Beyond Good & Evil™

Beyond Good and Evil is a game that stands as one of the greats because of its majestic and memorable world. Hillys is a beautiful world under attack by the alien DomZ. Luckily, Hillys has the Alpha Sections to protect them, or do they? The Alpha Sections always seem to arrive too late and wield a strong control the media. Soon Jade finds herself a key member in the search to find the truth concerning both the DomZ and the Alpha Sections. Most video game plots simply create ways in which to justify gameplay elements, but in Beyond Good and Evil the world and gameplay mesh, creating situations where one would not exist without the other. For instance, the fact that Jade is a photojournalist is not only simply a way to introduce the photography game mechanic, but also creates a believable character motivation. Her background in photojournalism has created a desire to know the truth. Jade's quest for truth is not simply a personal quest that simply affects Jade, but a quest that impacts the world. Throughout the game you see the direct results of you actions as you walk the streets of Hillys and overhear the conversations of the population. And speaking of the population, Beyond Good and Evil has a colorful cast of characters that inhabit its world. There is, of course, Jade, who is a soft, maternal figure to the orphans but also a strong woman when she needs to be. Alongside her is Pey'j, a stocky anthropomorphic boar who has raised Jade after her parents died. The game focuses on the cheeky father-daughter relationship between the two. Pey'j sounds like the aging father while Jade in turn plays as the snarky teen. The simplest exchanges between the two are funny, sarcastic and heartwarming. This relationship itself shows the amount of energy and creativity that went into creating the world of Beyond Good and Evil, a world brimming with personality. It's the richness of this world that brings me back time and time again. The world of Beyond Good and Evil is not simply a backdrop for the action, but a world that has sprung to life as its own character. And this fantastic world is free for you to explore. Not straight at the beginning--the game has some clever ways of keeping you from exploring certain pockets too early--but gradually every nook and cranny of the world is open. Some of the best gameplay moments are gotten out of finding some hidden nook or cranny. This is where the game is most exciting because you are never sure what you will find around the next corner.

I played BGAE a few years ago on a whim (I had gotten it for free from fileplanet.com because I won some raffle contest), and what a surprisingly good game it was. I had known about it only because G4TVs show 'cinematech' often played clips from it. It really is a shame when a good game like this falls under the radar while other, less memorable games (which shall remain nameless) get massive amounts of press. BGAE is a game whose atmosphere and style can best be described as a JRPG without the nonsensical plot. Here, we have a colorful world filled with cartoony characters like talking pigs and walruses, and a single young kid who is tasked with taking down an evil corporation, all that fun stuff. The plot is one of the games secret weapons though, so I won't go into more detail about it here. It's nothing mind-blowing, but it is well done and the great voice acting and animation really brings it to life. The main character, Jade, is a real breath of fresh air in the videogame world. She's pretty, but at the same time has her clothes on (unlike the unfortunate, half-naked girls from the similar JRPGs), and she's also pretty slick and intelligent too. More female game characters should be like this one. The gameplay is focused more on exploring than fighting, but you will have plenty of chances to pull out Jade's staff (which can be upgraded over the course of the game) and kick some butt with it. You'll also have a camera with you (since Jade is supposed to be a photographer), which you will use for various puzzles and quests. The main problem I have with the gameplay though is the stealth parts, particularly later in the game. Some people might enjoy the Metal Gear Solid-esque sneaking around, but personally I felt that it was sort of out of place with the rest of the game, and the camera wasn't really up to the task either. The stealth parts are why I'm docking the game one star. Overall, for the price, this is an awesome game. Probably one of the best I've seen on GoG so far. I highly recommend giving it a shot.

I can explain why this game didn't sell well: the title. Everything in the actual game itself is pretty much perfect. It's got varied, unusual gameplay, with real challenges: every success feels fantastic. And it's got real thought: the immersion is wonderful and the storyline, though a bit cartoony, has deep emotional content and works as a fine parable about why it's not cool to be a fascist or a bloodsucking alien. A lot of the wonder of playing this game comes from the fact that there are about ten million ways to play it, really: you can go completist, you can race your heart out on the racetracks, stealth every level, fight your way through everything-- anything you want, basically. The levels are marvellously explorable. There's an intense sensation of your being in a well-put-together world: something structured, yet open. The gameworld here feels much more complete and thought-out than most modern games' settings. So: it has heart, it has setting, it has story, it has kickass mechanics and gameplay-- what's not to love? The fact that this game, when it was marketed nine years ago, would have struck parents as some kind of crazy kid-poisoning nonsense, and would have struck older games as a kind of joke. Cartoony, bloodless, stealth-based, practically noncombative? You can forget the older demographics right there. Meanwhile, reading the back of the box, this thing sounds like some kind of insane conspiracy-theory political thriller designed by radical Nietzsche fans. Not something you want to hand to your ten-year-old. 'Beyond Good and Evil?" What the hell was going through their heads? Calling up random references to Nietzsche titles that are actually quite irrelevant to the plot is a plan that's never going to more more units off the shelves. This is just a straight-up pure action-adventure title with some political parable in for good measure. And that's all it is-- and that's all it needs to be. It is what it is perfectly. It's got great music. It has perfect gameplay-- three different kinds of it, to tell the truth: steal platforming, photo-shooting, and boat-racing. It has solid characters and a really effective plot. They mucked it all up trying to make it into more than it really is. Playing to this game's strengths-- and there are plenty of them-- would have been much better. Anyway, there's nothing not to like about this game, and it plays fine on the PC, aside from major graphical glitches that can be easily rectified if you check the support articles. Buy it. The more this title sells, the more likely Ubisoft are to resurrect their shelved sequel plan. And it deserves one, badly. It's one hell of a game.

Played as a kid on the PS2 after borrowing it from my sister, great game. Replayed it again in my young adulthood on a different sisters XBOX, great game. Purchased it for myself as an adult. Doesn't work on Linux or Wine, so I can't play it... but whatever, it was a good game.

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