Beyond Good & Evil

Mecanicamente não impressiona. Falta polimento à movimentação, direção e combate, e profundidade ao sistema de stealth - afinal, jogos como MGS 2 e Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell já existiam.

BG&E, porém, triunfa pois tem como foco a narrativa e a construção do seu universo, de personagens oprimidos por uma distopia informacional, regida por uma autocracia militar. O roteiro é bem executado e o tópico é tratado com a maior profundidade que cabia em um jogo como esse.

A história do grupo de resistência Iris e a revolução popular desencadeada pelas reportagens de seus membros é memorável e muito emocionante. Espero que a tal sequência realmente esteja sendo desenvolvida.

Beyond Good and Evil is known as a cult classic - given it’s fairly high critical ratings but extremely low sales. Jade is a freelance reporter/photographer who lives on a lighthouse island on Hillys which doubles as an orphanage, with her adoptive "uncle" Pey'j the pig. He has a jovial personality and is skilled in mechanics.

Hillys has been invaded by alien creatures called the DomZ. Hillys’ military force known as the Alpha Section constantly (suspiciously) saves the day. The Alpha Section uses propaganda to oppose a group of rebels known as the Iris Network, whom it blames for the attacks. Jade’s island is attacked by the DomZ, and is soon hired by the Iris Network to investigate the Alpha Section and take photos of evidence of their schemes.

The residents of Hillys are all anthropomorphic animals, so you will see the likes of: cat, goat, bull, shark people as well as some standard animals such as birds, whales and plants to discover. The characters and wildlife design creates an interesting world, but you don’t really get to see much of it. There’s two main areas you explore: the factory and slaughterhouse. These are fairly large, like Zelda dungeons, but more linear. There's a few places you explore outside these areas, but they are fairly brief and fairly enclosed.

There’s a mix of influences shown in the visual, character, and sound design. You have the Jamaican rhinos at Mammago garage, and Jade’s AI; Secundo who has a heavy Spanish accent. These characters seem a bit out of place. The music is a complete mix, ofen using orchestral scores, light electronic or ambient tracks, but then you have weird songs with lyrics which have a completely different tone.

The game's combat is mainly used as a means to add more variety to the gameplay and is sparingly used. Some fights can be completed with thoughtless button mashing, while others are more sophisticated where you need timing, or to push enemies into electric barriers to defeat them. The combat relies on a one-button attack scheme with auto-lock on, and another button to dodge. The animations are fluid and it’s easy to hit an enemy, then quickly turn and attack the enemy behind you. You wouldn’t expect Jade to be such a fluid fighter, but she is skilled with her Daï-jo staff. You do gain a ranged attack (Gyrodisk Glove) shortly into the game, but you need to move to the first-person photo view and remain stationary in order to fire this.

There are some boss fights which have attack patterns that need to be dodged and exploited. They often require using your partner’s ability to expose a vulnerability so you can deal the damage.

Pey'J is your partner for the first sections of the game, but then he is replaced by an Iris Network agent named Double H. He is a human in a suit of armour whose amnesia results in some funny dialogue, but he isn’t as interesting as Pey’j.

Your health is depicted by hearts which can be expanded throughout the game by finding an item called PA-1. Some of these can be bought from shops, but most are found as you progress through the game, with some being used as rewards for finding secret areas.

There is a currency called Materia which can be found in crates, rewards for defeated enemies, and payment for taking photos of creatures.

Taking images of creatures is performed by going into camera mode, then using the required zoom to put the creatures into focus. I felt you needed to zoom out a bit too much rather than having the subject large in frame.

The most important currency is Pearls. These are floating blue orbs which are often dished out from side-quests, but maybe you can’t call them side-quests because many are required to reach the game’s ending. These are used to upgrade your hovercraft, and repair a new vehicle to reach the final area. These can be photography rewards; bought from shops; in secret areas; won by winning mini-games; hovercraft racing; and stealing some from the Alpha Section. The game has a log of which Pearls you have discovered and will mark them on the map.

The hovercraft seems to be the primary form of travel in Hillys, and you will use it to navigate the map, primarily over water. The hovercraft has a gun which fires homing projectiles which you use in some fights against the DomZ.

There’s some simple puzzle-solving and platforming e.g. pushing blocks, and hitting switches to move platforms around and timing jumps. The main gameplay is stealth. In these segments, Jade must crouch and hide behind obstacles, away from the line of sight of heavily armoured but low vision guards. You mainly have to observe the patrol patterns of enemies, and advance when there is a gap. Some sections are forgiving where you can retreat to a safe area, but others are basically instant failure when you get hit by a laser. You will be placed back at the start of the room, so you never lose much progress at all. If you attack most guards from behind, they will temporarily stumble around until another guard comes to help them. If you hit them again, then they are permanently defeated, but it isn’t always possible - depending on the number of guards and patrol routes.

I assume the PC version is the HD version. The bold graphics have held up well, and I was impressed with the animations. Jade is especially well animated and I liked how she turns her head at points of interest. Most of the dialogue is voice acted, but then there’s a few bits of optional dialogue which is just text only.

The massive negative to the game is the game’s camera which is a massive hindrance. Most of the time, you can control the camera but it often seems to give you a poor view which makes the stealth sections a bit harder than they should be. When playing with a mouse, I found the main camera way too sensitive. When playing with a controller, it was the photography camera that was way too sensitive.

The game takes simple game mechanics and puts them together. Although it doesn’t do anything special, the game does have personality, but there again; you don’t get to see much of the world. The game has aged quite well, but the game camera really hinders the action. A sequel was announced a few years back but who knows if it will be released. It’s a shame, because although I thought this game was okay, it seems to have the potential to create something great from it.

Beyond Good and Evil is a solid open World action game, and its nothing more or nothing less. The games story is pretty simple and even a bit slow to get to the point. It mostly has you riding around in your vehicle and going to different areas to explore and fight enemies, then rinse and repeat. Then theres the whole camera thing where you can take pictures of enemies to get extra stuff. The game even throws in a few stealth moments that are done decent, even if they are a bit clunky. The characters are funny and charming in their own ways, and remind me of the kinds of characters you'd see in a Pixar movie. I mean this game isn't anything great either, it does have some tedium and the character development isn't that great, on top of having some generic design, but for what its worth its a good game for those who are into open world games and like exploring and there are a ton of collectibles in this game. But yeah its one of those games you play and beat then don't put back in for a few more years.

In the same vein as Rayman 2, it's weird to think this game is still as good as it is when it has so many weird dead ends, especially with some way late story beats that make no sense. But Beyond Good & Evil is an effective, cartoonily portrayed but no less sinister, look at the secrecy of a totalitarian military and what they can get away with, and the power of revolution with a few brave souls who sacrifice everything. Decent combat sits in the backseat as some almost great stealth and pretty killer puzzles take the stage and drive a slightly darker take on Zelda through a world dripping with atmosphere, rough around the edges as this aspect is. Way easier than its ilk, it still carved out a niche amongst a landscape of fakers who couldn't keep up.

Overrated is a word thats thrown around way too much when reviewing, but thats the main word that really describes my feeling towards this title. Beyond Good and Evil is a good game at its core, but it definitly doesnt deserve the cult status it has received in my eyes.

It offers a charming protagonist and side characters, as well as a cartoonish world that is fun to explore. There are a lot of dystopian elements in this world that could very easily made this a dark title had they chose to go into that direction. They didnt though, and this title feels like it was made to appeased the Legend of Zelda crowd more than Deus Ex. The story is really the main thing that motivated me to beat this game, because everything else is either average or mediocre. There are a lot of variety to the gameplay, from stealth/puzzle sequences to racing to 3d beat em ups, but unfortunatly neither of these is done greatly. The combat feels clunky, the stealth is very frustrating, and the racing while fun doesnt feel that is polished enough. Its a relatively easy game though, and the secrets scattered throughout the levels give the player an incentive to explore this interesting world.

Overal i was disappointed after i beat this game, but it still manages to have some entertaining value. Its just not the masterpiece that people paint it to be.

Before the Nintendo police came to take Michel Andel away (where he was forced to make a King Kong game in a labor camp), he gave us a masterpiece that applied '90s game mechanics with the finesse and style of '00s game design. Beyond Good & Evil is, by all means, a The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [ゼルダの伝説 時のオカリナ] copy-cat that either came out too early or a bit too late -- an observation due to the poor sales of a far, far from poor title. Where the game shines isn't in what is there (kinda), but in what isn't there. No aimless wandering, no broken controls, and no useless side-missions. There isn't a lot inside BG&E but everything that is there is tuned to perfection and delivered with heart that most triple-A titles lack.

Like a great film or book, BG&E pulls you in from the opening scene. It's an ideal that is very rare in games, with only a handful of titles succeeding (Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy VII [ファイナルファンタジーVII] come to mind). Even rarer, BG&E never lets up. What it lacks in playtime, it makes up for in its intricate plot and immaculate pacing. You never feel like you are working toward the next dungeon, as in Zelda. Instead, the player feels his part in the world and place in the plot through classic storytelling; the game often invokes The Fifth Element and Titan A.E., two of my favorite films. Even Metal Gear Solid seems a bit bloated when compared to BG&E's design that lets you know every step of the way where you are and why you are doing what you are doing.

One could argue this is just fluff and I'm trying to argue that the game is better then it is based on same vague notion of purpose, but that would be denying BG&E's strong point. For instance, a lot of the game relies around Jade taking photographs of the creatures in the world. The way the game sets-up this somewhat tired game mechanic connects the player to the world and the main character, rather then distancing the player from the story through some annoying gimmick (like BioShock and Dead Rising did). Unlike ICO, there is no need to focus on BG&E's little details, because it offers some of the biggest and memorable gaming moments, in recent memory. The chase scenes, the air ship, and some of the bosses make Zelda's recent games seem a bit humble in their efforts.

It's hard not to bring up Zelda, even with the game borrowing a good amount from Metal Gear Solid and other titles, because BG&E takes that old Nintendo staple in a direction a lot of us wanted to see Link go in the '00s. Rather then a grand 60-hour adventure through a regurgitated (some would argue "polished") Ocarina of Time, Michel Andel has created a world that relies on Jade as much as Jade relies on it. To the very end of the game, you never feel like an overpowered Link, but a helpless photographer that is only getting by with the help of her friends. Andel might have given us the next best thing to Super Mario 64 [スーパーマリオ64] with Rayman 2: The Great Escape, but BG&E offers an alternative to the more old school ways of Zelda. Alternatives are rarely as good as the source material, but in this case that couldn't be farther from the truth.