For the (slight) number of individuals keeping up on my insane electronic rantings, I’m sure you’ve noticed it’s been like a month since I’ve written, well, anything. Without boring you with the details, let’s just say I’m going through something of an existential crisis, and I’m likely going to be taking the rest of the month off to get real life in order before I come back to pontificate on the intricate meta-art that is Duke Nukem Forever, or why Chrono Trigger remains the most bitchin’ game of all time, or some other such nonsense.
To tide you over though, here’s my 8-second synopsis of E3 2011:
- Gaming is apparently just military-shootin’ dudes now
- The Wii U and Playstation Vita have made me give up on caring about console names forevermore
- No Microsoft, I don’t want to yell instructions at the imaginary characters on my television screen
- I will never forgive Ubisoft for not announcing Beyond Good and Evil 2. When the revolution comes Mr. Caffeine will be the first against the wall
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.
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