Up Next: Beyond Good & Evil

 

Beyond Good and Evil. Take a look at any game blog or message board and you're bound to find a post or comment about this game. BG&E, despite have a hugely loyal cult following today, came out at a time that just wasn't right. A good number of high profile games came out that same season and unfortunately the game got lost in the shuffle. Critically, the game was an enormous success, generally scoring 8s and 9s across the board. 

The reason why it didn't catch on with the mass market is the same reason it has such a strong following today - it's different, and you can tell that right from the cover. First off you have a female lead who doesn't have an enormous rack, second you have a pretty sci-fi-esque geeky plot line, and third - is that a camera? I can't blow things up with a camera! OUTRAGE! 

Nevertheless, you can see why the game didn't catch on like, say, Halo 2.

 

Dude, armor, TWO guns, explosion in the background. Unfortunately, this is how you sell a game. 

Regardless of what the haters say, I'm extremely excited to play Beyond Good & Evil. I put in a couple hours tonight and it's been pretty great so far. The combat's got a bit of a Zelda feel, but you also have some elements of photography games like Pokemon snap as you're tasked with photographing every species of animal you come across. The characters are well written and their dialogue is believable, if a little stiffly acted. he plot is a classic sci-fi rebel-force-fighting-against-the-oppressive-government fare, but with the extra later of an intergalactic war with an alien race known as the DomZ (pronounced like Dom's as in Dom's Deli).

Reason I never finished it: (This is a new thing - get used to it)

To be honest, I fell prey to the trap that caused the game to sell like crap in the first place - it didn't satiate my gamer needs. The game is a slow burn and I had other stars to collect and other landscapes to blow up - I didn't have time to get my hovercraft fixed or take pictures of bugs. So it fell by the wayside. 

I'm glad I'm forcing myself through it now though. It shouldn't be too difficult, and I'm pumped to play through the underground darling starring a chick and a pig. 

Let's do it. Beyond Good & Evil for Gamecube.

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