Like many players I'm sure, I was aware of Beyond Good & Evil but had little interest in it. Home consoles were full of action-adventure titles, each with their own fans and audiences. The idea of a photojournalist with a pig sidekick wasn't appealing to me, regardless of how well made a game it was.
The years went by, and Beyond Good & Evil made its way to more and more lists along the lines of 'Games you missed' or 'Games that deserve a sequel', but no matter how much I saw of it, I would always conclude that, yes, it looks pretty polished, but it's not for me.
Well, now I've got to find out for sure. Slap some film in the camera, because we're going to expose some criminals.
Fun Times
I've got the PC version here, and for once, it's a PC version of an old game that plays well with modern systems. No problems at all as I fired it up and started to see what Beyond Good & Evil is all about.
Our story begins with war...
PSYKE! No, it doesn't. It begins with a scene of tranquillity; a bit of yoga on the cliff, faces towards the warmth of the sun.
PSYKE! It is actually about war. This is Jade, our heroine. Black haired and green-lipped, she knows danger when she sees it, and leaps into action.
You might wonder just what a photojournalist can get up to in an action-adventure, but mere minutes in and we can see that Jade can handle herself pretty damn well regardless of her profession. Faced with a bunch of orphans getting taken prisoner, she picks up a burning stick and gets swinging.
The controls are simple, WASD to move around and the left mouse button to attack. There doesn't seem to be any camera control, but I think that's because we're locked to this view for the cinematic appeal of the scene. Or something. Either way, the music - which reminds me of something out of The Matrix Reloaded - gets going and the action even slows down into heroic slow-motion before we get pulled down into the unknown.
This is Pey'j, and yes, he looks like a bit of a pig. A boar, perhaps, but a bald, pig-like one. He's our sidekick, and he's already being called into action to help us out of our predicament.
The energy of the Daï-jo means nothing to me at this moment in time, save for the fact that it allows me to hold down the mouse button to charge up a powerful, bone-shattering attack, letting me break free and start to beat down on this monstrosity.
It doesn't take long to fell the beast, who then turns into an orb of some sort.
While dialogue choices aren't voiced, much of the game is, with Jade sounding confident and Pey'j like an old man. He's what you might call a 'character'. Everyone knows a character, and this is Jade's. That was a sentence that literally told you nothing about this pig mechanic/engineer, I apologise.
We also have a digital pal by the name of Secundo, whose job appears to be to digitise every item pickup in the game and store it in our bag, where he lives. He's Italian, mostly, and is in charge of our money, which means... well, no, benefit of the doubt, eh?
To set the scene, we were in charge of a lighthouse shield generator that protected the island, but literally didn't have enough money to pay the electricity bill, and so an invasion fleet/meteor storm was able to cause some carnage. No, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but them's the facts. Deal with it.
To get some money, Secundo suggests we take some photos for the Science Center, to which Pey'j, rightly, replies:
He raises a good point. While a picture is worth a thousand words, there are surely more important things to be doing with our time.
After taking photos of bugs and our bear/dog and whatever else isn't quite human, we get paid enough to turn the shields back on. The Science Center really isn't fussed about the quality of our snaps, so we'll keep that in mind on our travels - I mean, surely this isn't the focus of the game, right?
We're sent a proposition by a Mr De Castellac concerning Black Isle, and one of those names concerns Pey'j, but, we do need the money. I'm glad Secundo is digital, while I'm thinking about it because his character model does look somewhat goofy. I'm aware that we have a talking pig engineer in our presence, but he's a character, it's okay. Secundo is a caricature and needs to stay as a voice in my bag whenever possible.
Anyway, we need some transport to the Black Isle. To the hovercraft!
To the garage!
No, I didn't expect to be controlling a hovercraft either. It's a little weird to control, in that it doesn't feel like a hovercraft, but there's nothing new to learn regarding its movement.
The water doesn't look too bad, does it? This game isn't terrible to look at by any means. It's even presented letterboxed, to give you that feel of a premium experience.
Engines fixed by Jamaican white rhinos, at the cost of a fancy pearl orb (how on Earth are you meant to use them as a currency if they're found inside hideous creatures?), we're just about to set off for Black Isle when the war takes to the stage once more.
It actually took me a few attempts to defeat this seadragon thingy, after driving into too many mines and blowing myself up like an idiot. The controls are the same as when you're on foot, so there's nothing new to think about, really, save for hitting Q to repair your hovercraft if needed.
At this stage, I'm wondering just what Beyond Good & Evil is. I'm relatively sure that it's not all about driving a hovercraft around the place, but that seems to me what I've done the most so far.
Heading to Black Isle, we park up and see Mr De Castellac's spokesman in person, where he gives us further information on the task at hand, which we're only taking because of how lucrative it will be for us, from what I can gather.
He wants a photo. I can do that. I'm a Photojournalist.
Is taking photos going to be the whole game, though? Thankfully, it appears not, as we navigate some caves full of photo opportunities for the Science Center, only coming to a halt when a broken ladder gets in our way.
Pey'j, the genius that he is, has invented fart-powered jet boots, but they're good enough to solve the problem directly. They are, however, good enough to be used for a butt-stomp attack, which is useful for solving environmental puzzles.
You don't control Pey'j, but there will be moments where Jade can't do something on her own and needs Pey'j to do something at the same time. All you need to do is press the E button when prompted, et voila! Ramps can be lowered, and obstacles are blown out of the way.
Smart as our pig-friend is, though, he's too stupid to have brought a set of tools with him. We'll need to find some in this mine, which should be reasonably easy. The layout might look like it twists and turns, but it's as linear as a line from one puzzle to the next, and so far, at least, they're all solved on the spot.
Frustrations
So, this game hasn't been terribly difficult thus far. Yes, I blew my hovercraft up a couple of times, but that was me being stupid. When it comes to fighting all kinds of creatures - after diligently snapping an awful photo and selling it to the Science Center for far too much money - I may be hit, but I never feel like I'm in trouble.
Combat is a case of immediately hitting the shift button to bring up your camera, following the on-screen guides to take a good photo, then going through a few lengthier-than-they-should-be screens to upload the image and get paid, and then get on with the fight. You're only vulnerable when actually taking a photo. Once you're in the menus, you're golden, everything pauses and waits for you. It's a little awkward if anything, and breaks the pace of the game.
Could I just not take photos? Yeah, I suppose, but that's literally my primary source of income. I've got to at least take some.
They don't even have to be good photos. This photo of Pey'j is good enough for 600 something or others. 600! For the back of a pig wearing clothes! Why does the Science Center need this rubbish? Interesting photos for the newspaper I could understand. Even pictures of creatures, which is what we're doing, I can understand, but not in this situation. Not in this world, or presented in this manner.
I hope so, Jade. Your game isn't difficult to play, though you do tend to move a little like a tank when you feel like it, but I can overlook that. So far, while I'm not 100% on board with Beyond Good & Evil, I am at least invested in seeing this mission through.
Ooh, you tease. Some creatures don't stick around. Every eight or ten photos of new subjects you take results in a bigger reward, like an upgrade to your camera or a fancy pearl orb to spend on hovercraft upgrades. With blink-and-you'll-miss-it creatures, I suppose there are some replay opportunities to come back to these areas and collect them all.
A lot of stuff can be done with a camera gimmick, but as many games demonstrate, the execution often leaves a bit to be desired. Metroid Prime comes to mind here as well - games with cameras as a key feature, but that don't quite feel right.
Further Fun Times
Heading through the mine into a lovely looking cave, we find our targets and take quite possibly the worst photo of them that is possible. But, like all the other crap we've made, it's good enough for our client.
I, uh... I think we've been played, Pey'j. Time to deal with another thin, snakelike boss. That's the only boss-type we've fought in this game. The thing that caught us, the giant hovercraft destroyer, and now this guy. That's not going to be a running theme too, is it?
A few minutes of fighting later, and that was that, one more pearl for our pockets. It was an easy fight, with Jade appearing to lock on automatically to whatever was threatening her the most. I'm not sure how it worked, but she was focused, allowing you to move - and control the camera, by the way, with the mouse - around the arena freely, and still know where your target was going to be.
Again, while I got hit once or twice, it didn't feel like I was in peril, despite the size of this creature. There wasn't a difficulty selector that I saw, though this is our first boss, I suppose.
So Mr De Castellac doesn't exist, and the good guys are apparently shadier than we're lead to believe, so says a member of the rebels who wants us to put our skills to use and expose the truth to the people.
Oh my God - this is precisely the job for an investigative photojournalist! Jade, you were made for this! Finally, you can put those awful pictures of animals behind you.
That's the spirit.
Final Word
And that is where I left Beyond Good & Evil. Actually, I left it a few minutes later, after backtracking to a fence Pey'j could cut through that lead to a health bar increase. I then saw a caterpillar creep off the screen before I could snap a photo of it. That was annoying. But then I saved, in case I wanted to continue, and then that's where I left Beyond Good & Evil.
It wasn't half bad. It was solid. The story so far is a little 'eh', but it's different enough from other titles to perhaps warrant further investigation. Perhaps.
I'm not sure quite what I think of Beyond Good & Evil. I can see the appeal. The characters are well done, well-voiced, and capable. They control reasonably well, for the most part, and the game is friendly and accessible to get into.
But I don't know if I want to get into it. The story so far doesn't seem substantial enough for me to grab onto and what to see where it goes. I do want to see a little more, at least, and see how the game expands into the universe it exists in, but at this early stage, I'm just not sure what it's trying to tell me.
The heroic protectors aren't the heroes, ok, I've got that. We should expose them because the truth is more important, yes. You're a member of a rebel group who drives a flying taxi stored inside a flying limo who nearly sent us to our deaths just to see if we're strong enough for the job? Is this game meant to be funny?
Because I don't know what Beyond Good & Evil wants to be right now, I can't pass judgement on it. It plays well, and you'll have a good time with it, but it's so odd that I fear something will hamper my experience of it as time goes by. Will the camera gimmick get in the way too often? Will the dialogue get lost in translation? Will I lose interest in a war that doesn't even seem to be going on, despite everyone saying that it is?
I need to play some more of this to know for sure, and to see what all the fuss regarding a sequel is all about. Until then, Beyond Good & Evil is just an interesting oddity about a woman and her pen pal.
Ha. Geddit?
Fun Facts
Attempting to offer a movie-like experience - and hoping to change the negative reaction from the first reveal of the game - Ubisoft had playable demos of Beyond Good & Evil in theatres. Not sure if that means on the big screen or not, though...
Beyond Good & Evil, developed by Ubisoft Pictures, first released in 2003.
Version played: PC, 2003.