Beyond Good & Evil

by UBI Soft

Product Features

• As action-reporter Jade, capture the truth using stealth, force, and wits
• Enter a futuristic world full of deception and expose the government conspiracy
• Nothing is as it seems and exposing the truth is the only hope for freedom
• Brace yourself for a journey through a strange and ever-changing universe
• Battle with Dai-Jo staff techniques and master tag-team fighting combos

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000A1VEQ
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: December 2, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,206 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PC

From the Manufacturer

For centuries, the planet Hillys has been locked in conflict with a race of relentless alien invaders. Wary of her government's promises to repel the aliens for good, a rebellious action reporter named Jade sets out to capture the truth behind the prolonged war.

Armed with her camera, Dai-Jo staff, and fierce determination, Jade soon finds herself inside the jaws of a horrific conspiracy, and face to face with an evil she cannot possibly fathom.

In a world where deception is the deadliest weapon of all, will Jade's discoveries be enough to free her people?

Features:

• Join the rebellion: As action-reporter Jade, capture the truth using stealth, force, and wits against a government that deceived you. Stop at nothing until the perpetrators are exposed.
• Expose the conspiracy: enter a futuristic world full of deception, where nothing is as it seems and exposing the truth is the only hope of restoring freedom.
• Prepare for anything: brace yourself for a journey through the reaches of a strange and ever-changing universe from the mind of innovative game creator, Michel Angel.
• United we fight: battle against the forces of conspiracy with Jade's punishing Dai-Jo staff techniques, and master amazing tag-team fighting combos with allied resistance fighters Pey'j and Double H.

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent PC game from the creator of Rayman, January 1, 2004

By 

William T. Monks "Billy Monks" (VA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beyond Good and Evil (CD-ROM)

I have no idea why Amazon.com has so little information on the PC version of this game, but this is truly an excellent game. Amazingly, the game somehow manages to successfully meld Zelda: The Wind Waker style adventuring with Metal Gear Solid style stealth and oddly enough, photography.

The first thing you'll notice about the game is that it sports some very impressive graphics. (On a good PC with full DirectX 9 support) The world is beautifully rendered and cool blur effects are used very often. Looking around in first person causes a light blur effect which look really really cool. I've never before in a game ever wanted to move the camera around for so long just because it's so fun. The game ran respectably on a Pentium 4 1.4 ghz with 384 ram and a Radeon 9500 Pro but I'm not sure how it'll run on lower end systems. If you're not sure how the game will run on your system, try the demo first.

The controls are excellent also, using the standard wsad and mouse configuration most of the time but switching to set camera angles at a few certain places. The preset camera angles are always very good and useful and help navigating tricky areas.

The gameplay is hard to explain but it's truly fresh and fun. Basically, about half of the gameplay is nonlethal stealth like Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell, which is a love it or hate it thing. Luckily, if you happen to die during a stealth part, (Basically, if you get found, you'll probably die.) the game will quickly take you back to the beginning of the room which lowers frustration a lot. The other half of the gameplay is Zelda style combat which is fairly simple but still quite fun. There is also quite a lot of puzzle solving, which for the most part is very simple, such as finding switches or having to turn off the power and take a fuse before the power turns back on. Some puzzles are more involving but non of them will cause extreme frustration. My only concern might be that the stealth parts can be a little tedious, especially when you find yourself sneaking through room after room after room in a complex. The stealth parts in the game may be too difficult for 7-12 year old children.

Overall, this is truly a fantastic game which I would recommend to most gamers with a little patience.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Under-estimated, Under-rated, Overly Fun Title, October 18, 2004

By 

ChennehCis - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Beyond Good and Evil (CD-ROM)

I picked this game up for $14.99 at the local CompUSA, and I did not expect much out of it. I had read many online and magazine reviews, but seeing as it was relatively cheap, I decided to make my purchase.

And I haven't regretted it at all.

With many layers of different types of gameplay, it's superbly immersive and almost like an interactive movie. Even from the very beginning, the game thrusts you into the fray during a cutscene. The integration throughout is fantastic.

Later, as you take more quests and become a reporter who tries to unveil a conspiracy, you have to sneak around (great stealth element) and take pictures of evidence (once again more immersion into the game world).

Other events and things you can do in this game are to take pictures of all the animals of the world (for scientific documentation), race in your hoverboat (and upgrade it), fly to outer space, and just plain explore the vast world that Beyond Good & Evil has to offer.

It's very open-ended ala Grand Theft Auto: Vice City style, where you can do things at your pace and/or further yourself by making money/upgrading your hoverboat. Even minor details are in this game, such as night/day transitions and animal movements/behavior.

Because the game is so immersive, you begin to "care" about the characters in the game, and the storyline/plot furthers this all the way until the end. Fantastic movie elements, suspensefulness and foreshadowing are all present in this game.

The music is also something that caught my attention, with beautifully orchestrated tracks, these songs are more than worthy enough to be in a motion picture. Even in the beginning, as the game launches you into a fightscene, the music is very upbeat/serious music, with opera style vocals in the background. The game is filled with memorable music, and it really pushed my appreciation for Beyond Good & Evil. It's production values are fantastic, and in all honesty, even that is an understatement.

Normally I don't write reviews for anything on Amazon.com but this game was just so fun and memorable that I'd like more people to know about this game and be able to experience it. This game did not sell well because of it's obscurity, but don't let that scare you away. Open your mind and try it out. There's something in this game for everyone. I hope you have lots of fun with this game!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A throughout original and entertaining game, February 25, 2005

By 

Slyne - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Beyond Good and Evil (CD-ROM)

Just finished it, actually I finished it twice because I don't remember it crashing often but it just did before the ending cinematics. Kinda frustrating, but I really wanted to see the ending.

You're Jade, a girl in her 20's, living in the world of Hillys, raised by her "uncle" Pey'j, who happens to be a walking, talking pig (Sus Sapiens if you believe the game). Thing is, the planet is under attack from an Alien species named the Dom'Z and consequently under the protection of the "Alpha sections", who have declared martial law on the planet.

The population is not sure about the strange, helmet-wearing troops, but is too distraught by the war to really think twice about them. After the Dom'z make a direct attack on your home, a lighthouse where Jade and Pey'j are taking care of some young orphans, Jade accepts a mission to investigate who these Dom'z are and what their business is with the Hillyan people. I won't spoil the story, but it kept me entertained till the end, and made me think of a good animated movie.

One thing this game does really well is to take a cinematic approach to the action. There's always a lot of things happening visually so, even as you make your way through mazes or fight enemies, you'll never stop looking at your surroundings. There is no quick-save possibility but it doesn't matter because you'll always be able to restart within the last minute of where you happened to die. All of this contributes to keeping you immersed in the action.

Graphics are top-notch, yet they seem to slow down old machines a little if you push the settings (esp. the intro on my old GeForce4, but my X800Pro shrugged it off with all the settings maxed out :) ) Sound effects are good, music is memorable, which is always a good thing.

There's one frustrating thing though, as other reviewers have mentioned it, it's the camera/control scheme. It's the only bad thing about this game (I don't mind the 10-15 hours duration, I don't like games outstaying their welcome), but unfortunately was enough to turn many people away from it.

The idea is your directional keys are based on the camera referential, not your character referential. But, to maintain the cinematic aspect, the camera typically changes position and angle as your character moves. If you keep your directional key pressed then your character is going to continue in the initial direction, but if you release it and press a key again, it's going to use the new camera referential.

One can get used to it, and to the minor annoyance that comes from having to figure out where you target is again. However, the implementation is not perfect, and sometimes it keeps the old direction even though you voluntarily released the key to adapt to the new view. The only place where I found that very frustrating is in the looter pursuits, and you can finish the game without doing any if you don't want to.

So anyway, it's one of the most entertaining games I've played in the past 2-3 years, and like others I feel this game is underrated, probably because it lacked marketing $, and professional reviewers were turned off by the control issues. Hesitating between 4 and 5 stars, I chose five for its somewhat "cult" status.

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