Well those wacky French are at it again! First they give gamers a limbless
little oddball buy the name of Rayman. Even odder than the main character having
no arms or legs is that the games were pretty darn good. Now they’re throwing a
new game at us, Beyond Good and Evil, with several different genres mixed
together while actually having the nerve to also include an interesting, if not
a slightly flawed, story. Gosh darn it, if they keep things like this up I just
might have to change my mind about those guys…
In Beyond Good and Evil (BGE), you play the role of an action-reporter named
Jade. In a nice departure from many games the main hero is actually a heroine, a
spunky one at that and not once does she strip down to a bathing suit. Nope,
Jade is just a normal girl from the planet Hillys with an artistic flair for
taking photographs. Unfortunately her planet is being attacked rather often by a
pretty rude bunch of aliens called the DomZ. The good news is that there is an
intervention troop called Alpha Section to protect the planet. The bad news is
that they are not doing a very good job. Truth is they are doing such a poor job
that you are asked to go out and take pictures of as many critters as possible
in case the DomZ end up killing everything in sight. Guess someone thought it
would be nice to have a record of all of the species before they got wiped out.
You gain the equivalent of cash for each picture you take, how much depends on
the rarity of the animal and how well the photo is composed. You also decide to
start to snoop around and see exactly what’s going on with the nasty DomZ and,
like any good reporter, uncover the truth. This is the main focus of the game
and you find several story twists the further you go.
Jade, which interestingly enough is also the color of her lipstick, doesn’t
have to go through this adventure by herself as she has a few companions who
help along the way. One is her uncle Pey’j, who happens to be a pig. No, not an
unsophisticated person but an actual pig well, maybe he is more of a
half-man/half-pig. He may not be the most athletic pig in the world but he is
very handy because of his inventions and sense of humor. You will also team up
with a fellow from the rebel group Iris Network named Double H, who seems to be
a few cents short of a dollar if you know what I mean. At times you can give out
commands to your friends, like helping you move something really big, but they
usually can handle things by themselves.
Gameplay in BGE can be defined in several different ways. First you have the
previously mentioned photography. Then you have the fighting and stealth parts
of the game. Jade is armed and kind of dangerous with a big stick called a
Dai-Jo. Combat itself is rather simple and can be handle with just the A button
and some simple analog stick movements. One basically useless attack is the
Super Attack where you hold down the A button for a few moments to build up
power in your Dai-Jo. Release the button and a powerful amount of energy is set
loose. The problem is that you will rarely have the time needed to pull off this
attack. You’re much better off just hacking away. Of course there are obligatory
moments of Matrix/Max Payne style slow motion fighting. There are also times
when you will use your fighting moves to help solve a puzzle. As you all know,
sometimes it is better not to been seen and to sneak around. Jade can crouch
with the best of them and the stealth seems to fit the lifestyle of a reporter
trying to uncover a conspiracy.
Page 2 of 2 »
