Developer: Quantic Dream
Genre: Action-Adventure
Available For: Playstation 3
Release Date: US – October 8th/ EU – October 11th
Quantic Dream has a habit of examining the video game as we know it at a cellular level. Founded in 1997 by David Cage, the idiosyncratic French studio specialises in breaking the boundaries of the medium, and has enjoyed a run of successful releases under Sony’s publishing guidance; a run which will include their next project being released exclusively for PlayStation 3. Entitled Beyond: Two Souls, Quantic Dream’s fourth production is bold, intriguing and per usual: visually striking.
Within the studio’s previous games – namely Fahrenheit and Heavy Rain – the bridge between gaming and cinema has never been slimmer. In a sense, their unique approach to storytelling marries the two mediums, and given that Beyond: Two Souls will feature William Dafoe and Ellen Page’s acting in central roles, the studio’s fourth major release won’t be lacking in cinematic quality.
Voiced by Page herself, Jodie Holmes serves as the narrative crux for the game; a troubled teenager with a peculiar connection to a psychic entity called Aiden. The inseparable bond between the corporeal Jodie and the otherworldly Aiden empowers our lead protagonist with telekinesis abilities, and the studio has assured that gamers will have more control over the actual gameplay in comparison to Heavy Rain. Press X to Jodie, maybe?
Hype-O-Meter: 9/10
[h2]6) Grand Turismo 6[/h2]
Developer: Polyphony Digital
Genre: Racing Simulator
Available For: Playstation 3
Release Date: US – Q4 2013
While many gamers are familiar with Polyphony’s glacier-like development process, take nothing away from the Gran Turismo franchise. Shipping over 70 million units since 1997, the racing simulator is PlayStation’s most successful series and this holiday season will see the release of the sixth instalment in the lucrative property with Gran Turismo 6.
In 2011, series creator Kazunori Yamauchi confirmed that his studio was busy manufacturing a sixth entry in the series. In saying that, much of the industry figured that Gran Turismo 6 would release in tandem with Sony’s PlaSstation 4 – a mantle that has been passed to Evolution Studio’s DriveClub. From a purely business standpoint, though, Polyphony couldn’t ignore the 70 million install base of the worldwide PS3 community and the studio validated their commitment to Sony’s current console by stating that there was plenty more to exploit from the architecture in the aftermath of Gran Turismo 5.
Mind you, the CEO of Polyphony hasn’t ruled out a PS4 release for Grand Turismo 6 further down the line. Even still, with over 1,200 cars at a player’s disposal and 33 photo-realistic tracks primed for racing, GT6 is set to be the most expansive entry in the series yet. The developing team have laboured in order to refine the physics of the supercharged automobiles, and early impressions of the game have cited a greater sense of weight and realism when meandering around the picture-postcard tracks.
Over the coming months there will be a deluge of racing games each with their own unique take on the genre, but Grand Turismo 6 isn’t concerned so much with what visuals you can see on the screen, for Polyphony, it’s all about perfecting the actual feel of the industry’s most successful racing sim.
Hype-O-Meter: 8/10
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