Beyond Good & Evil

"The greatest game you’re not playing."

Beyond Good & Evil has been trumpeted as The Legend of Zelda for adults, and that seems to be the simple truth of it. If Shigeru Miyamoto is the genius that defines video gaming, then Michel Ancel is the visionary that perfects it. With Rayman 2: The Great Escape, he took the flimsy foundation Super Mario 64 had paved and constructed a solid masterpiece.

Similarly, The Legend of Zelda is to Beyond Good & Evil what a rough draft is to the final copy.

The game does not imitate, but rather, pays homage. It makes no secret about where its ideas were born, but does its predecessors one better by addressing the flaws found within them. There are no “talk to so-and-so to fetch a piece of such-and-such” quests, no tedious treks for ends that weren’t worth the means, and (best of all) no lighthearted themes to be found here. The game is about information--about assembling a genuine story as opposed to fleshing out an inventory.

This approach is totally commendable, but comes with a price: length. If played nonstop when the sun rises, it will be finished before it sets... yet it is still worth its dollar value. It is disgusting that the enjoyed sum of video games is now measured in quantity not quality.

Dwell on this premise: take the most recent installments of the genre (The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Star Fox Adventures, etc.) then filter out the pointless treasure hunting, the meandering nature of their main worlds, the prolonging of cut scenes, the reliance on side quests, and you will have a series of games at equal running time. Excess is exactly that.

Let’s break it down:

Graphics: 10/10

Michel Ancel has not made the most original game, but he has certainly made the prettiest. Of all the video game worlds we would want to tour, Beyond Good & Evil’s Hillys is somewhere at the top. Covered almost entirely in water (that actually reflects, *ahem* Wind Waker), populated largely by half-man/half-animal denizens, trafficked by innumerable air ships... the game has a setting that is unmatched.

As is the cast. Jade, the heroine, is one of the most realistic looking women to ever grace the medium. Though her proportion has been exaggerated to match the setting, she isn’t a sex symbol. With her short air, FUNCTIONAL clothing, and athletic (not anorexic) body, she is exactly what the situation she finds herself in requires. Her beauty is attained through her actions, rather than posing for any teenage boys that might be watching.

Pei’j, her adoptive pig uncle, is surprisingly animated for being entirely hooves. So is her other companion, Double H, who embodies every square-jawed superhero cliche (humorously without the coordination). The supporting cast members, for what little movement they do, are all believable as they live each day and night through the realtime schedule.

It should also be noted that the game runs in permanent widescreen format. Mr. Ancel, like all great artists, knows that it’s as important to paint around the edges of a canvas--and Hillys is too gorgeous to deserve anything less than letterbox.

This game serves as proof that beauty is what the mind imagines rather than what the eye sees. Other titles may make full use of a console’s graphical prowess, but they can still look putrid without an assured hand. Art direction and execution are everything, and Beyond Good & Evil has them in droves.

Sound: 9/10

As kind to the ears as it is for the eyes. The voices in particular stand out. Every character in the game is complex--no one is simply good nor simply evil (hence the title)--and the actors represent them perfectly. Jade is tough without being a cast iron bitch, and compassionate without being cutesy. Pei’j sounds as close to a man-pig as one ever could. But the real shining star is Double H. You’re guaranteed to lose it the first time he yells “CARLSON AND PETERS!”, his substitute for Geronimo.

The only minor complaint is that the music is used too sparsely throughout the game. It only occurs at set points and each track isn’t long enough to carry the story. But this is nitpicking--it is sensational for what little there is.

Story: 10/10

The land of Hillys is under siege by an alien race known as the DomZ. Its only apparent hope is an independent army called the Alpha Sections. You play as Jade, a freelance reporter, who is recruited by the underground faction IRIS to expose a massive conspiracy. Sure, the Alpha Sections conveniently arrive whenever the DomZ attack, but are they actually helping?

She is accompanied at all times by either Pei’j or Double H (or both), and eventually Beyond Good & Evil will make you care about all of them. It does this by beginning at the middle of its story. There is no set-up, no obligatory scenes of a peaceful world falling (the Hillyans are already terrified), and all the relationships between characters have been established. Within minutes of starting, you are forced into a situation that never lets up until the end. It wastes no time and subsequently makes a greater impact than other titles by starting a little farther down the line.

Also, what an achievement the story is. Not only in terms of what happens (though it is phenomenal to be sure), but how it happens. For once a game that wants you to know what comes next as opposed to making you guess while completing a checklist of barely-related tasks. There is a lot to be told throughout Beyond Good & Evil, yet it gets broken between the action just perfectly. You aren’t forced to sit through incessant cut scenes as you wait for your turn to play. It entertains while keeping you involved.

Not many games know how to do that.

Gameplay: 10/10

Though you can run, jump, target, strafe, and attack like Link, the real weapon in Beyond Good & Evil is your camera. Set in the most fantastic of fantasy worlds, the game is still smart and realistic enough to know that one 20-year-old girl CANNOT take on an entire race with just her melee weapon. She can, however, cause a global uprising with facts and the documentation to support them.

Outside of combat, the game is an amalgam of nearly every other genre. It has racing aspects aboard a hovercraft, stealth elements around the Alpha Sections, teamwork with either Pei’j or Double H, collecting pearls as currency, photographing wildlife, even a version of air hockey against a walrus. Many games have tried this multifaceted approach, but Beyond Good & Evil is the first to truly succeed with it.

The trick is that all the modes of play are as well-crafted as its core mechanic.

Racing inside your hovercraft doesn’t feel like an a extra nor a minigame--it is as intricate as moving by foot. Just as tiptoeing around the Alpha Section soldiers is as challenging and fun as fighting them directly. Teamwork with Pei’j and Double H is essential and not just filler--best of all, they act independently and you will NEVER have to backtrack just because they got stuck behind a corner. Even the boss battles require more thought than just finding their pressure points.

In short, Beyond Good & Evil has many aspects, but did not skimp on any of them. They are all sophisticated and each one could make for an entire game on their own. Again, Zelda for adults.

Replayability: 7/10

Beyond Good & Evil’s replay value is hurt by no fault of its own. It tells the story it wants without having to needlessly stretch itself to reach that magical 30 hour mark. Everything in the game is required, and more to the point, everything works.

Still, a 10-15 hour game is a 10-15 hour game.

Conclusion: 10/10

Though destined to be a “sleeper hit”, I sincerely hope that Beyond Good & Evil becomes a series (from the ending I know there will at the least be a sequel). It is a rare treasure with a brilliant setting, a genuinely interesting cast, and a narrative that is both strong and detailed enough to warrant a follow-up.

Do not be deterred by its length, Beyond Good & Evil is video gaming as fine as it ever was.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/07/03