Signing up for Gamefly allowed me to look back at the vast amount of
games that I had missed from previous generations. Naturally, Beyond
Good & Evil fits the bill. This is one of those games that critics
loved but consumers never stopped to notice. As a result, the game is
no longer in production, listed as backordered on just about every
website, and has no way to get noticed. I'm here to tell you that those
critics weren't wrong. This is an exceptional game, and it's worth the
scavenger hunt to find.
In the game you play as Jade, a freelance photographer and operator of
a lighthouse, and she also looks after foster kids. In the very
beginning of the game you realize that you're pretty short on credits
so you start looking for work. You are offered a job taking pictures of
all of the wildlife on your planet of Hyllis. While this sounds like a
fairly daunting task, the animals aren't very hard to find. In fact,
after about an hour it'll become a reflex to whip out your camera when
you see little critters running around. That's also a good way to get
pearls, a form of currency you'll need in order to upgrade your
hovercraft as the story progresses.
The plot of the game is that your planet has become involved in a war
with the DomZ federation. Your defense is known as the Alpha Section,
but there is an underground group that claims Alpha isn't as nice as it
seems to be. The group, known as IRIS, claims that the DomZ is actually
controlling the Alpha Sections as well, and it's goal is to expose this
fact to the people. The problem is, they don't have a photographer good
enough to get inside the Alpha facilities and get the shots. That's
where Jade comes in.
Early in the game you'll meet Pey'j, Jade's pig uncle. He's a mechanic
who's raised Jade from a young age and Jade looks up to him a lot.
Also, you will meet Agent "Double H" in an early mission and he will
serve as your companion through most of the game.
The game has you going into 4 dungeons. The core gameplay of the
dungeons is stealth. You'll have to sneak past guards undetected in
order to advance to the next room. The game also has a lot of puzzle
solving. Just about every room has a puzzle to solve weather that's
hitting a switch from far away or finding the right part to fix a door,
you'll need to be thinking about the environment in order to progress
in Beyond Good & Evil.
The stealth parts of Beyond Good & Evil can be frustrating at
times, but the most frustrating thing about the game is the camera. The
game has a lot of those scene specific angles where it tries to give
you exactly what you need to see, the problem is sometimes it can get a
little unstable and jerk around on you in the middle of a fight.
Speaking of fights, the action parts of the game are done by mashing
the A button in whatever direction you want, and you can press X to
dodge. Your companion character can also help out, but all he's good
for is stunning enemies for a few seconds.
The game is a little on the short side. It took me about 10 hours to
get through the story, and once you beat the game's final boss you
can't progress any further in your save file. You can still load your
last save before the fight, however.
The strength of this game is in the presentation. It's presented in a
letterbox format to give it a more cinematic feel, and that's backed up
with some top notch graphics and sound. The visuals are great, and you
can tell a lot of care went into Jade's facial expressions. The audio
in the game is stellar. The soundtrack is very well done, and each
voice actor is perfect for their part and does it fantastically. The
creators went so far as to develop local music that Hyllians listen to,
and you'll find the songs to be quite catchy.
All in all, Beyond Good & Evil is definitely worth at least a
rental, if not full purchase. The game's story is very well told and
it's a great game while it lasts. Outstanding level design and
presentation make Beyond Good & Evil very easy to recommend.
