18 Mar, 2011
Title: Beyond Good and Evil
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: Ubisoft
Price: 800 Microsoft Points
Release Date: 03/02/2011
Back in 2003, Beyond Good and Evil was a game that was beloved by critics, bedazzled most who played it, and unfortunately, sold like ice cubes in Alaska. It was a victim of poor marketing from Ubisoft, which thought it would be great to release this title around the same time as another big hit, Prince of Persia. Except the Prince got all the advertising, and Beyond Good and Evil languished on in obscurity. But with a sequel in “on again-off again” development, it was perfect timing for the original Beyond Good and Evil to come back, re-mastered in HD, and it is still as fantastic as it was eight years ago.
Beyond Good and Evil takes place in the world of Hillys, where we step into the shoes of Jade, a young lady that has become a caretaker for children that have been made orphans from the current war that is encompassing the planet. An invading force known only as the DomZ, have been capturing the beings on the planet, using them to power their civilization. While the planet is protected by a utilitarian force, called the Alpha Section, it seems that things continue to get worse instead of better under the protection of the troops. Through unfortunate circumstance, Jade ends up working for an undercover resistance force known as IRIS, whose goal is the stop the invasion of the DomZ, while finding out more about the so called protectors known as the Alpha Section. Sure, the story in Beyond Good and Evil is clichéd and boilerplate in nature, it becomes its own by telling the story with compelling characters, beautiful scenery and several different game mechanics that keep the game fresh as you work your way through the experience.
I was one of those few that actually picked up Beyond Good and Evil back in 2003 and marveled at its visual design. It was a really good looking title for its time, and the HD upgrade has made this a definitive version to own. All of the main characters have been retextured and upscaled in HD, while most of the environments have been cleaned up as well. Water textures seem to have received the most work, as the sea looks far more reflective and moves a little more realistically. Most of this seems to come from the fact that they took the PC version of the game and cleaned it up for the HD release instead of going back to the original Xbox version of the title.
The HD remake did not stop at the character and world upgrades, as the entire soundtrack and voice tracks have been re-mastered for full, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. Beyond Good and Evil had a very eclectic sound for its time, fusing together rap, reggae and electronica to find a distinct sound which could be heard in every section of the game. It is subtle, but music is always there and it adds to the ambiance as you work through the story. The voice work for most of the main characters is still as great as it was back in the day with Jodie Forrest putting in a superb performance as the lead character Jade. Performances for Pey’j – Jade’s adoptive uncle who happens to be a pig, Double H – a spy undercover in the Alpha Section and main heavy in the game are also fantastic. However, the peripheral roles and background dialog is still rather repetitive and at some points, annoying as hell. You don’t hear it often, but when you get into sections where you have to head a character say the same two sentences again and again, it grinds on your eardrum.
While gameplay primarily switches between adventuring around environments to solve puzzles, and combat with enemies, there are also two other gameplay mechanics that set the game apart, one really good and one that could have used a lot more work to be fun . Since Jade is an undercover operative, she is tasked with a camera that she has to use to line up photographs to help expose the mysteries behind the DomZ invasion. It is a simple mechanic, but requires you to focus in shots, getting the proper perspective and angle. The camera also provides you an opportunity to earn money by taking photographs of the creatures in the world, each one netting you a different amount of credit. I loved the camera mechanic, but I was not so hot on the stealth sequences in the game. At many times during missions, you would find yourself having to sneak around in the shadows, as you are woefully underpowered in comparison to the enemy. The problem is that the stealth sections are really tedious, and the enemy detection seems so arbitrary. Many times I found myself repeating sections several times over to get through one area, and because checkpoints were hit and miss, you could find yourself having to do several of these sections over in case of an untimely demise. It was an area that could have used work, but gameplay was not where Ubisoft was making changes for this HD remake.
The conversion to the Xbox Live Arcade is mostly smooth, with controls matching the same layout as they did back on the original Xbox release. The camera still seemed a bit dodgy at times, and was inverted for some reason. The same touchiness could be said for the segments where you are piloting craft either in the sky or in the ocean. They are very sensitive to the movements on the analog stick, which could result in some over steer. Again, nothing that hurts the game, but could have been clean up with some extra polish.
Probably the most noteworthy commentary on Beyond Good and Evil is that gamers will get a full, quality title for 800 MS Points. We are talking about a 10-12 hours experience for that price, and it is quality time with the characters, the environment and the gameplay. It is a $50 retail title that has been cleaned up and sold to gamers and a budget price. I think it would be a shame for anyone that missed Beyond Good and Evil the first time around to skip it again. It is a solid title that offers a bundle of gameplay for its rather low price. Small technical glitches aside, it is a must buy for Xbox 360 owners.
[rating:4.5]
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