Beyond good

By KEVIN GARCIA

The Brownsville Herald

REVIEW: Beyond Good and Evil

Rating: 4 out of 5

April 8, 2004 Imagine there was a game that combined the best gameplay elements of the Legend of Zelda and Metroid: Prime with vehicles out of the best Star Wars games. Now imagine that this game was released in November 2003 to rave reviews, and can now be found in bargain bins at video game stores because so few gamers purchased it.

Such is Beyond Good and Evil, Ubisofts underrated adventure game on the Gamecube, Xbox, Play-Station 2 and PC.

The game tells the story of Jade, a reporter out to discover the truth about her planet Hillys.

From the moment you hit the power button you know this game is different. Before the title screen is even shown the game asks for a language preference: English or Spanish. Thats right, there is an entire Spanish-language voice track.

The English voice track isnt bad either. What other game can pull off a line like:

If it wasnt for you it would have been me they took in one of their luxury coffins. Return ticket not included.

The game itself takes place in a cartoon-like world that seems like the quasi-futuristic world of Dragon Ball (minus the flying Kung Fu), and the plot draws on films like The Matrix and X-Files, but with enough originality to keep players interested.

The game features a well-executed sidekick feature. Companions have the right mix of AI (Artificial Intelligence), enough that they arent killed every time the player looks the other way, yet not so much that they could beat the game on their own.

There is also a surprising variety in game play. The game includes everything from button-mashing fights to brain-scratching puzzles, to land/water hovercraft racing and aerial dog-fights in space, to highly addictive mini-games like Pallet, a unique take on air-hockey.

The internet also plays a key role in the game, even without linking your system up to a modem and paying monthly fees.

In-game clues lead you to http://www.irisnetwork.net/ the website of the underground rebel organization, and to http://www.hillyannews.com/ the government-sponsored news site.

Gamers visiting http://www.beyondgoodevil.com/ can input codes in the Darkroom to compare their abilities to those of others and access in-game extras.

All of this doesnt make the game perfect, there is always room for improvement.

The camera feature (seemingly borrowed from Metroid) is difficult to use in active situations, the weapon and fighting systems could also be improved, are underused in this game and some programming glitches are evident.

The primary fault in this game is that the game is simply too short. The story leaves room for a sequel (watch the end of the credits), and many elements of gameplay, such as spaceflight, could be put to more use.

Before a sequel could be made however, sales would have to warrant it.

kgarcia@link.freedom.com