art form, where cutscenes and story run rampant? People are going to debate that for years to come, as video games have progressed from being simplistic, but amusing, experiences to more complex ones. The answer ultimately depends on personal issues. Nobody is really right or wrong in the argument.

                I’m welcome to all experiences, but if you asked me if I’d prefer a memorable story in a game that is boring, or a shitty story in a game with wicked gameplay, I’d generally go with the latter. Video games are my first love, and I will play them until I die. I am constantly referring to games as art. But on average, I’d much prefer a game that is thrilling to play, because at their core, that’s why I go to a game rather than a movie.

                But I approach all games as they are intended. I was just as excited to play Beyond: Two Souls as I am many other games, because I thought Heavy Rain had one of the better stories ever told in the medium.

               

                Let’s get down to the actual review here.

                The star of the game is Jodie Holmes, a troubled young lady (magnificently played by Ellen Page) who constantly has an entity named Aiden in her presence. The game takes place during fifteen years of her life, with chapters representing each of those times. Beyond: Two Souls runs a gauntlet of tones and even genres during these fifteen years so the last thing you can say about Jodie’s life is that it’s boring, as you play through her as a kid all the way up until she’s an adult. During this time she meets many different people of many different lifestyles that have an impact both positive and negative, and for the most part every chapter is wonderful at fleshing out her as a character.

                The game tells its tale in non-chronological order, and I’ve seen some reviewers say that the plot is hard to follow. I never once had a difficult time understanding what was going on. The chapters are appropriately put on a timeline so as long as you can remember what chapters are what, it’s extremely easy to follow just by that alone.

                The game does do a good job of justifying this storytelling method, however, but I won’t ruin anything. Just know that it does make sense, and it wasn’t merely David Cage flexing his narrative prowess or him attempting to confuse you.

                But what a story it is. For the most part it is extremely compelling, roping me into its world in such a way that very few games have. Whether its Jodie struggling with hauntings as a little girl, to being homeless, to assassinations of warlords, the focus and strength of the game is the story. I felt emotional many times throughout my play through, and the ending hit me like a sack of bricks. Some will criticize the constant tone shifts throughout, but I agree with David Cage’s reasoning behind it when he said that life is full of different tones, it isn’t just one flat note (that’s not an exact quote). This is important because the game isn’t so much about central conflict as it is creating a realistic person, even if what goes on with her is supernatural. Jodie Holmes is a fully realized human being just like Joel and Ellie were in The Last of Us. In fact, while the stories are different and Beyond: Two Souls is more spiritual and elaborate, I’d say the story in Beyond: Two Soul’s is every bit as good as The Last of Us, maybe even a little bit better. Even though David Cage seemingly threw in as many different ideas as he could, this is his most focused narrative yet.

                Beyond: Two Souls is touted as an interactive drama, and that’s mostly true. It’s clear it’s pushing video games as close to film as it can before it actually becomes a movie and gets played in cinemas instead of at home.

It has an epic score composed by Lorne Balfe and produced by Hans Zimmer, which would feel at home in any movie of this type. The songs are beautifully constructed, and are able to induce sadness, panic, and horror, among other emotions.

It is a beautiful looking game graphically, with realistic movement due to the amazing motion capturing that they did. They put their work in to make it look visually appealing and you know, like a movie.

That’s where the problem lies with some people. “It’s not fun to play,” they say. They condemn it for “being a movie.” I get this criticism, but I’ll come to the aid of the game somewhat in this regard. It’s true that the game is light on actual game play. There are many times that the game play just consists of quick-time events, or merely pressing up with no freedom to go or do elsewhere. The game is extremely linear though I feel that’s understandable as to not break the narrative flow. However, they did include a neat mechanic of Aiden, being able to float through walls and do other things to help Jodie out. The problem is, this is such a cool idea and it’s always very obvious what you have to do as the game doesn’t allow you to explore and solve any puzzles. It’s as simple as finding the dot, pressing the control sticks in the way that the game tells you to, and ta-da, you’ve progressed.

It’s definitely something to criticize or at the very least put out in the open for people to judge for themselves, but it doesn’t bother me nearly as much as others. I was so into the story that it allowed me to overlook that, and other flaws such as a sometimes irritating camera, which made it hard to walk into rooms on occasion. Or the fact that it’s almost impossible to die, which again, is a minor annoyance but I understand what they were trying to do. These are issues that may bother certain gamers, and it’s understandable, but you approach a game like this in a different way than you do a game like, say, Battlefield.

Honestly? Just wanted a reason to post a picture of Ellen Page.

When you break it down, Beyond: Two Souls is what I call “gameplay-lite.” I firmly believe that this is a step in the right direction for Quantic Dream making a game that manages to blend story and gameplay in a classic way. Nowhere is this more obvious than the aforementioned assassination of a warlord chapter. They throw you into a foreign territory, and your objective is to sneak in. This is classic stealth gameplay, but it doesn’t go as far as it can. While you can freely move, the path is linear, and the game holds your hand in regards to taking out the enemies. Oh, and forget about shooting enemies when you want, because that’s pretty much scripted as well and you don’t actually get to aim. So while you have a lot of moments where the gameplay again is simply pressing the right stick over, or rapidly tapping X, there are moments where it genuinely feels like they attempted to “make a game.”

Beyond: Two Souls is a flawed game, but it’s one of those flawed games that come along every so often where despite the problems I have with it, I am in love with it. With some games, it does something so well that the issues I do have with it seem so minor. In this case, the story is above so many games that it’s unreal. I can still rate this a 9 because when I was done playing it, I thought, “Wow.” It’s the type of game that will stay with me.

But in closing, I will say this: I sincerely hope that Quantic Dream decide to put some emphasis on fleshing out their gameplay mechanics for their next one. At the end of the day, I appreciate the shit out of what they accomplished here, but games are going to be games, and I want to play. Give me an amazing story, give me astounding gameplay. I don’t know why I kept thinking of The Last of Us while I played -- maybe because of the controversy with Ellen Page and Elli -- but that’s why The Last of Us deserves a 10/10 and this is a (solid) 9.

'Cause I Gotta Have Faith-a-Faith-a-Faith... The Wolf Among Us Episode 1 - Faith Review

Written By: Tyler Selig

Rating: 8.5/10

Verdict: Episode 1- Faith treats us to a compelling story and an incredible first episode, where the choices you make matter.

"Where is it? Where is my Lorde CD?"

I am going to start this off by throwing out a blasphemy. I have never played The Walking Dead. My reasons are ignorant, but I never played it, so I had no idea what I was getting into in The Wolf Among Us. I heard great things about the developers and The Walking Dead, but I avoided videos and articles about the game. I went in mostly blind.

                I also never read Fables. It has always been one of those comic book series that I put on my “To Read” list, but haven’t gotten around to actually checking that one off.

                You play as Bigby, who is the Big Bad Wolf, only now he is a Sheriff. He has put all the bad things he did in the past behind him and is now trying to help people out. The game starts with you meeting Faith, a prostitute who eventually meets an untimely death. So of course, Bigby wants to know what happened to here, and the rest of Episode 1 consists of you putting on your detective hat to solve the case. From that point on, you meet a compelling cast of characters from fables of all sorts, and each interaction is intriguing.

                The main draw of The Wolf Among Us is the decision making, and it succeeded in making me feel like every question I was asked was important. Whether it’s being aggressive, or saying nothing, I thought hard – in the small amount of time it gave me, which is important because it forces you to make hard choices on the fly – about every decision I made. I was always at the edge of my seat in anticipation of how what I decided would impact the world around me and my relationships with other characters.

                An adventure game with a focus on decision making could end badly if you don’t feel that how you react is important in some way. If you can’t guess it from what I said above, Faith gets it right in a big bad way. Ultimately there is a story arc that the game will follow, but how you go about your business will change things to some degree.

                Since the first episode falls within the hardboiled detective genre, it only feels right that the game is sufficiently dark. From the way characters talk to one another, to the moody comic book visuals, and to the music which admittedly ended up subtly drawing me into the situation rather than bringing attention to itself, TellTale has done everything they could to make you believe in the world you’re inhabiting for this short period of time (though there are more episodes on the way).

                Like Beyond: Two Souls (review coming in the near future), the game is pretty heavy on making you watch, outside of some periods where you can walk around in a limited area. However, the story never fails to be interesting and the questions you get asked making you keep your hands on the controller or keyboard and mouse, because you only have a set period of time to answer most of them. So you’re always involved.
               There are slight technical problems, frame-rate hiccups during transitions for example, but they really aren’t a big deal and I can’t understand anybody making a big deal out of them. Still, as a reviewer, I feel it is my duty to at least point it out.
               Sometimes they throw in fight scenes and these are a blast, despite the fact that you don’t actually move Bigby. Fight scenes consist mostly of QTEs… move left, move right, press up, down, press a button repeatedly. I’m not big into the whole QTE movement, but Episode 1 makes fights action packed by allowing you to move your cursor to objects that are highlighted. What this means is that you could be fighting someone and you have a choice to hit them with a glass, shove them into a wall, etc. This little touch does make you feel more engrossed in the actions on screen.

                Faith is a wonderful first episode, and it ends with such a heart-wrenching scene that I can’t wait to play the next one. Fans of this genre take heed, because this is something to keep an eye on.