I wrote a long review, but then I accidentally deleted it:
Pros:
- The acting is really genuine and well done for the most part.
- Some of the moments between Aiden and Jodie are great (shadow puppets, for instance)
- Some action sequences are interesting (most of the stuff with the paramilitary team/train/etc)
- Some of the other missions are interesting (throwing snowballs, the embassy mission, etc)
Cons:
- The controls fought me from the start.
- Really? She nearly starves in a cold climate before nearly starving in a hot climate? Does she not understand how seasons work?
- Between the plight of the homeless, the plight of Native Americans, and the plight of child soldiers, the game is a tad bit preachy. By a tad, I mean a whole lot, to its own detriment.
- They seem to have figured out that the "infraworld" (groan) is the land of the dead/some sort of limbo/etc, but no one asks Aiden if there is a God, what it's like to be dead, etc. People are only interested in opening portals for military reasons, but the whole "chaining dead people to soldiers" thing never really seemed like a plan anyone would have come up with. They never show any of them either, even though that could have been an interesting obstacle between Jodie and shutting down the condenser.
- The writing was pretty bad. I had specific examples, but alas, those are gone. The writing for childhood Jodie was probably some of the worst for me, with her not being believable as a child at all. I know she's growing up fast thanks to the monsters and such, but we see another child in Africa who actually acts like a child and the difference is jarring.
- Two menus of endgame options? Really? In Heavy Rain, you could fuck up a button press and end up with a different ending. That's how I remember it anyway. If those are rose tinted glasses, I digress. The menu's didn't suit BTS though, and the tension melted away when I was given all the time I wanted to choose.
- Speaking of tension, all tension was gone due to the narrative structure of the story. By the time anyone I cared about (Cole) was in mortal danger, I knew that "death" wasn't really that horrible (Nathan blows his brains out and then shows up in a clearly better place). The characters I met along the way felt very exploitative (pregnant woman, Native Americans, child soldier) and I didn't care if any of them lived or died. Honestly, I felt more like I was along for the ride and not as if I were actively influencing what was happening as often as I'd have liked.
- Dafoe heel turn. It had to happen, I guess.
I gave the game an 8.5/10 in the other thread, and I stick by that. There's no reason why the controls have to be borked this long after the invention of the dual analog stick controller and the 3D third person game. Instead of a choose your own adventure game, this was more of a choose your ending game, and that didn't sit well with me. The acting was great though, and there's clearly something to be said of getting real actors and teams like Quantic together. Now if only someone could write a better scenario and nail the controls. I don't think I'm being unreasonable at all for dinging them for either misstep.
Yeah I cared too much about the character to choose anything other than life. Dont see how anyone could choose death other than just to watch all the endings. She's had a hard life especially if you make some of the rougher choices in the game though..
I chose life as well, even though seeing a clearly happier Nathan made that a difficult choice. For some reason, I chose Ryan just based on the other two options being unappealing to me (back with the homeless to improve their lot I guess, or back with the Navajo to do the same. Either way seemed like kind of a terrible life, and I knew whoever she was with wouldn't be safe for long anyway).
now what the hell is up with that ending? is David cage really going to do a sequel? Also I noticed in the credits there is someone standing at Jodies side compared to my ending where I was just staring at the rift in three future alone.
I really think the ending is just acknowledgement that Pandora's Box has been opened, and not necessarily setup for a sequel. I don't think a sequel is likely, unless there's just a surge of demand for it. That person you saw by her side was probably Ryan, because that's who was there in my game. Maybe that changes slightly depending on different things.
I spoke to damn soon on that Lol just got the brothers message in the sand on the beach and I smiled again.
That was one of my favorite moments in the game. Them communicating (instead of her talking at him) could have been a lot bigger part.
About the sex scene, I did nothing special (cleaning, cooking, sexy clothes) and got it.
I tried to make it happen and couldn't. Sexy clothes, cleaned, cooked, and she freaked out about what happened in the bar years ago. I wasn't that distraught.