| Game Review - Beyond Good and
Evil |
|
Contact Mr. Shade and make fun of him
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| Publisher: |
Ubisoft |
| Developer: |
Ubisoft |
| Rated: |
T for Teen (I guess some of the monsters could be considered scary
for very small children) |
| Length: |
17 hours |
| Genre: |
Action, Adventure |
| Website: |
Beyond Good and Evil |
| System: |
XBox, also available on PC, GameCube and PS2 |
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OVERVIEW
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When war comes to the planet Hyllis it's up to orphanage director turned
photographer Jade to save the day. Jade must use her camera, martial arts, and
hovercraft to uncover the truth behind the alien attackers and herself.
Cel-shaded jumping pigs ensue.
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MR. SHADE'S TAKE
|
 This
is a game that is hard to categorize because it takes the best of several
different types of games and combines them for a truly engrossing experience.
It has a cel-shaded look (that's techno lingo for "it looks like a cartoon"), a
third-person view, and rpg and platforming elements. There are also some
interesting side quests and mini-games.
The game starts off at a lighthouse, which is also an orphanage. The evil alien
DomZ attack and Jade is forced to fend them off to save the children. Just when
it appears that she is in trouble, Uncle Peyj appears and helps her. Uncle Peyj
is a pig. Literally. He walks and talks like a human, but he looks like a pig.
Most of the characters in the game are animals. For example, the employees at
the repair shop are
all Rhinos. Yes, the game is very kiddish, but in an enjoyable, Toy Story
sort of way. Anyway, Jade now has access to the hovercraft, which allows access to
different areas in the game, including the city. The city is where most of
your time will be spent. You can talk to different people and buy new equipment
and also gain new quests. The city is also where you meet up with IRIS, the
secret rebel organization that is trying to save Hyllis.
The controls in the game are very simple. For combat, there's an attack button,
a super attack button (if you have an ally with you) and a ranged attack button
(if you have the ranged weapon). For combat in the hovercraft there is just an
attack button. Jumping and climbing is simple - when Jade encounters something
to jump over she does it on her own. No falling to your death because you
mis-timed your one-foot jump. When you are near something that can be climbed,
an icon appears telling you what button to hit. Simplicity is the key here and
it works extremely well.
 So combat
must be boring with two buttons, right? Not really, because combat takes a
backseat to exploration. A lot of the time you'll be trying to
figure out puzzles or running around the city buying stuff. The puzzles are
fairly intuitive such as requiring you to push a box into a security beam or to
aim a laser so that it reflects off a mirror correctly. Most of the enemies in
the game must be navigated using stealth instead of fighting. Stealth is all
about timing. You'll need to watch the guards to learn their routes and then
move at just the right time to avoid them.
Now let's talk about save points. You have an MDisk in your inventory, which is used
to save your game at designated places. At first I was worried
when I saw this and I started having Splinter Cell flashbacks. Fortunately,
these save machines are quite plentiful and you can use them as many times as
you want. Even when the save points are far apart you usually have intermediate
checkpoints where you will start at if you get killed. All in all an excellent
system that keeps frustration to a minimum.
The side quests and mini games are pretty well done. One of the ways that you
make money is by taking photos of all the different animal species on the
planet. This is done by going into a first person mode and hitting a button to
take a picture. The ones you haven't photographed show up as icons on your map.
You can also go around collecting pearls that also show up on your map. Sometimes
you get pearls from defeating monsters and sometimes they can just be found.
The pearls are used as money at the repair shop to add upgrades to your
hovercraft. The mini games include racing, looters caverns (follow a looter
hovercraft through a bunch of obstacles to get a pearl), air hockey, and "Guess
which cup the ball is under." Nothing mind-blowing, but there is a lot of
variety.
What else can I say about the game? It's fun, has a good plot, allows you to
explore on foot or in hovercraft, has simple but good controls, the characters are
interesting, and the save points work. It's also kid friendly. The only complaint
I have about the game is that it is so good that it feels short. When I
finished the game my time was 17 hours and I couldn't believe it. It felt like
a ten-hour game. If you're looking for something fresh and original you can't
go wrong with Beyond Good and Evil.
|
| Category |
Description |
Score |
| Presentation |
Cutscenes and menus are well done.
|
8.5 |
| Graphics |
Cell-shaded graphics look good and work well for the game. |
8.5 |
| Sound |
Each area has appropriate background music. Voice work is well done. |
9.0 |
| AI |
The enemies only react if they actually see you, not when you get near. |
9.0 |
| Gameplay |
Simple but effective with many different things to do. Developers, take note. |
9.0 |
| Replayability |
There are lots of pearls and animals I skipped the first time through the game. I
also didn't finish all of the mini-games. The rest of the game will be the same
each time through. |
8.5 |
| Overall |
|
9.0 |
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