A surprisingly few number of people have played Beyond Good and Evil, for no real reason. Well, it being released with almost no advertising or marketing didn’t help anything. I remember seeing an ad or two in EGM, but that was about it. It also had a somewhat interesting commercial I don't remember seeing, but trust me, that helped either. This happens all of the time, though, a good game comes out and the marketing department drops the ball and nobody knows about it (Mark of Kri, Guardian Heros, Rhythm Heaven, etc.) Well, I decided to download it to my GameTap account and try it out. My take on it? It's a great game!
This game is good because, well, it’s very different. Your charcter, Jade, is NOT a last-action hero, destined to save the world. On the contrary, she is a simple reporter who lives with a talking pig that invents things, and both of you take care of orphaned kids in your spare time. It really doesn’t sound like much of a game until some weird aliens start abducting people. Well, to combat this, a military group called the Alpha Sections fight off these mysterious aliens, called the Domz, but in return of your safety they need an almost dictatorship like control over the entire planet of Hillys (your home). So, the plot opens up as you take on the reporter role to find out why the Alpha Sections are so mysterious and why do they need total control. Honestly, that’s all I can say about the plot without giving away the oh-so-juicy bits.
So, as a reporter, Jade’s main action is to take pictures of incriminating evidence and to take pictures of animals to earn cash on the side. Her only means of attack is with a stick called a Dai-Jo, which is next to worthless against most foes. I admit, none of this sounds like I would make for a good game, but it does! Seriously, the simplicity involved in this game is what makes it such a joy to play, and it doesn’t get in the way of the overall story either.
As with any review, I do have my complaints. A common complaint about this game is that it’s too short. Like, WAY too short. I beat the game in 11 hors, and I took my sweet time with it. I thought the game was long enough to get the point across, and right as you might have started getting tired of the game, it ends, so it worked out for me. Another common complaint is that the game is way too easy. That one…I can agree with. With the simplicity of the game, the difficulty is just not there. The hardest part of the entire game is the final boss, and really all he boils down to is a giant game of memorization (for those that get stuck at the final boss, trust me, it’s a pattern). Heck, 80% of the game is you sneaking around in shadows, trying not to get caught and taking pictures when you get the chance. Heck, you only attack enemies full-force only a handful of times in the game, other than that you are sneaking about. There really isn’t much to the game in the way of gameplay.
Here’s what it comes done to…how much fun can you have while doing simple tasks? Think of the premise of Doom. All you do is shoot demons and zombies in Doom, but it’s fun! It’s the execution of simplistic gameplay that make it fun or boring, and this game executes well. Ease of play aside, it really is good title that everyone should try. It’s only 1200 points right now on XBLA arcade or $15 on the PSN Network, so now it’s a steal to buy and play one of the most under-appreciated games. Hey, the more people that buy this game, the more likely the developers will make the sequel that much better.
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