You look at the clock, knowing that time is running out. Moving quickly, you wash the dishes, not wanting to look like a slob. As you walk in the dinning room, you notice all the chairs stacked onto the table. You walk over and put them all into place, scolding Aiden for doing that. You rush to the shower and then try to pick out a dress to wear. This may sound like just a normal girl getting ready for a date, but it is actually a powerful level from the new “Beyond: Two Souls,” a video game that goes beyond what people assume video games are. This is interactive media at its best.

“Beyond: Two Souls” is the brainchild of David Cage and his team at Quantic Dream, a company who has made a name for themselves for pushing the boundaries of what video games can do. Their last game, “Heavy Rain,” was a critically acclaimed for bringing emotion to video games in way that had never been seen before. “Beyond: Two Souls” takes that idea to the next level.

The game centers on Jodie, played by actress Ellen Page, a young girl with an incredible gift. Jodie has a connection to an otherworldly spirit named Aiden, who is tethered to her and looks after her. Jodie’s parents abandon her to researcher Nathan Hawkins, played by William Defoe, who is very interested in her using her gifts for his own agenda.

The game follows Jodie through different moments in her life, from adolescence to adulthood, told in a “Pulp Fiction” style, jumping back and forth between different moments in her life. Those moments can range from the mundane, like picking dinner, to more action-packed scenes, like fighting CIA operatives on top of a speeding train. The action moments would make “Call of Duty” proud, and they are further brought to life by the phenomenal acting.

Ellen Page, a seasoned actress, knows exactly how to bring Jodie to life in incredible detail. Jodie is a strong independent woman who knows how to handle herself. Jodie herself is following in a long line of strong female lead roles in video games this year, from Lara Croft whose was rebooted this year to bring a more realistic take to the character to “The Last of Us”‘s Ellie, who had a huge presence in that game. It is nice to see strong female leads and not just another princess in another castle. William Defoe also makes a strong performance, playing more of the Green Goblin-type villain that he portrayed in “Spiderman.”

Graphically speaking, “Beyond: Two Souls” may very well be the best looking game of this console generation, as the actresses and actors are recreated in such exquisite detail that at first glance and even second glance, it is hard to tell you are even watching a game. Unfortunately, that is where “Beyond” stops just short of greatness.

I have talked a lot about the look and feel of “Beyond” and the emotion it is meant to elicit when you play, but the only problem I have found is that there is not much playing to be had. When Quantic Dreams released “Heavy Rain,” there were a lot of complaints about the control scheme and how it was very quick time based; in fact, it was all quick time.

“Beyond: Two Souls suffers a similar fate.” The controls were redone to be less complicated, so as you play you really only use the left and right joystick to do actions. When the action gets heavy, everything will slow down, and you must read Jodie’s movements and move the joystick in the correct way to perform the action; otherwise she will take damage, but she cannot die. This brings less of a video game feel to it and more of a movie you have slight control of. This type of “play” style slightly distracts from the eight and a half hour experience, as about halfway through you may wish to just sit back and watch it.

Other than that, “Beyond: Two Souls” is truly a sight to behold. As this console generation comes to a close and a new one rises, the next few months will see the last of what this generation has to offer and preview of what is to come. “Beyond: Two Souls” is both of those, as it is both one of the best this console generation has offered and a preview of the greatness that lies ahead.