Beyond Good and Evil Impression
By Vashkey 2 Comments
I feel like typing stuff here. So I will.
So I bought some xbox games recently, sorta, I figure thats something to talk about.
Beyond Good and Evil HD
Notice I use pictures to make my blogs more interesting to look at. Who wants to look at walls of text? Thats boring.
Anyway, theres actually an interesting story to this game before I even played it. Back in the day I actually used to really want to play this game but I could never find it. To be flat out honest I just thought the main character looked cool and I like my action adventure games, theres really not much else to it. But yeah, I looked real hard and I just could not find a copy.
In 2007 I finally found a copy for the original xbox. Unfortunately, it's not compatible with the original xbox which I got rid of. So I was really happy when I found out that this was being ported to the 360 and in HD in wide screen, but in all that time searching for it and hearing about how it was some hidden gem of the last console generation I feel that maybe that set up my expectations too high.
Beyond Good and Evil could easily be described as an action adventure game in the vein of The Legend of Zelda. Theres a lot of puzzle solving in "dungeons"(not litteral, but they are in the videogame sense). I would say this is the greatest part of the game. The Puzzles are fun to explore and beat. However, every other aspect of the game isn't particularly strong. Theres some stealth But it merely boils down to learning the simple routes gaurds walk(simple as in, they walk in a circle within a ten foot radius) or the four different directions they're field of vision shifts to while they stand in the same spot.
The combat consists entirely of button mashing and occasionally hitting the Y button(if I remember right) to activate your partner's special ability. A neat aspect of the game is photography, you take photos through out the game of animals and you'll recieve chash for it that you can use to buy health restorative items, upgrades and the like. The camera recieves a few other uses through out the game, not too many though. It's hard to describe but the photography is one of the most enjoyable parts of the game. Maybe becuase it's just something different?
There are some side activities you can partake in. In the main city there are a couple minigames, a air hockey-like game and a gambling game. Theres are four races you can compete in and four bandit keeps you can raid. None of these side activities will last you very long though, they certainly aren't as sustaining as side activities you might do in a game like Grand Theft Auto.
In fact, the game as a whole isn't very long. I managed to beat the game and earn all the achievements in under eleven hours. I did everything you could do in the game save for a couple of short and meaningless side quests. The game really feels rushed towards the end. As you progress through the game you purchase ship upgrades with pearls you earn throughout the game. The last couple upgrades lack any major story missions in between unlike the other upgrades and one of the side quests practically throws around twenty pearls at you for killing some common monsters you had been beating up with ease early in the game. The effort it takes to get those pearls is completely disproportionate to the effort it took to get the rest. It's as if the game designers ran out of time and had to throw in those extra pearls you needed all in one place.
Alot of people praised the game for it's plot and honestly, I'm not too impressed. It's not bad and I give the main characters props for not join the rebel forces right of the bat without evidence as to why she should unlike most main characters of many games would but aside from that it's nothing particularly great. The writing is cheesy at times and the villains just aren't as well portrayed as the main character.
:::SPOILERS:::
For instance, the leader of the military force's last words are "May the Angels of Darkness Rise to Glory". This character's motivations or origins are never explained. He's just some evil guy. The ending isn't very strong either. A revalation is revealed, Jade apparently is an alien with magic powers and saves the day. This is dropped on the play's lap out of no where and this is litterally the ending. Not much closure
:::END SPOILERS::::
I don't feel Jade is that great a characters. She's not witty, not funny, you can't really say she's particularly courageous, she nearly gives up at one point. I'd argue there aren't really any traits that stand out about her, just the design. I honestly feel most gamers actually believe she's a good character just because she's a girl instead of a guy.
I wish I had typed up my feelings on this game earlier, I generally feel more strongly about things shortly after the experience. At this point I kinda just don't care too much about this subject and sorta half assed this(funny that I say this despite having just typed up several paragraphs on the subject).
Anyway, is it worth it? I guess? When I first saw that the game was just ten dollars I was shocked at how generous Ubisoft was being. Alot of xbox live arcade games are priced at fifteen dollars now a day. Now that I've played the game though I feel this is probably the highest price Ubisoft probably could have sold this and expected people to actually buy it. It's a good game but nothing amazing. You can easily complete everything in less than twelve hours. The most impressive part of the game is the presentaton, top of the line graphics for last gen which is pretty good by Arcade game standards and fully voice acted cut scenes are pretty rare for Arcade games.
It's not a rip off but it's not a bargain either. If you're interested check it out.
Well, I was going to talk about more subjects but it's late and I've gone on about Beyond Good and Evil for longer than I expected. I'll probably blog again very soon about Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and share some thoughts on Halo: Reach.
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