More often than not, I wound pushing the stick in the wrong direction вЂ“ because it would LOOK like Jodie was leaning back when really I was supposed to press forward so that she could reach out and grab the arm of an assailant.ДЄgain, much like Heavy RainвЂs press-multiple-buttons-to-not-die controls, BeyondвЂs control system was not an intuitive experience. In particular, during the combat sequences when the action drops into slow motion (prompting the player to act), I was told all I needed to do was push the left stick in the direction Jodie was already moving to complete the action (back to dodge, forward to block, etc.). I can say that while everything looked movie-quality good, the actual experience of trying to press the right button or press the right stick at the correct time was pretty miserable. While possessing people, Aiden controls like Jodie вЂ“ with the right stickвЂ™s contextual interactions, white dots and subtle button icons to prompt the player to take action.Д«ecause Beyond: Two Souls is supposed to be a cinematic experience, I find it impossible to evaluate this game based on being dropped in the middle of the story. From these instructions, I learned that Jodie can only really use the right stick and sometimes a controller button to interact with the world around her (and itвЂ™s contextual based on whatвЂ™s going on in the game) while Aiden has a fixed set of controls (hold down shoulder buttons and move left and right stick out or in) that cause him to possess people, choke people or otherwise kill whatever he touches. Even so, itвЂ™s Aiden that does most of her killing for her, provided Jodie is close enough to an enemy to deploy him.ДЄt this point in the game, the controls likely wouldвЂ™ve been communicated to the player completely вЂ“ but as this is a drop-in demo, additional tutorial UI was added for our benefit. At this point in the story вЂ“ maybe halfway through the game вЂ“ Jodie is a trained CIA operative and has training with guns, knives and close-quarters combat moves. The demo covers a level about halfway through the game where Jodie вЂ“ along with her spirit companion Aiden (pronounced вЂњEye-DanвЂќ for no apparent reason) вЂ“ is trying to get through a war-torn African nation alongside a child soldier native to the region.

The story of the game, which spans JodieвЂ™s life from age 8 to age 23, is the real вЂњpointвЂќ of the experience and the UI takes a backseat to the player witnessing that story unfold.

There is very little user interface to speak of вЂ“ even less than the hovering words in Heavy Rain вЂ“ with Beyond players only seeing subtle white dots, the occasional button or controller icon, or a slow down in an action sequence as invitations to actually do something. Similar to Heavy Rain, the вЂњplayвЂќ aspect of Beyond is limited to choice-making with button presses and controller motions expressing those choices.

Zero punctuation beyond two souls