Posted November 02, 2012
I think many of us remember when we were younger seeing that mysterious game called Beyond Good and Evil. Reading about it in magazines, seeing it on the shelf in the store, but for whatever reason it just disappeared from thought, and we moved on to whatever else. After hearing so much about this "underrated gem" called Beyond Good and Evil recently I just had to purchase it when it went on sale. It turns out, it may have rightfully earned it's nonexistant sale rep after all.
There are spoilers, so for those reading, I'll say the game is probably worth 10 bucks so just go purchase it before reading this.
Let's talk about the story, presentation, and style. It's higher than average, and the presentation at parts in combination with the interesting universe makes you stop in wonder in times. Jade, the protagonist, is the kind of woman most men like me value, a rare gem. She's smart, caring, but also strong willed, not a "womb with two legs". She doesn't cry a single time in the game, something I respect for the most part but partly disagree with and I'll talk more about that. The game suffers alot from the lack of us being able to explore it's universe further. There's really nothing out there to explore, and unless you get stumped at times during the main story missions the game can be beat fairly quickly, and this means there is less time to get attached to characters or get immersed in it's story.
Let's talk about Peyj, and the orphans. Peyj is a likeable enough character, the game did succeed in making me care about him, but I did not cry when he "died". I suspect this might be because I saw trailers of the sequel showing him still alive, but I still firmly believe the game did not give itself enough time to allow us to care about his outcome. I actually felt more moved when he was beaten and captured than when I found he'd died, I guess mostly because I hadn't seen it coming and I knew how much Jade cared about him. Also, the scene in which he is captured is so very well done. Jade running in slow motion, the camera flashing between her and Peyj being beaten in the next room. Jade was just sort of silently angry in the scene that followed, she didn't bitch or moan. This being my first sneaking section I noticed Jade had a sort of scowl on her face, and when I opened up the menu I noticed she had a scowl there too. It turns out, Jade has a scowl on her face whenever she is sneaking, not just when her best friend is captured. As said, this whole thing was well done, at least in first impression.
Then much later on in the game the E'STOOPID ORFAHNZ... scuse me, the orphans get captured. I really wanted to feel something then, but seeing as I only ever interacted with the little guys for about 5 seconds at the beginning of the game, I felt very little. The game seems to go downhill from here, at least storywise, but then again since the story seems to be the atoning element in this game, it's actually all going downhill.
The superficial "plot development" that takes place is even more degraded due to Jade's out of place dialogue with "Woofy". She doesn't cry at the fact that the equivalent of her children were just taken, she isn't even fired up, she's just like "oh well, I fail at life, guess I should just give up even seeing as I'm so close to blowing open this whole conspiracy". It was totally ridiculous.
Then Peyj "dies", abruptly and obnoxiously as the scene where Jade "laments" her orphans, and spontaneously comes back to life in a similarly sloppy manner, where a last minute plot element is shoehorned in at the last minute: Jade haz... heeling powars.
This is all actually in hindsight. Somehow I still managed to love every minute of this game's universe. The "Carlson and Peters" references cracked a smile every so often, and I laughed out loud when I was racing and Double H exclaimed "even better than Carlson and Peters!"
But anyways, for the endgame. As I dealt with a star fox ripoff of a space battle section, I knew the game was abruptly coming to a close, and that something went terribly wrong with the development cycle of this game. It was ending way too fast, and I knew it even more as I went down the elevator the final Boss when Jade says something along the lines of, "thank you for everything, my companions". This sounds like something meant to be said to at least a group of 3 or 4 people, whom Jade has experienced many adventures with, and even then this sort of thing is out of place for her character. I felt no sentiment when she said this out of place thing, instead I tasted uber cheeez in my mouth.
The last moments of the game did manage to be at least somewhat interesting. It is revealed Jade is not human, or at least not fully human, that she is the child or biological fragment (or whatever the fuck, IDK) of the... Domzee thing. He then begins to dehumanize her at her shock, she in a state of entrancement. It was somewhat an emotional moment, or at least meant to be. It is implied that you battling this thing in your own mind, fighting for your right to be human, to have your human life back that you weren't supposed to have. Then part of me thinks that Jade's strange behavior might be explained by the fact that "part of her" is Dom..zee... or whatever you would call it.
Then the game ends, abruptly, as expected. You don't get an inch of closure. The so called "cliffhanger" at the end of the credits is retarded.
Adding to that, the game didn't go as far as it could have with it's theme of conspiracy and such. Within the first hour of the game you know the Alpha Sections aren't great guys. It would have been more interesting to find something more interesting. Part of me thought that at the end of the game the Domz would turn out to be good guys, or turn out to have less than evil motives. Funny considering the title of the game. Could have at least created some false trust in the Alpha Sections by making them a little more fleshed out than just "obviously propaganda spewing army of evil".
Anyways, there's just something about this game that still makes me love it despite it's flaws. All I will say about it's gameplay is that it suffers much like the story does. It lacks depth, despite having good style. I expected to find more unique items like the gyrodisk launcher, fight more interesting boss fights, much like Zelda. I expected lots of puzzles, interesting dungeons and bosses, but it was not to be. Most of the game consists of snore worthy stealth sections, that are extremely frustrating due to the camera issues mostly if you decide to fight the Alphas instead of sneak.
There's a city in the center that is the source of some great eye candy, hover car traffic going about and fires and commotion going on in the distance, but the quantity of this interesting city you can actually explore is very little.
Like I said, I can't help but totally love this game. It owns a little part of my soul. I think when I really started to love it was when I wandered into the options menu and clicked on the "making of" video. It just took me. The beautifully orchestrated song called "Home Sweet Home" coupled with concept art of the beautiful universe of the game just, took me. Maybe it's just that I subconsciously want Jade... lol, I'm really at a loss for why this game's universe makes me feel the way I do.
I guess what I'm really complaining at in the end is that I wish the gameplay had more content, and I wish it were longer, so really in that regard I'm just wishing there were more of it.
Obviously, I'd be interested in the sequel, and I hope it doesn't suffer from the budget problems, or whatever problems it's predecessor had holding it back.
EDIT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUgqY-xpb8s
It turns out I completely missed this part of the game. I raided the volcano instead of the Alpha Section's armory for pearls. It doesn't change the abrupt nature of the story, but there is just a tiny bit of character and story development I missed out on that would have made it just a bit more bearable.
There are spoilers, so for those reading, I'll say the game is probably worth 10 bucks so just go purchase it before reading this.
Let's talk about the story, presentation, and style. It's higher than average, and the presentation at parts in combination with the interesting universe makes you stop in wonder in times. Jade, the protagonist, is the kind of woman most men like me value, a rare gem. She's smart, caring, but also strong willed, not a "womb with two legs". She doesn't cry a single time in the game, something I respect for the most part but partly disagree with and I'll talk more about that. The game suffers alot from the lack of us being able to explore it's universe further. There's really nothing out there to explore, and unless you get stumped at times during the main story missions the game can be beat fairly quickly, and this means there is less time to get attached to characters or get immersed in it's story.
Let's talk about Peyj, and the orphans. Peyj is a likeable enough character, the game did succeed in making me care about him, but I did not cry when he "died". I suspect this might be because I saw trailers of the sequel showing him still alive, but I still firmly believe the game did not give itself enough time to allow us to care about his outcome. I actually felt more moved when he was beaten and captured than when I found he'd died, I guess mostly because I hadn't seen it coming and I knew how much Jade cared about him. Also, the scene in which he is captured is so very well done. Jade running in slow motion, the camera flashing between her and Peyj being beaten in the next room. Jade was just sort of silently angry in the scene that followed, she didn't bitch or moan. This being my first sneaking section I noticed Jade had a sort of scowl on her face, and when I opened up the menu I noticed she had a scowl there too. It turns out, Jade has a scowl on her face whenever she is sneaking, not just when her best friend is captured. As said, this whole thing was well done, at least in first impression.
Then much later on in the game the E'STOOPID ORFAHNZ... scuse me, the orphans get captured. I really wanted to feel something then, but seeing as I only ever interacted with the little guys for about 5 seconds at the beginning of the game, I felt very little. The game seems to go downhill from here, at least storywise, but then again since the story seems to be the atoning element in this game, it's actually all going downhill.
The superficial "plot development" that takes place is even more degraded due to Jade's out of place dialogue with "Woofy". She doesn't cry at the fact that the equivalent of her children were just taken, she isn't even fired up, she's just like "oh well, I fail at life, guess I should just give up even seeing as I'm so close to blowing open this whole conspiracy". It was totally ridiculous.
Then Peyj "dies", abruptly and obnoxiously as the scene where Jade "laments" her orphans, and spontaneously comes back to life in a similarly sloppy manner, where a last minute plot element is shoehorned in at the last minute: Jade haz... heeling powars.
This is all actually in hindsight. Somehow I still managed to love every minute of this game's universe. The "Carlson and Peters" references cracked a smile every so often, and I laughed out loud when I was racing and Double H exclaimed "even better than Carlson and Peters!"
But anyways, for the endgame. As I dealt with a star fox ripoff of a space battle section, I knew the game was abruptly coming to a close, and that something went terribly wrong with the development cycle of this game. It was ending way too fast, and I knew it even more as I went down the elevator the final Boss when Jade says something along the lines of, "thank you for everything, my companions". This sounds like something meant to be said to at least a group of 3 or 4 people, whom Jade has experienced many adventures with, and even then this sort of thing is out of place for her character. I felt no sentiment when she said this out of place thing, instead I tasted uber cheeez in my mouth.
The last moments of the game did manage to be at least somewhat interesting. It is revealed Jade is not human, or at least not fully human, that she is the child or biological fragment (or whatever the fuck, IDK) of the... Domzee thing. He then begins to dehumanize her at her shock, she in a state of entrancement. It was somewhat an emotional moment, or at least meant to be. It is implied that you battling this thing in your own mind, fighting for your right to be human, to have your human life back that you weren't supposed to have. Then part of me thinks that Jade's strange behavior might be explained by the fact that "part of her" is Dom..zee... or whatever you would call it.
Then the game ends, abruptly, as expected. You don't get an inch of closure. The so called "cliffhanger" at the end of the credits is retarded.
Adding to that, the game didn't go as far as it could have with it's theme of conspiracy and such. Within the first hour of the game you know the Alpha Sections aren't great guys. It would have been more interesting to find something more interesting. Part of me thought that at the end of the game the Domz would turn out to be good guys, or turn out to have less than evil motives. Funny considering the title of the game. Could have at least created some false trust in the Alpha Sections by making them a little more fleshed out than just "obviously propaganda spewing army of evil".
Anyways, there's just something about this game that still makes me love it despite it's flaws. All I will say about it's gameplay is that it suffers much like the story does. It lacks depth, despite having good style. I expected to find more unique items like the gyrodisk launcher, fight more interesting boss fights, much like Zelda. I expected lots of puzzles, interesting dungeons and bosses, but it was not to be. Most of the game consists of snore worthy stealth sections, that are extremely frustrating due to the camera issues mostly if you decide to fight the Alphas instead of sneak.
There's a city in the center that is the source of some great eye candy, hover car traffic going about and fires and commotion going on in the distance, but the quantity of this interesting city you can actually explore is very little.
Like I said, I can't help but totally love this game. It owns a little part of my soul. I think when I really started to love it was when I wandered into the options menu and clicked on the "making of" video. It just took me. The beautifully orchestrated song called "Home Sweet Home" coupled with concept art of the beautiful universe of the game just, took me. Maybe it's just that I subconsciously want Jade... lol, I'm really at a loss for why this game's universe makes me feel the way I do.
I guess what I'm really complaining at in the end is that I wish the gameplay had more content, and I wish it were longer, so really in that regard I'm just wishing there were more of it.
Obviously, I'd be interested in the sequel, and I hope it doesn't suffer from the budget problems, or whatever problems it's predecessor had holding it back.
EDIT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUgqY-xpb8s
It turns out I completely missed this part of the game. I raided the volcano instead of the Alpha Section's armory for pearls. It doesn't change the abrupt nature of the story, but there is just a tiny bit of character and story development I missed out on that would have made it just a bit more bearable.
Post edited November 02, 2012 by JCD-Bionicman
