The PS4 port of Beyond: Two Souls doesn’t fix the game's core issues. It’s still a very stilted, awkward experience in spots, usually right after a stretch where the gameplay and narrative get everything right. What it does do--thanks to this edition’s best new feature, where the timeline-hopping narrative can be played in chronological order--is strip away some of the high-concept pretense and deliver a straightforward story that's stronger as a result.
Beyond: Two Souls is about the life of Jodie Holmes (performed by Ellen Page), a girl who, since birth, has been tethered to an otherworldly entity named Aidan. Naturally, having a poltergeist as an impulsive companion doesn’t exactly equal an ideal life--especially since Aidan’s presence leaves Jodie open to frequent visits from the malevolent side of the hereafter. But even when she’s not being dragged around by invisible horrors, Jodie still has to contend with Aidan’s mischievous tendencies. And on days when Aidan is calm, there’s just life as a socially awkward girl who sees things that nobody should ever have to see. We follow Jodie over a stretch of 15 years, watching her deal with the world--and the world deal with her--and make decisions that change the course of her life.
Beyond feels right at home on PS4. Textures are noticeably upgraded from the PS3 version and lighting improvements galore create an even more stunning cinematic experience. The actual playing of Beyond hasn’t changed significantly in the transition to PS4. For the most part, it’s still a copy-paste job from Heavy Rain. Most of your time is spent wandering through closed environments, looking for the magical prompt that signifies when you can interact with an object or person.
In keeping with Quantic Dream's trademark style, action is handled by quick time events in a dynamic fashion, taking full advantage of the DualShock 4's motion-sensing functionality. The PS4 edition of the game does add a few tricky bits, where QTEs use diagonals instead of normal up-down-left-right prompts, but those only pop up in two of the chapters. The timing of the prompts seems stricter, which means that Jodie is liable to take a few more brutal hits when the going gets tough, but the QTEs don’t determine the course of the story so much as they bring the action to life. Yes, you could, in theory, just set the controller down during an action scene and let it play out on its own, but you’d be watching a sequence of Jodie getting the crap kicked out of her ad nauseum. Actively participating in Jodie's struggle is much more gratifying.
Through the course of the game, the best moments in each action scene require your input, whether you're jumping between moving vehicles, tossing soldiers into the road, stealing a motorcycle, blowing past a police garrison, or saving people from a burning building. There are even a few scattered sequences of stealth combat, where Jodie tackles hapless bad guys into the dirt.
Beyond’s big hook, of course, is the fact that, any time you have full control over Jodie, you can instantly switch to Aidan and roam the world as a phantom, floating through doors, walls, and objects, listening to secret conversations, force-pushing objects around, choking the life out of folks, or even possessing hapless victims. The seams of the gimmick show often. It’s built into the story that Aidan can actively hurt Jodie if he travels too far, but how far exactly seems to be determined by the needs of the scene rather than consistent logic.
Beyond feels right at home on PS4. Textures are noticeably upgraded from the PS3 version and lighting improvements galore create an even more stunning cinematic experience.
Having said that, the puzzles, obstacles, and story points built around Aidan’s powers are wonderfully plotted. A painful goodbye interrupted by Jodie’s irritating father can be salvaged if you choose to give him a much-deserved goodbye choke. More than once, Aidan will have to rescue Jodie from a sticky situation by possessing one of her enemies, forcing him to kill his friends and then himself. Its seldom that we get to see a story through the eyes of a spirit, and the extent to which its used in Beyond leads to some fascinating conclusions.
The chronological version of this story told in the new PS4 version is a marked improvement over the original, where the key points of Jodie’s life were scrambled up and presented as a random series of disparate moments as opposed to a life flashing linearly before her eyes. As a chronological narrative, we get a much better sense of the burden of Jodie’s powers, watching her grow from a curious but sheltered child into a rebellious teenager who longs to live in the real world, and ultimately, into a young woman who finds herself routinely beaten by society.
Much of the story's impact can be laid at the feet of Page. Her performance, both vocal and physical, is powerful; it retreats to hollowly call upon the full weight of Jodie’s collective traumas in one scene, using the same trauma to fuel a deep, embittered rage in the next. Willem Dafoe brings a similar gravitas. His side of the script is steeped in exposition, especially toward the end, but there are times when he demonstrates genuine warmth and paternal concern for Jodie--traits we rarely see from Dafoe. The supporting cast varies. Kadeem Hardison, the only other “name” actor in the game, is solid in his role, but elsewhere, actors fail to keep up and weigh down scenes with poor acting that contrasts with Beyond's more capable cast members.
They’re bound to Beyond's schizophrenic script, which flips between sequences of earnest, pensive drama, high-octane action, and well-directed but conceptually goofy supernatural blather. The highs are spectacular: The sequence where Jodie deals with homelessness stands out, and a scene where she reunites with a heavily medicated relative is brutally harrowing. The lows, however, are bewildering in their shallowness: An eye-rolling incident at a bar, a detour into Navajo mythology, and a character’s sudden shift into comic book villainy ultimately disappoint. Occasionally, there are scenes like Jodie’s solo mission to take down an African dictator, which, while delivering a stellar dose of action, feels disconnected from the overarching narrative.
Beyond remains a unique experience, even as the tools implemented in its creation have become commonplace. It's filled with concepts that are immediately odd and illogical, but if you accept them on their own terms, they add up to a fascinating if unconventional tale. Beyond remains an imperfect experience but is still compelling for what it accomplishes.
It's sometimes easy to think of Apple as a miracle worker – the brand with a Midas touch. There's nothing the company can't turn to gold. But with the Apple Watch – its first foray into wearables, two years after Pebble smashed the market wide open – Apple faces its toughest challenge yet.
Apple has the opportunity to define the smartwatch – something that Android Wear, Pebble and Samsung have largely failed to do. But it's faced with the same challenges of screen size, battery life and user experience as everyone else – so can it work another miracle?
Apple Watch: Design
Whether you find the Apple Watch a terrific example of fashion blending with tech, or a square boxy abomination is a question of taste. But for our money, it's the best looking smartwatch made to date.
The build quality is superb, and the footprint of both the 38mm and 42mm watch is much smaller than you'd expect – and it goes some way to excuse the thickness of the design.
We tested a 38mm watch with a green silicon band – noteworthy because it's the cheapest of the line-up at $349. At 38mm the watch is rather dainty, and most men will certainly prefer the 42mm band, which also benefits from a larger battery.
Read this: Every Apple Watch design in one place
The main elephant in the room is that price tag. With a basic 42mm Apple Watch Sport clocking in at $399 and the main Apple Watch $599, it's a staggering premium even for Apple. And when you compare the price of thebest Android Wear devices – $299 for the Sony SmartWatch 3 in Steel or $349 for the LG Watch Urbane – it's hard to qualify exactly what you're getting for the extra money.
Part of the appeal is the 340 x 272 pixels, 290 ppi screen (390 x 312, 302ppi for the 42mm one), and while it's not quite as sharp as the Samsung Gear S, it's one of the most vibrant we've seen from any smartwatch to date and shows off the deep colour palette of watchOS 2.
The bands themselves are the first true indicator that you have an Apple product on your wrist. The silicon feels reassuringly weighty, and the unique design means the excess strap slips through a hole, so you don't get that accidental flapping that's all too common with cheap watches. What's more, the extra straps feature the same attention to detail. The Milanese number, which has been much lauded, fixes magnetically with a pleasing snap.
The straps are easily changeable using a typically Apple proprietary mechanism, but that means you can't use any old 22mm strap off the shelf – and Apple's straps are eye-wateringly expensive.
Essential reading: The best unofficial Apple Watch straps
Underneath is an optical heart rate sensor, which bulges from the rear, just out of sight. The whole thing is IPX7 rated, which means it's splashproof, but not waterproof – meaning you can shower with it if you must, but don't take it for a swim.
Apple Watch: Features
Two schools of thought have emerged in smartwatch design: less is more, which means filtering out digital noise; and more is more, which means giving you access to every conceivable feature.
The Apple Watch is all about more.
Answering the question "what does it do?" is a little like defining the iPhone. Yes, the Apple Watch is a smartwatch, but with the addition of its app store, it can do anything developers decree. And that's really exciting.
But for the benefit of the uninitiated, the Watch connects to your iPhone, and is effectively impotent without it. It uses that wireless umbilical connection to display any notification from your phone, flashing up anything from texts to WhatsApp messages, tweets, Instagram likes, Gmail alerts, calendar reminders, annoying SkyBet notifications and pointless push messages.
You can trim notifications and stop the less relevant ones from being displayed on your watch using the iPhone companion app, so in some way there is a filter. However, you can't dig further in and only allow messages from certain people or conversations onto the wrist.
The missing manual: Apple Watch super guide
You can also make calls from the Watch (the leg work done by your paired iPhone, although you'd never know) and reply to messages using your voice.
Other key features include tracking steps, standing time and daily activity, prompts to remind you to stand up regularly, and of course, the tracking of sports.
In short, Apple has built in all the features you'd expect from a smartwatch and let its developers create the experiences that give the Watch the opportunity to define the market. So far so good, but does it do those core things well, how good are its apps, and is it the best smartwatch to date?
This is where the test really begins.
Apple Watch: UI and interface
The joy of Apple's previous successful products, and the reason it's been so successful is simplicity. Your mum can use the iPhone. Your three year old can rack up thousands of dollars in micro-payments. It's so easy to use.
The Apple Watch? Not so much.
To conserve battery the screen turns off when the watch isn't in use. This is a common feature most smartwatches, but unfortunately, Apple hasn't nailed the gesture of turning on the screen when needed. It works okay when standing, but if you're sitting or lying down, the watch often fails to illuminate, which is pretty frustrating.
The long and short is that occasionally it's difficult to tell the time.
The control system also takes getting used to. The watch face is the main screen, as you'd expect and a tap on the Digital Crown takes you to that iconic spread of apps – just like the home button on the iPhone. You twiddle the crown oh so gently to zoom in and out of those apps.
Must have extras: Best Apple Watch accessories
Within apps, you can scroll through options and lists using your finger or the crown, and you tap to make choices. A long press (Force Touch) will bring up a context menu – it's a feature that's been lauded on the Apple Watch, but frankly has been a part of Android for years.
Using the Apple Watch requires a deft touch. The more apps you have, the more cluttered your screen will be, and that it requires concentration to hit the right one. Your finger will never feel so large and ungainly when trying to pick out that app you need. There's also strange lack of standardisation across the apps. Some have a long press option, some don't.
The most useful information is held in the Glances section, which is accessed by swiping up from the bottom when you're on the watch face screen. Here you can see battery life, calendar alerts, progress towards move goals among other things. You have to swipe through the cards to find the one you need, which can be a bit of a faff. What's more, if you're in the apps screen, you have to return to the watch face to use your Glances. Annoying. However, you can add or remove Glances and reorder them from within the iPhone companion app.
Apple Watch: Notifications
When notifications land on the watch, they're stored in a list, just like on the iPhone. Swiping down from the top enables you to recall them, and tapping one will open it up in full.
Smartwatch showdown: Apple Watch v Android Wear
This works well, but again, there's discrepancies in notifications. For all the 3,000 apps made for Watch, there are no dedicated ones (yet) for Facebook, Gmail or WhatsApp. That means for some notifications – Facebook in particular – alerts just tell you something has happened. Gmail and WhatsApp messages can be read, at least in part, but you can't read messages in full or reply.
More on that later.
While Apple has nailed the relatively easy task of getting notifications to your wrist, it does lag behind Google when it comes to preempting the information you need. We missed Google Now's cards, prompting you to go to your meeting, or telling you there's disruption on your way to work without you having to check manually.
You can reply to text messages and emails, using either stock replies or voice. Now watchOS 2 has enabled apps to use the microphone we wouldn't be surprised to see similar features come to Whatsapp and co soon.
Apple Watch: Taptic engine
One of the triumphs of the Apple Watch's design is the Taptic engine, which enables a different feeling for notifications. Rather than just buzz when notifications come through, the Apple Watch uses a series of different digital taps.
A notification feels like someone tapping your arm, rather than a dull buzz. And there's different feelings depending on the type of alert: left and right turns during walking navigation, move goals, standing prompts and of course Digital Touch. The latter is Apple's feature enables you to send heartbeats, sketches and taps to other Watch users – which is obviously a gimmick, but good fun for your first day with the Watch.
See also: Apple Watch v Pebble Time
The reality is however, that the Taptic engine is a huge part of the experience, and makes the watch feel so much more personal. The taps are much more pleasant to experience than a series of motorised buzzes you'll find on every other smartwatch out there, and it's the Watch's best example of that hallmark of Apple quality we've come to expect.
Apple Watch: Fitness, sports and heart rate
A big push for the Apple Watch is in fitness and sports, and Apple has been keen to market the device to the millions who are interested in fitness trackers and sports watches.
As a general fitness tracker that counts steps and pushes you to your daily goals, the Apple Watch superb. The built in Activity app is one of the best we've seen in terms of design, and you can look at results on the Watch and iPhone app quickly and easily. Progress towards your Move Goal is clearly shown by coloured circles – one for standing time, one for activity and the other for movement.
Sports watch showdown: Apple Watch v Fitbit Surge
Unlike a Fitbit, the 'move goal' is measured in calorific burn rather than the number of steps, which is a sensible move, as it rewards you for getting out for a short run or more intense bursts of activity. You can change your goal from the Watch, and set a higher number of calories to try to burn off.
There's no sleep tracking built into the Apple Watch, presumably because you need to charge it nightly, but there are already third party apps in the App Store ready to fill this void.
While the Apple Watch is certainly somewhat of a Fitbit-killer, it's far from a complete sports watch.
Firstly, there's no GPS, which is a problem. You cannot accurately track runs without it. However, the Apple Watch can steal GPS data when running with an iPhone, so if you're willing to take both out, you're good to go.
Of course, there's hundreds of running apps for iPhone, and more on that shortly, but the Apple Watch has its own Workout app, that tracks runs, cycles, walks, indoor gym work and free exercise. When you start a session, the Watch will keep tabs on your heart rate, pace, distance and time, just as a running watch would do.
When you finish your run, it provides a simple text summary of the workout, but without any maps of your route, graphs of your heart rate zones, breakdowns of your pace. It's beyond basic. Your workout sits within the Activity app, the metrics are stripped out and it's not possible to compare sessions at all.
To illustrate the fact of how totally unfit for purpose the Apple Watch's Workout app is, we turned on a free workout, and sat at our desk for an hour. It reported that we'd burned 600 calories.
That said, the only really accurate part of our run tracking was the heart rate data, which stacked up against a Garmin chest strap admirably. While neither are scientifically accurate, both came back with similar data.
Apple Watch: Apps
Apple's selection of apps will arguably make or break the Apple Watch, and like so many products before it, Apple has provided a platform for developers to run with. And with the new watchOS 2 operating system in place which enables standalone apps that can access all the sensors and hardware in the Watch, it's in a strong position.
The line up of apps is now 10,000 strong although big name apps are only slowly filtering through. Google Maps has only just landed and features seriously limited functionality.
Our top picks: The best Apple Watch apps
Unfortunately it seems that Apple Watch apps are not made equal. Apple based apps work well on the Watch, and third party ones simply don't.
An example is Apple Map's walking directions, which use the Taptic engine to guide, which is a genuine wow moment. And despite the Workout app being flawed, it stays illuminated so you can check your run stats on the go.
On the other hand, CityMapper directions don't update live on the Watch screen and if you accidentally tap on the map shown within the app, you're whisked off to the Apple Maps app, with no way to return.
That isn't an isolated incident, and apps like Runkeeper – which basically just fire up the iPhone app and provide a mirrored display of the data – suffer the ignominy of the screen turning off and disappearing off into the background while running. A double tap of the Digital Crown will retrieve it.
Apps have improved under watchOS 2 both in terms of the variety and the speed in which they load. There's still a lot of work to do here, and developers aren't jumping on board as quickly as they have in the past.
Apple Watch: Siri and calling
Like Android Wear, voice is a big part of the Apple Watch, and of course, Siri is on-board. You press and hold the Digital Crown to summon Siri, and then ask questions, schedule meetings and the like. It works well, and the voice recognition works a treat – although the movement of bringing your Watch closer to your mouth can annoyingly dismiss Siri again.
Voice calling from the Apple Watch is also impressive, and in our test calls, recipients had no idea the call was made from the Watch. The only complaint was that the built-in speaker wasn't loud enough, which made calls in the car – an ideal time to use the Watch – hard to hear.
However, it's supremely easy to make a call by using the second button that brings up your regular contacts – and in select situations, wrist calling can be genuinely useful.
You’ve got yourself an iPhone and you want to play some games on it. You might not want to just plunge into the App Store—it’s a jungle, full of deadly spiders, wild animals, and bad games. Here, let us help you.
Below, we’ve listed the 12 games we feel are a great starting point for iPhone gaming.
Hitman games are famous for their open-ended sandboxes. At their best, they let you creep around a party or a museum, find your target, and creatively take them out. Hitman GO… doesn’t really do that. What it doesdo, however, is offer a bunch of smart, tightly designed puzzles that gradually become more complicated as you go, but are never too complicated to finish off in the space of a single bus ride. With its stripped down board-game aesthetic and abstract violence, it may not look much like a Hitman game, but it still manages to capture the series’ meticulous, satisfying nature.
A Good Match For: Hitman fans, puzzle fiends, people who like imagining what it means when one board game piece “assassinates” another board game piece.
Not A Good Match For: Those looking for an actual portable Hitman game.
Watch it in action.
Do you know Doodle Jump? Knightmare Tower is a little bit like that, what with the constant jumping and trying to get higher. You can even tilt your tablet to help yourself along, rocking right to move to the right, and left to move to the left. But this game is different and, dare we say, better. You’re a knight. You’re trying to ascend a tower. You are trying to fly ever higher by bouncing yourself off of enemies that are flying up from below. The better you attack, the swifter you fly. The ascent is exhilarating, but you’ll probably eventually fail. No bother. You’re constantly earning new and better abilities that allow you to soar ever higher. Warning: this is a tough game to stop playing.
A Good Match For: More hardcore gamers who are looking for something on their tablet that rewards strategy and reflexes while wrapping it all up in a good bit of monster-slaying and constant leveling up.
Not a Good Match For: Those who want a long-session game. Your ascents in Knightmare Tower won’t last long, so even as mobile games get a bit longer, this one is going to be over quite quickly again and again.
AreaCode’s numerical puzzle game may be the most perfect short-session game ever created. As falling numbers land on a 7×7 grid, you need to make them disappear by matching the number of vertical or horizontal spaces match the digit. Yes, it sounds tedious but when the rules finally click in your head, it’s a lifetime addiction.
A Good Match For: Anyone who spends a lot of time waiting for things or people. Whether it’s stuck in traffic or waiting on a queue at the bank, a few quick levels of Drop7 will make any kind of stationary drudgery more bearable.
Not a Good Match For: Those hoping to stay productive. It take superhuman willpower to resist the siren call of Drop7 and if you want to get anything done after installing it, make sure your iPhone’s out of reach.
You could call Device 6 a text adventure, but that would be selling the game short. What it is, rather, is one of the strangest, most mysterious and downright elegant games made for touchscreen devices… and it just happens to involve a lot of reading. Call it multimedia-enhanced interactive fiction. As you rotate and flip your device, chasing the winding map of description and design, you’ll find yourself drawn into a strange and sinister adventure complete with one of the catchiest pop tunes ever included in a game.
A Good Match For: Spy fiction buffs, Lost fans, mystery novel readers, anyone with even a passing interest in typography or visual design.
Not a Good Match For: Those who want a lot of action or replayability, people who hate reading.
By boat, by land, by airship, by giant mechanized city with legs, do you have what it takes to make it… Around the World in 80 Days? That’s the question at the heart of 80 Days, a fantastical re-imagining of Jules Verne’s famous novel that casts you as Passepartout, manservant to the gentleman Phileas Fogg. As a valet, you are responsible for packing the bags, negotiating at markets, and planning the itinerary on your journey ‘round the globe. Each trip will be different from the one before it, and thanks to the game’s peppy writing and frequent surprise detours, each trip will be great deal of fun. 80 Days captures the joy and melancholy of travel with unusual wit and humanity.
A Good Match For: People who like interactive stories, geography buffs, fans of travel.
Not a Good Match For: Anyone looking for a low-investment, pick up/put down action game. Also, those who hate to read—the majority of 80 Daysis text-based interactive fiction.
Threes is basically a game about kissing. And math. You slide a bunch of little numbers around a tiled pad, trying to get two like numbers next to each other. If you can do that, they’ll get friendly and combine to form a new, bigger number. Keep on moving, keep on combining, and your score will climb and climb. Threes is an immaculately designed game made all the more winning for its aesthetics. Charming, musical, and deviously addictive, it’ll become your new iPhone obsession.
A Good Match For: People looking for a simple puzzle game to play on a commute, anyone who likes competing with their friends for high scores.
Not a Good Match For: People hoping for a deep story, those who prefersub-standard clones.
In Hoplite, you play a man in armor who has a blade, a spear and a very specific chess-like move-set. Each enemy has their own movement and attack rules. And each board of the game is ultimately a maze of survival, one hope, spear, stab or shove at a time. Bit by bit, you can make your guy tougher. Until you die. Then start again.
Our old favorite on iOS for this kind of game was 868-HACK, but we’re now smitten with Hoplite. It’s so simple, so pure, so damn hard by level 16, but also turns out to allow so many different approaches that it’s hard to stop playing. Become a master at distanced spear-based attacking next time. Or upgrade your bashing ability and just push guys off the grid. Options, options, so many to tease your brain!
A Good Match For: Careful planners who love facing impossible odds.
Not A Good Match For: People who want a please-undo-the-last-stupid-move-I-made button.
The closest mobile gaming comes to Criterion Games’ Burnout series, Asphalt 8: Airborne is the premiere arcade racer on iOS. Simulation nuts can keep puttering around with their Real Racing 3 — this is a game about using speed as a weapon. The cars are as sexy speeding down the road as they are leaping majestically through the air into a pylon, and Gameloft keeps adding more of them every time we turn around.
A Good Match For: Hardcore racing fans, anyone looking for a console-style racing game on mobile.
Not a Good Match For: People who hate cars.
You’re in a cold, dark room. First, you get a fire going. Then, you head out in search of wood. After that… well, things develop. To say more would be to spoil what makes A Dark Room special, but suffice it to say: This game grows far beyond its humble origins, and the journey from here to there is an engrossing one.
A Good Match For: Fans of management/RTS games, anyone who likes a little mystery in their games.
Not a Good Match For: Anyone hoping for cutting-edge visuals or production values. A Dark Room is text-only, with no audio or visuals to distract you.
You wouldn’t think that a game that stitches together fishing and firearms would be a sublime mobile experience. Well, maybe you would think that... but anyway, if you think that you’re right, so good for you. Everything about Ridiculous Fishing: A Tale of Redemption is both as ridiculous and as great as the title suggests. You’ll be playing, fishing, and shooting for many hours to come.
A Good Match For: Anyone who’s ever been bored with real-world fishing. All that quiet and waiting and patience that usually comes with the ol’ bait-and-line pastime gets thrown overboard in Ridiculous Fishing. Thank God.
Not a Good Match For: Those who want tilt-free gameplay. You’re going to look a little silly with all the turning and twisting your 21st century smartphone in pursuit of crazy levels of fish death. But it’s worth it, by God.
Super Hexagon is a game that will kill you in seconds. A pattern of geometric shapes flow towards the center of the screen to the beat of the music, and your task is to dodge them. You won’t. You’ll die. If you get really good, you’ll die in minutes. And you’ll love every one.
A Good Match for: Eye-hand coordination masters. Seeing the path your little dot needs to be in is one thing. Getting there is another thing entirely.
Not a Good Match For: Those looking for lengthy gameplay sessions.
Framed tells a comic-book tale of espionage, intrigue, and death-defying escapes, with a twist: You, the player, can re-arrange the frames of the story to change the outcome of a given page. That usually means figuring out the best way to set things so that the protagonist sneaks past their pursuers undetected, but it can mean a lot of other things, as well. Framedis a great deal of fun, with style to spare.
A Good Match For: Puzzle fans, comics fans, saxophone solo fans.
Not a Good Match For: Anyone looking for a substantive mystery or adventure. Framed is a pure puzzle game, with little actual story or character development.
