Beyond Good & Evil (2003) - MobyGames (original) (raw)

Tetris Forever

Tetris Forever

aka:Between Good & Evil,Beyond Good & Evil HD,Project BG&E

Moby ID: 11290

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In the future, on the planet Hillys, the population suffers from constant attacks from the alien DomZ. The situation is gradually getting worse, as the rate of DomZ kidnapings increases. The Alpha Section forces, who are in charge of protecting citizens, seem to be completely ineffective, not even fighting the DomZ. In the midst of this situation, the secretive organization IRIS alleges that the Alpha Section is involved in a massive government conspiracy, and seeks to expose the truth through journalism.

The player controls a young reporter and photographer named Jade with her companions Pey'j and Double H. After experiencing first-hand a DomZ attack, she is contacted by IRIS, who recruits her as an action reporter. Jade is now tasked with infiltrating the Alpha Section, exposing the government conspiracy, and ultimately finding the truth for herself.

Beyond Good & Evil is an action game with diverse gameplay. Much of the game is based on stealth and puzzles, but there are sequences of racing, shooting, combat, and platform action. Jade fights with her staff and also uses various abilities to execute long-ranged attacks and solve puzzles. Many of the puzzles require switching between the characters and using their special abilities; often it is necessary to coordinate the actions of two characters to achieve precise co-operation that leads to a puzzle's solution. Besides hostile areas with puzzles and enemies, there is also a city and other friendly areas to explore, where various items and gadgets can (and sometimes must) be bought. There are several mini-games and even an online ranking system (used by entering codes online after they are assigned in-game when the game is saved).

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Screenshots

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Promos

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Videos

Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

318 People (219 developers, 99 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 87% (based on 104 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5(based on 305 ratings with 16 reviews)

If you like Zelda, get this, if you don't like Zelda, get it anyway..

The Good
Almost everything.

The unique universe, the lush landscapes, the feeling of exploration. There's lots to do and see in the game, and many sections that just makes you go "whoa!". It has a high degree of replayability, because the gameplay is non-repetitive, and there's lots of opportunity to "improve" your game. Races, Collecting Stuff, Photos....even an online scoring system (and secret mini games to unlock)

This game has it all.

The Bad
A bit too short, and a few bugs in it. eg.all the control pads plugged in rubble when you are hit, not just #1

However, these dont effect the game too badly :)

The Bottom Line
Superb Game, LBA and Zelda combined with racing and stealth added into it. Wonderful Landscape to explore, huge replayability and cool story.

You will be sad when its over.

GameCube · by Darkflame (14) · 2004

An eclectic gem in the rough, marred by a few rather silly problems

The Good
In spite of the hype, I have little experience with the "Genius" of Michel Ancel. As far as i know, all he has done before BG&E is Rayman 1/2, and neither of the two struck me as wonders of the world. Regardless, Beyond Good & Evil comes with a great premise, has a number of original gameplay ideas that tie well into the storyline and setting without seeming gimmicky, and overall it comes across as a very well put together product by some obviously talented and creative minds.

The storyline is interesting right from the start, with a beautiful and harmonious world (the protagonist, Jade, is seen practising Chi-gong at the very beginning for example) fighting an infinitely alien enemy that seems like the direct opposite of anything else in the game. Even highwaymen are goofy and charmingly cartoony on the world of Hyllis, and i assume this is done to make the enemy even more shocking and horrifying when you do run into them.

The bad guys, oddly named the DomZ (sounds like a bad rap group), are a bunch of soul eating spider psychics who can't really decide wether they are in the movie Aliens or not, and they are backed up covertly on earth by the Hyllis-based Alpha Sector military unit (this isn't really a spoiler. It's obvious from the outset). Their ongoing attacks on the planet Hyllis has made certain groups of citizens weary of the Alpha Sector, who says they are in fact protecting Hyllis against the DomZ, whereas facts seem to say the contrary. Early on, Jade is approached by one such group, and is tasked to put her skills as a photographer to work revealing the true nature of the Alpha sector to the people of Hyllis.

In gameplay terms, this storyline mounts to a few distinct elements: Overworld shopping and adventuring along the lines of recent Zelda games. You walk around, explore, find dungeons, talk to characters and spend money, all to advance the plot. Racing and modding your Hovercraft, which is your main means of transportation around the overworld for about half the time, as Hyllis is a water planet. Dungeon crawling and puzzling with stealth as a strong element, where you're usually tasked with going some place you're not allowed and take pictures of critical events while remaining undetected. A sort of gotta catch'em'all game of animal photography where you try to collect pictures of every major species on Hyllis for cash. Crazy wacky completely insane action sequences and chases that defy description and always slap you right in the face when they occur. All in a good way of course. Wind Waker, Prince of persia: The sands of time and BG&E has made me aware of my favorite genre; The action rpg adventure. There are few genres that leave themselves as open to creativity as this, and BG&E is an excellent example. The gameplay constantly seems to be moving and flowing in different directions, and you'll almost never find yourself bored as the changes are so frequent. It's really rather pleasant to play games where the developers have obviously had fun.

BG&E has an art style that's quite brilliant, and uniquely French. Ever since Delphine were doing action adventures on the Amiga, the french have held the upper ante of fantasy design with an iron claw. These guys know fantastic. Half and half Don bluth & HR Giger, coupled with early Möbius and a slight tinge of early Disney, BG&E looks pretty fantastic throughout. Characters are brilliantly designed, and then in particular Jade, who is a proper poster girl for the modern era, army fatigues, fighting stick, bandana, camera and all. They animate wonderfully well, if slightly inappropriate at times (Jade's schoolgirl jog when in an alien dungeon is a bit unsettling to watch). Proper facial animation does a lot to convey a story, and BG&E even has a Pig looking sad. Kudos to Ubisoft for the effort. The world of Hyllis is otherwise rather beautiful, and viewed at high resolutions can make you think you're watching cartoon graphics at times. The water effects in particular are astonishing. The engine behind it all is surprising in how heavily it depends on point sprites, yet manages to pull it off. For instance, at the beginning, Jade is sitting under a large tree. The tree has hundreds of leaves that wave realistically, and it's almost amazing seeing that much motion in an era where trees are usually polygonal static objects. The tree is in fact made up of myriads of 2d images that look the same whatever angle you look at them, which dramatically lessens the impact on your graphics card. In short, the world of BG&E looks uniquely alive, but if scrutinized it has quite a few cheap graphical effects.

The audio work is for the most part rather mediocre. The english voice acting (which i assume to be inferior to the French. Why oh why wouldnt they let you use french audio with english subtitles like Evil twin did?) can be grating, but for the most part serves its purpose. The music however is astonishingly varied and well put together. I was very often surprised by the variation in genres. It can be seen as a kind of eclectic modern pop world music mashup, and it suits the living world of BG&E very well indeed.

A final specific note, i really enjoyed the camera mechanic. The idea of gathering this sort of information and putting it to use the way it is done in BG&E has simply not been done before, and the way the game portrays it is more than efficient. The camera rocks, it's that simple.

The Bad
Unfortunately, BG&E has some rather significant flaws. On my first way through the game i was so busy taking in the sights and enjoying the variety that i was blind to most of it. However, after playing it through and experiencing it's cataclysmically dissatisfying and ambiguous cliffhanger(!) ending, even though it is pretty obvious today that there won't be a sequel judging by the game's sales, the bad things just pop up all over the place. My biggest gripes are the following:

The storyline is shallow. There is no suspense as to who the bad guys are; you know it from the first moment you lay eyes on them. Characters are simple to the extent of being forgotten within moments. Jade looks after a house full of wartime orphans, each with distinct personalties. However, after the intro, these kids are quickly forgotten and play no real part in the gameplay after that. Each and every element of apparent depth eventually appears to have an almost mechanical function in driving the plot forward. You rarely see anyone do anything unexpected, and for a game which focusses so much on information versus disinformation, it can be viciously predictable. I was disappointed to see the hamfisted way the game tells it story, driving points and facts home with a sledgehammer, very little is left up to the player other than the inane ending, and the linearity of the game betrays the protagonist's early promise to get to the bottom of whatever it is that's going on. You have no choices, and you're led by the hand throughout. Whereas this also was true for Wind Waker (a comparison i'll stand by), Wind Waker filled in the linearity of the main story arc with a multitude of lesser story arcs to flesh out the world. BG&E does no such thing, despite having a well realised world to place such arcs in.

The controls go from bearable to atrocious, usually the latter. The mouse+keyboard setup of BG&E works well by default, despite having some odd quirks. Menu options are navigated with the mousewheel, the spacebar is used to confirm choices etc. One quirk i found particularly annoying is how obviously the game is designed for use with a gamepad. One minigame has you playing a strange form of Airhockey. To send the pucks in the direction you want, you must rotate the puck in the direction and send it off. Sounds easy, but it's all different when you realise that to turn it up/left, you must push your mouse up/left. Rotation is done by moving the mouse in circles. This radial motion is obviously designed for an analogue stick, and while it works okay when you input passwords and the like with letters and numbers spiralling out from the center, it really isn't very precise with a mouse. Most other problems with the controls include "imprecision", as the context functions occationally change when you least expect them to, wall hugging tends to simply not work, and a number of other strange little catches. One such catch is the hovercraft controls and how they deny you the possibility of circle strafing, even though there is no good reason it's not available. When stationary, the mouse moves the camera, when moving, the mouse turns the hovercraft. However, the wsad keys ALSO steer the hovercraft. Why make the camera/steering switch? In cases, this turns out to be simply broken, as a camera turned to the left versus a press of A to move left will result in the camera locking into an incredibly awkward position, resetting once the hovercraft is stationary.

The camera is horrible. I reckon by now that camera programming is every game developer's nightmare. I don't think there's any fun connected to making a third person camera work, and most games today are evidence of that fact. BG&E has a vicious and mean spirited camera that will do such things as get stuck in walls, flicker back and forth between front/rear views during combat (effectively reversing your controls back and forth), disappearing into the floor, letting you look through walls etc. It is strictly mouse controlled, though the game switches to stationary cameras that mostly do the job. The mouse controls are enormous offenders, as their rules seem to change based on the room you're in. It can be frustrating beyond belief to be simply denied the view you need because the camera refuses to be anywhere other than inside the floor or inside the ceiling.

2 dungeons and the case is closed? If my memory serves, there is a total of 4 "cases" you must solve with your camera. For instance, a case would involve taking pictures of an object on a trolley, and then two people handling said object. Once this evidence is assembled, it can be transmitted to the rest of the world electronically. It's a great idea but the game never makes anything big out of it. Four cases during 2 dungeons is all it takes to convince the world of the Alpha section's nogoody nature. For a game of 17hours in length, 2 dungeons is a little disappointing. No wonder people find the game short when the majority of game time is just filler and transit.

The Bottom Line
It's great fun the first time through, and you're viable to ignore the flaws and just take in the spectacle. However, i don't see a lot of replay value, mostly because you'll be so disappointed with the ending you won't want to experience it again. It is really quite extraordinarily bad in spite of its buildup.

In any case, a recommended rental, if only to see the fantastic visuals. Definitely one to show your friends.

Windows · by Andreas SJ (21) · 2004

Creative genius. Simple, amazing, fun.

The Good
Creative gameplay, combat system, good pace, great music, lots to do. The gameplay is multi-faceted. Bits of stealth, action, searching, taking pictures(it's a lot more fun than it sounds most of the time), combat, and lots to do on the side.

The Bad
Overly predictable story line. Big, corrupt(though outwardly seeming good) group assisting evil race bent on domination/destruction. Rebel group recruits you, and things go from there. This game is very inappropriately mistitled, as it's all about Good & Evil.

The Bottom Line
A great game, with many innovative ideas, revolutionary methods, multifaceted-gameplay, decent story if predictable.

Xbox · by Andrew Carter (1) · 2005

[ View all 16 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Beyond Good & Evil appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Jade

Jade's character design is actually based on her French voice actress Emma De Caunes.

Nietzsche

In an interview on LadyGamers.com, Tyrone Miller explains how the game relates to Nietzsche:

Many people assume that Beyond Good & Evil is a reference to the Friedrich Nietzsche book by the same name. Although you could probably make an argument – this game really has no connection to the German philosopher. As an action reporter, players need to investigate beyond the superficial facts of what is good and what is evil – which is dictated through government propaganda in the game. The player has to see what nobody else can see, what is hidden to the people of Hyllis. This theme is relevant to issues we face today – understanding the reasons behind the apparent facts.

Promotional websites

The publishers registered the websites for both the iris network (www.irisnetwork.net) and the Hyllian gov. (www.hylliannews.com) both featuring promotional material and assorted stuff.

Save games code

All the saved games in Beyond Good & Evil are marked with an "Internet Code". The purpose of this code is two-fold, first it enables you to go to the official website and check your ranking against all the other BG&E players in the world. Secondly, upon completion of the main game, you'll be able to use your saved game code on the official website and obtain instructions on how to go about obtaining missing MDisk #13 within the game.

Soundtrack

  1. In the Beginning
  2. Dancing With Domz
  3. Home Sweet Home
  4. Hyllian Suite
  5. Mammago's Garage
  6. Isle de Noir
  7. Mineshaft Madness
  8. Say Cheese, Fellas
  9. Akuda House Propaganda
  10. Ancient Chinese Secrets
  11. Don't Fear the Reaper
  12. Fear the Reaper
  13. Fun and Mini-Games
  14. Funky Bar 100
  15. When Domz Attack
  16. Slaughterhouse Scramble
  17. Sneaky Jade Suite
  18. Organic Beauty
  19. Violent Jade Suite
  20. Heart of Darkness
  21. Metal Gear Domz
  22. Something Completely Different
  23. Behind Enemy Lines
  24. Free Your Mind
  25. Thoughtful Reflections
  26. Enfants Disparus
  27. Above and Beyond
  28. Unacceptable Losses
  29. In Hot Pursuit
  30. Sins of the Father
  31. Redemption

In February 2004, Ubisoft released MP3s of Beyond Good & Evil soundtrack to NintendoInsider.com. These are still available for download, but as of April 2005, downloaders must register with the web site and go to the Members-Only Board to receive a frequently changing password.

Title

According to Michel Ancel, the game was originally to be named Between Good & Evil, but the marketing department did not like that name, so it was changed to Beyond Good & Evil.

The original title I gave the game was Between Good & Evil (see my first logo included) - which the marketing department didn’t like back then. For me, the meaning of this title is that you are always in the middle of an internal and external conflict, based on our conception of good and evil. In this game and in our world, propaganda thinks in our place; tells us these are our enemies and these are our friends. When you go beyond the appearances, you discover your own truth. That’s the theme of the game and marketing finally accepted this title, and just replaced the between by beyond, which fits better with the vast universe and story.

Awards

Information also contributed byBig John WV,Mark Ennis,Sciere,Terrence Bosky,WildKard,WindowsKiller andZovni.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kotario.

PlayStation 3 added by Lain Crowley. Xbox 360 added by Sciere. Xbox One added by MAT.

Additional contributors: Jeanne, Zack Green, Sciere, Ilya Atkin, Klaster_1, firespot, lasttoblame, Paulus18950, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, Plok, FatherJack, 一旁冷笑.

Game added December 11, 2003. Last modified November 10, 2024.