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Posted by  TheArtrix on 07/11/2006, 14:25 CET (@559 BMT) |
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/10
I think it's about time to write my first game review for this website, and I found a good game to start off with: Beyond Good and Evil by Ubisoft. Ironically, I used to write game reviews back in 1997 for a local gaming magazine, let's see if I still have the touch.
Beyond Good and Evil is basically a Zelda game not produced by Nintendo. It has many elements found in those games, and it has the same, adventure-y vibe to it.
The best thing about the game is that it's cheaper than a foot long Italian BMT menu at Subway. I bought the game for a mere €5.95 plus shipping and handling. Registering at Something Awful is more expensive. Conclusion: next time you're shopping at Amazon or Bol or whatever your favorite online store is, don't forget to put this in your virtual cart.
So, what's so great about this game, and why reviewing a game that was released in 2003? For one thing, Beyond Good and Evil is one of the underdogs in the industry, selling poor and dropping $20.00 just a week after it's release, even though the critics praised the game into heaven. Also, this is actually one of those games that are actually fun and memorable.
Beyond Good and Evil tells the tale of Jade, a woman in her 20s who lives in a lighthouse on a planet called Hyllis. It's the future somewhat, mankind has colonized a bunch of planets and now a bunch of aliens, the DomZ, are constantly attacking those planets. Apparently there's a federation called the Alpha Section, who are seemingly responsible for the protection of it's planets.
It's just that they're doing a bad job at it, arriving late after every DomZ attack. Instead of actually doing their job, a massive propaganda campaign keeps the population calm and clueless. Jade is a freelance reporter, and she gets a assignment from a mysterious client who will eventually set her on a quest for the truth.
The game's exciting from the very moment you press "new game". Jade is meditating when all the sudden a bunch of DomZ march in and capture the orphans. Before you get a grip on what just happened, you must might the DomZ, which is very appealing visually, and accompanied by very cinematic music. The entire game is like this. It's like actually experiencing a good movie, and there are enough plot twists to keep you interested.
The voice acting is quite a separate issue in this game, since the European version features all the major, west-European languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Dutch. The voice acting differs in quality, and it's hard to tell what the "root language" is. The voice acting in the English and French version is FANTASTIC. I haven't heard such passionate voice acting since Grim Fandango, the voices really work with the characters and sound like the voice actors actually care about their character. This, however, is somewhat lost in the Dutch version, where many lines sound somewhat forced and some characters sound generic. It also sounds like it’s translated from the English version, instead of using new lines.
But with such a high level of voice acting, why, and I mean WHY, have they decided to leave out spoken dialogue between cut-scenes! Whereas every freakin' line in Grim Fandango is accompanied by spoken dialogue, this game only has on-screen dialogue when you talk to people. I hoped switching from the demo would fix this, but it didn't. It's probably because of the multi-language nature of the game, but still, it lowers itself a notch on the awesomeness scale.
The game doesn't come with a manual, not only does this save precious paper, but you simply don't need it. The in-game manual teaches you all the techniques with ease. The PC version also utilizes the mouse, which adds FPS style to the game play. The game automatically selects the right item when you're near certain devices or objective and there are pretty much no annoyances.
As for the storyline, which is the driving force behind this game, it's pretty clever and goes beyond the generally cartoony look of the game. It's not perfect, the game feels kinda rushed in the end and leaves a lot of questions unanswered. It's pretty short too. I was able to beat this game in about 11 hours, within a week's time. On the bright side, the game is not just about fighting, and sometimes, it's much better to sneak around, especially in the heavily guarded levels.
Score: 9.1/10
It doesn't get a full 10 because it's rather short and because of the lack of in-game spoken dialogue. The rest is very good for 2003 standards. All elements are weighted carefully to create a story that you get sucked into and won’t stop playing until you reached the conclusion. The only sensible advice I can give is to at least play the demo at Ubisoft’s website and see for yourself.
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