Hogwash as usual. The main problem with 'games' like Beyond: Two Souls is that it's using elements from videogames to tell a story. This is very much a case of using the wrong tools for a job. Videogames thrive on interaction, stories (at least good ones) thrive on structure. It is simply not possible to construct a great story and also have it be interactive. It breaks with the most fundamental aspects of story telling. To even get close, you have to severly restrict how much impact the interactive elements have on the story, or create a sort of "Choose Your Own Adventure" video game.
Anyone who remembers the Choose Your Own Adventure books will also remember that the stories in those book were (still are? if they are still being made) absolute garbage. It's the same with interactive story video games. The story either becomes completely useless (compared to a well formed story in a book or a movie for example) or the game element becomes irrelevant to where the interaction devolves into picking meaningless actions that have no or very limited impact on the actual story. There is no way of bridging this gap. It's like trying to create something that both is and is not at the same time. It is impossible.
To try to pretend that the story in Beyond: Two Souls is better than what could be ever told in a movie because you get to decide when the character brushes their teeth is a sign of not being able to identify a good story in the first place. I don't understand the obsession with trying to justify these so called interactive story games or whatever. It is what it is. If people enjoy pressing buttons to progress through a series of movie clips, great! Do it all day long. Just don't pretend that it is somehow advancing either video games or story telling. It will forever be a medium trapped between two very different forms of entertainment, and it will by it's very nature never be able to create excellent games or excellent stories. But it doesn't have to. Chose Your Own Adventure books still sell to people who get into that stuff. People who love good stories will laugh at it, and people who love great video game design will look down on it, but who cares? If it's something you enjoy, then enjoy it.
