Beyond Good & Evil
Posted August 29, 2004
Beyond Good & Evil, an adventure game from Ubisoft, is one of those games you can summarize by comparison, but can't. Sure, the puzzles are Legend of Zelda, the fighting is Star Fox Adventures, the hovercraft racing is F-Zero, the photography is Pokémon Snap!, the stealth is Metal Gear Solid, and the overall feel is vaguely Skies of Arcadia, but the resulting concoction is definitely greater than the sum of its parts.
You star as Jade, a sort of action journalist who lives on the planet Hyllis. Hyllis is an idyllic world populated by a half-dozen anthropomorphic races and, at the moment, happens to be under seige by the DomZ, an alien race apparently intent on wreaking havoc in surprise raids. Luckily, the people of Hyllis are protected by the Alpha Section, the military's "best of the best," who have instituted martial law in the wake of the devastating attacks. Unfortunately, the Alpha Section never seem to respond fast enough to ever stop any of them. After a DomZ attack on her home, Jade begins to suspect a government conspiracy, and, armed with her camera, sets out on a dangerous mission to uncover the truth.
Gameplay:
Gameplay in Beyond Good & Evil primarily centers around infiltrating various government facilities. Once inside, you must sneak by -- and sometimes incapacitate -- guards so as not to be detected before photographing the things you came for. Once you get the goods, you then have to sneak back out. Like most stealth games, it's pulse-pounding and easy to make mistakes. It's a good thing, then, that the game is not as punishing as it could be. In The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker's first dungeon, for example, Link loses his sword and must sneak through the entire complex. Every time you are caught you are returned to jail, where you then have to work your way all the way back to where you were before. A few times of that is enough to make anyone's head explode. In Beyond Good & Evil, if a fatal mistake is made, Jade thankfully restarts at the beginning of the room, not the beginning of the facility.
Accompanying Jade are two companions: Pey'j, Jade's adoptive uncle who also happens to be a pig, and Double H, a soldier for the general Hyllian army who has experienced the truth firsthand. Yes, they sometimes get in the way, and no, they're not invincible. If her companions die, you lose. However, each has a special unlimited-use, player-controlled skill that knocks surrounding enemies to the ground, so it does prove useful to have them around in melee battles.
Players navigate Jade's section of the world in an upgradable hovercraft, which you can also use to fight DomZ monsters and race in eight tracks. Eventually, you acquire a spaceship as well. Finally, there are minigames and optional sidequests, such as photographing and cataloging Hyllian wildlife, which can yield fabulous cash prizes.
One of the best aspects about Beyond Good & Evil is its sense of style. From Jade's sassy Hispanic virtual assistant to a nighttime rooftop chase sequence to even the clever access terminal entry system, I was impressed again and again by the design choices that were made. In lesser games, these things would be deemed unnecessary fluff, but here it seems almost necessary, like a game this good deserves the level of polish it enjoys.
Graphics:
The game just looks beautiful. Beyond great-looking lighting and shadow effects, environments look as you would expect, and they are large enough to have a feeling of reality to them. In town, hovercars whiz back and forth in traffic and swerve and honk if you get in their way, and the pedestrian district, while not bustling, isn't quite as barren as the towns in other games. There's shamefully no progressive mode (which is reason enough to buy it for Xbox, if possible), and although the game is letterboxed, it is disappointing that there is no 16:9 option.
Audio:
Beyond Good & Evil really shines in the audio department. The voice actors are legitimately talented, the dialogue is well-written, and the music is genuinely catchy. Dolby Pro Logic II surround is supported, and the speakers are put to good effect.
Conclusion:
This game is as close to perfection as one can get, and despite its relatively short length at 10-15 hours, it has become one of my favorite games of any era. However, despite critical acclaim and every indication of being a sleeper hit, Beyond Good & Evil absolutely bombed upon release, so the chances of seeing a sequel, however deserved, are unlikely. Still, the game stands on its own as a shining beacon of what game design can be. As if my unabashed gushing wasn't enough, I'll reiterate for the unsure: Video Game Talk Collector Series.
You star as Jade, a sort of action journalist who lives on the planet Hyllis. Hyllis is an idyllic world populated by a half-dozen anthropomorphic races and, at the moment, happens to be under seige by the DomZ, an alien race apparently intent on wreaking havoc in surprise raids. Luckily, the people of Hyllis are protected by the Alpha Section, the military's "best of the best," who have instituted martial law in the wake of the devastating attacks. Unfortunately, the Alpha Section never seem to respond fast enough to ever stop any of them. After a DomZ attack on her home, Jade begins to suspect a government conspiracy, and, armed with her camera, sets out on a dangerous mission to uncover the truth.
Gameplay:
Gameplay in Beyond Good & Evil primarily centers around infiltrating various government facilities. Once inside, you must sneak by -- and sometimes incapacitate -- guards so as not to be detected before photographing the things you came for. Once you get the goods, you then have to sneak back out. Like most stealth games, it's pulse-pounding and easy to make mistakes. It's a good thing, then, that the game is not as punishing as it could be. In The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker's first dungeon, for example, Link loses his sword and must sneak through the entire complex. Every time you are caught you are returned to jail, where you then have to work your way all the way back to where you were before. A few times of that is enough to make anyone's head explode. In Beyond Good & Evil, if a fatal mistake is made, Jade thankfully restarts at the beginning of the room, not the beginning of the facility.
Accompanying Jade are two companions: Pey'j, Jade's adoptive uncle who also happens to be a pig, and Double H, a soldier for the general Hyllian army who has experienced the truth firsthand. Yes, they sometimes get in the way, and no, they're not invincible. If her companions die, you lose. However, each has a special unlimited-use, player-controlled skill that knocks surrounding enemies to the ground, so it does prove useful to have them around in melee battles.
Players navigate Jade's section of the world in an upgradable hovercraft, which you can also use to fight DomZ monsters and race in eight tracks. Eventually, you acquire a spaceship as well. Finally, there are minigames and optional sidequests, such as photographing and cataloging Hyllian wildlife, which can yield fabulous cash prizes.
One of the best aspects about Beyond Good & Evil is its sense of style. From Jade's sassy Hispanic virtual assistant to a nighttime rooftop chase sequence to even the clever access terminal entry system, I was impressed again and again by the design choices that were made. In lesser games, these things would be deemed unnecessary fluff, but here it seems almost necessary, like a game this good deserves the level of polish it enjoys.
Graphics:
The game just looks beautiful. Beyond great-looking lighting and shadow effects, environments look as you would expect, and they are large enough to have a feeling of reality to them. In town, hovercars whiz back and forth in traffic and swerve and honk if you get in their way, and the pedestrian district, while not bustling, isn't quite as barren as the towns in other games. There's shamefully no progressive mode (which is reason enough to buy it for Xbox, if possible), and although the game is letterboxed, it is disappointing that there is no 16:9 option.
Audio:
Beyond Good & Evil really shines in the audio department. The voice actors are legitimately talented, the dialogue is well-written, and the music is genuinely catchy. Dolby Pro Logic II surround is supported, and the speakers are put to good effect.
Conclusion:
This game is as close to perfection as one can get, and despite its relatively short length at 10-15 hours, it has become one of my favorite games of any era. However, despite critical acclaim and every indication of being a sleeper hit, Beyond Good & Evil absolutely bombed upon release, so the chances of seeing a sequel, however deserved, are unlikely. Still, the game stands on its own as a shining beacon of what game design can be. As if my unabashed gushing wasn't enough, I'll reiterate for the unsure: Video Game Talk Collector Series.