Games You Should’ve Played (But Probably Didn’t): Beyond Good and Evil
First things first lets address the elephant in the room: A big reason why I feel compelled to write this article this week is because Beyond Good and Evil is as of Wednesday available on Xbox Live Arcade, for the pauper’s sum of only ten dollars. If you’ve never played it before, man go and download it right the hell now. It’s okay I’ll still be here when you get back.
Anyways. Beyond Good and Evil was an overlooked 2003 classic by Ubisoft and Michel Ancel (creator of the Rayman series) that managed to synthesize some of the best aspects of previous gaming masterpieces. Do you enjoy The Legend of Zelda games? Of course you damn well do. How about the crazy, “the government is watching me through my dental fillings”-styled conspiracy-theory story akin to that of Metal Gear Solid or Deus Ex? Again, that’s a yes. Oh, and do you like collectibles? But not just pointless baubles or macguffins but rather items that take work to find and give you real, tangible rewards for their discovery? As a gamer that sounds like my drug of choice. Beyond Good and Evil manages to wrap these elements together and place into a world that can only be described as heartfelt.
You play as Jade, a freelance photographer and orphanage caretaker living on the aquatic world of Hillys, which has certainly seen better days. Maybe its the constant threat of an alien invasion by the insidious Domz, a race of creatures who seem mysteriously intent on kidnapping as many Hillyians as possible, or maybe it’s the fact that the land’s resident police force, the Alpha Squadron, seem unable and even unwilling to put a stop to the Domz attacks.
“Oh I’m sorry Jade, I didn’t know you, a giant tinman, a hippie, and an anthropomorphic cat were having a meeting in here. My bad.”
These small foibles aside, Hillys is truly a beautiful world to explore and uncover. There are numerous colourful characters to meet and interact with, much of which are anthropomorphized animal/human creatures. You can go and get your hovercraft fixed by the Rastafarian rhinoceroses, for example. Rastafarian rhinos! That never gets old for me.
The game itself is pure Legend of Zelda in its style - you explore fields and towns and regions, looking under every nook and cranny for items and pearls (which is basically the currnecy), and occasionally enter into regions that for lack of a better term could be called “dungeons”. The combat, with its third-person lock-on melee combat will also be right up a Zelda vet’s alley.
But where things start to take a unique turn is when you start entering dungeons and are required NOT to fight opponents, but rather sneak around and past them. You’re a photographer, not a fighter, and your job’s to take photos in these places, not kill everybody.
At least it’s fairly obvious to know who to hide from
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Stealth mechanics? Didn’t we as a whole cast that idea into the pit where it belongs?” And to be fair, yes, there are a few moments in Beyond Good and Evil where the stealth moments can be more of an annoyance than an enjoyment, but those moments pale in comparison to the countless other entertaining moments the game has. From fighting giant sewer monsters, to outrunning attack helicopters, to watching the world change around you as the populace slowly turns against the corrupt police force controlling it. There are some amazing moments to be had.
The best of which involve the story itself. Beyond Good and Evil needs to be lauded and remembered as one of the few video games in existence where you can say “it has a good story” without needing to affix the addendum “for a video game”. From the person-to-person interactions between Jade and her anthropomorphic pig-man “uncle” Pey’j, to the greater overarching scene the plot sets, BYGE will suck you into its world and make you care about its outcome.
And besides, how many video games can you count that stars a female protagonist that isn’t grossly over-sexualized?
I must admit, in closing, that I do have something of a sinister “alternative agenda” in plugging this game. If you, good sir or madam, go out and buy this game (it’s currently only available for the xbox 360 but have heart! It’ll reportedly be available for the PS3 in a few months), then it will show Ubisoft that there is still demand for the Beyond Good and Evil franchise, and will finally, FINALLY, put Beyond Good and Evil 2 into full gear.
