Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Beyond Good & Evil

Written by Tony Kennetz on August 25, 2003

First Impressions: This game looks to go beyond good and right into great.

In the world of gaming you have two categories: The leaders and the followers. We all know what the followers are, the games and companies that jump on the bandwagon hoping to score some cheap cash along the way. The leaders are the ones who start the bandwagons, or at least those which attempt to. Of course, there are those that make that valiant effort but just fall short of their goal. Beyond Good and Evil appears to have a lot in common with one of those games that fell short, Midway's Haven, except for all the glaring missteps Haven took along the way.

BG&E takes place in the fantasy world of Hyllis, which has is come under complete control by an alien army. The planet's people try to fight back, but despite their best efforts the outside race continues to gain ground in their fight to force the population into submission. But quickly the heroine Jade learns that everything isn't as it seems when hired by a rebel group, and informed that the men and women who were supposed to be protecting the world were actually moving people directly to the enemy. This quick thinking former action reporter now has one job, expose the enemies at all costs.

Alright, I'll give you the fact that the story is pretty clichщ and standard fare, but standard action-platformer games have never been about riveting plot lines, but about solid gameplay and having the one thing that sets each game apart (because if you're able to find anything to make your own action/adventure platform game different from everything else, you've done something special). Or, the one thing that the game has done better than any other game. BG&E's УJadeФ engine will be working for the latter as it tries to blend several gaming styles into one cohesive package. For the seven of us who played Haven, you know that Midway had some problems making everything actually fit. Ubi Soft is promising that, much like Haven's promises, that Beyond will place all these elements together seamlessly. Does this mean they too will attempt to have no load times in game? Sure sounds like it.

Oh yeah, and those game elements, they're all going to come into play on your quest to topple the evil empire and conquer this game. Everything from snapping pictures to stealthy sneak attacks will be on the table as you go from place to place, doing this job and that job.

As the most important person in the rebellion, Jade will have to have some help along the way. Here, your help is Jade's adopted pig-human uncle Page (sounds kinda odd, huh?). Page must be kept alive at all times, but from the sounds of it he won't be some meaningless follower that you must escort around everywhere, he'll have some attack moves and helpful traits too. Of course, you'll still probably find yourself jumping in to save him more than a couple times on your journey.

Now, just watch a few videos of this game in action and you'll probably then understand why I'm picking my jaw off the floor. The still frames are great, but you'll never fully understand how spectacular BG&E really looks until you watch Jade move or see the massive environments. Not quite cel-shaded but not real-world realistic by any means either, this games seems to have found quite the happy medium, one that should have everyone anticipating one heck of a visual masterpiece.