Beyond Good and Evil

Ok here goes my attempt at reviewing a videogame. I've read enough game mag reviews in my lifetime, that I think I can put a half decent one together.

Beyond Good and Evil is an interesting mixture of action RPG elements with a scifi storyline. I would compare to a Legend Of Zelda mixed with Odd World, with a splash of Diddy Kong Racing and crammed with animation/character design and story reminiscent to Heavy Metal the 1980's cartoon classic.

Your main character Jade, comes equipped with a limited arsenal at her disposal, a camera and this weird purple stick called the Dejae, that can only be used during predetermined action sequences. Later on Jade will receive a glove device, that for some odd reason, allows purple disc to shoot from her camera that will be useful in solving puzzles, ie hitting switches on walls to far to reach. Jades life is measured by hearts, ala Zelda, which can be expanded by finding, or buying AP-1s, fancy word for heart containers.

Two other characters will accompany Jade on her quest to seek out the truth, a pig/warthog named Pey'J (pronounced page) with his fart powered jump shoes and Double H, a human Hillys (pronounced Hillis) guard who brandishes a big hammer. Both characters offer up unique skills that must be taken advantage of in order to complete certain objections, IA photographing the conspiracy that's overcoming hillys. The potential for the adition characters falls a bit short in some respects, put the puzzles involving them are pretty well done.

BGE starts off like gang busters. You watch a small intro on this menace called the Domz that are attaching the world. Enter the main character, Jade who is doing Tia Chi under a tree when the evil scourge attack yet again. Jade quickly runs to turn on the shield barrier that protects the lighthouse/orphanage for those children who's parents have been killed by the Domz attacks, but to no avail her power has been shut off due to insufficient funds. This is where the game surprised me. It immediately jumps into an action fight sequence with Jade facing off against several Domz aliens using only a flaming two by four. I was a bit confused at first because I didn't know this game offered up any fight sequences. I only thought it was on the lines of Odd World; sneaking around, avoiding detection, solving puzzles and taking pictures.

Fighting in the game is a bit awkward in its design and limited to the point, that I didn't get the hang of it until the game was over. You can can tapp the A button on the gamepad or hold it down to charge your stick for a super attack. The super attack hardly every works, instead Jade will just continuously swing the Dejea about smacking enemies. Maybe their was a trick to charging up her weapon that I missed. Another down side to the combat system is you can accidentally smack your friends, causing them damage, when facing off against multiple opponents. Enemies will attach your friends, if they die you die, so in the process of protecting them, you will inevitably hit them from time-to-time. One very cool aspect of combat is you can sometimes control which direction you can hit enemies, ala Matrix bullet time, causing them to hurtle into objects that may pay you crystals/currency or allow you to proceed into the next area.

After your skirmish with the Domz The Alpha's arrive to take credit for saving the day fueling the propa ganda machine that the Alphas are her to save Hillys from the insidious Domz. Their a bit late and always seem to arrive conveniently after an attack. You now are given the opportunity to raise some cash, by taking pictures of local wild life for a planetary catalog. In a game about conspiracy and taking over the planet, I was convinced this would be a major part of the story, unfortunately it only offers a side quest that in the end your only rewarded with disc of all the pictures you took (their the pics you actually take in the game, kinda neat, I guess). Tracking down the some of the creatures would be next to impossible, if it weren't for the nifty animal finder you can buy later on, along with the pearl finder. Finding all the pearls is a let down as well. There's no clear reward for obtaining them all. The pearls can only be used at Mamagos Garage, run by a band of Rasta Rhinos, to further you on your adventure. Its never explained, why the rest of the world runs on credits, that the rhinos only except the pearls. I guess its to keep you from getting ahead of the linear side of the game, but still a little story in that department would have been nice.

I was immediately taken in by the BGE's story, originality, and graphics. The graphics really do a great job of pulling you into the world of Hillys, and its occupants. The animation is smooth and very fluid. The in game graphics engine is used for all but a few CGI cut scenes, which realy don't look as great. No attention to detail is spared, from the fire flies that come out at night, to the whales breaching in the ocean, and your engine in your hovercraft backfiring when you take to much damage, along with some top rate facial animation of the characters. Unfortunately this makes the game short and the world very small. On the bright side it makes the game more intriguing, and fun to observe. The voice acting in the BGE is top notch in this repsect as well. Your characters always have a little something to say, making funny comments that always apply to the situation adding to the atmosphere. For a wile I actually felt like I was playing the part in a movie.

I was really into the fist half of the game playing along with Pey'J, when he suddenly gets caught wile your investigating the factory. This is where the story starts to slip, it seems rushed to rap up. while in the factory Pey'J is replaced with Double H, who in my opinion was missing something to his back story. Double H was an informative reporter/spy, just like Jade, who got caught wile investigating the factory. So It comes as a total surprise to learn that conveintly he is also a Hillyn guard. I first thought he was being brainwashed into an Alpha elite. The second half of the game moves pretty fast at this point, with only 2 objectives left, the slaughter house, and the moon base.

This leaves Some very clever side quest to be enjoyed. While in the the city/pedestrian district you can sneak around into some sectors that hace been quardined off by the Alphas. these little stages are very reminiscent to Odd World, because their short and have you sneaking around avoiding dection from Alpha elites. Two result in a fun chase sequence that reminds me of Crash Bandicute, where your running towards the screen avoiding gun fire and dodging/ jumping over hazardous objects. This serves to break up the monotony of trial and error that is sneaking around. A note about sneaking past guards, some times you are forced to avoid detection, because if you are spotted you will be instantly killed by an overhead cannon. Other times it seems pointless to try and sneak when one placed shot from your cameras flying disc will cause the Alphas gas tank to rupture. you can then just run up and kick them in the back, causing them to fly away and explode. Another nice attention to detail, is that the Alphas will call for help, sending a another Alpha in who says "partner in distress" and rushes to aid his companion by fixing his gas tank.

All in all I give Beyond Good and Evil a 7 out of 10. Its just to short I blew through it in 9 hours. The balancing of difficultly ranges from hard to blatantly obvious/easy. In many instances you can just bypass a sneaking part by offing the Alphas. Theirs no sense in using the numerous life replenishing Kbops, because if you die you start right back at the screen with four hearts. Besides that if you use a a Kbops its a waste, because the next set of alphas you encounter might have a cannon in the room that will kill you instantly if seen. Save your Kbops for one of the 4 boss that you encounter, but even then its not to difficult to beat them without one. The story seems rushed to be over, and when it is, your like What? I guess I smell sequel, then again maybe not since BGE sales were low. Another down fall of the game are the races in your hovercraft, only four are offered. The races are really fun even though the tracks are quite small. this is an aspect in the game I think should have been expanded upon along with several others including the sequences involving your very cool space ship.