Beyond Good and Evil Preview

Developer	Ubi Soft
Publisher	Ubi Soft
Genre	Adventure
Release Date	11/18/03

Whether or not you love the French in terms of politics, you have to acknowledge some of the fantastic creative work that has come from the country, a tradition that has extended to the games of Michel Ancel, whose game designs have brought tons of innovation to the platform genre in the form of the Rayman series. With his latest title, Beyond Good and Evil, Ancel and the good folks at UbiSoft are looking to up the ante again with an epic story and well-designed, all-encompassing gameplay. And before we undertook to bring you this info, we thought the platform genre was dying…

The plot when first described seemed about as derivative as any platform game story – thankfully, there is a unique twist that carries over into the gameplay that should make BG+E as endearing a platformer as they come. As Jade, a reporter and photographer on the planet Hyllis, you start the game being attacked by members of an alien race with which your government is at war – after winning the battle, Jade is declared a hero by the government, but is simultaneously contacted by a rebel faction that tell her that the government is selling its people as slaves to the aliens. Although she doesn’t believe it initially, she takes up their offer to help them prove the conspiracy and becomes involved in a grand and epic plot to free the planet from the conspirators and the alien race.

The photography aspect of the game plays in heavily to the flow of the story. Ancel has said that his team is trying a freeform approach to the game structure, and as a photographer, Jade has to support herself with the pictures she takes, freelancing and selling her shots. This is meant to be as non-restrictive as possible, and as missions become available, players get the option to take them in whichever order they may want. This also gives Ancel and his crew a chance to show off the excellent graphics engine that the game sports, one that renders both urban and surrealist fantasy environments with ease. The alien race which Jade is pitched against is filled with all kinds of strange creatures, and there are plenty native to the planet of Hyllis that are equally strange and extraordinary. With this engine, Jade too looks fantastic, as do her two companions, Pey’j and Double-H. Combat looks fluid, too – Jade fights with a gyro-disc weapon and a staff, and at very least, the fighting should have a bit more depth then the average platformer.

The focus on the main characters looks to really add some story depth to the game – as part of the press materials sent by Ubisoft, the company sent us extensive character profiles of Jade and her two sidekicks, which should factor into the story at least partly. Pey’j is a half-hog, half-human, who is a skilled mechanic and is Jade’s adoptive uncle. Double-H, an ex-military type, is a modern-day man of chivalry who defected to the side of the rebels after becoming concerned for the welfare of his planet. These two characters don’t just factor into the story – while they are never directly playable, they’ll be controlled by some reasonably intelligent A.I. that can set Jade up for attacks (Pey’j can toss enemies towards Jade so she can hit them out of the sky), and there will be some interesting puzzle dynamics similar to those of Primal.

As ambitious as this title is (the fact that it’s been in development for three years is testament to that), there’s no denying how history has proven similar titles in the past to be too all-encompassing for their own good. Another attempt at making a fully free-forming game was the similarly epic Haven: Call of the King, and while that title (in development for four years) was by no means bad, the number of different genres it embraced made it hard for any one besides the central platforming game aspect to get anywhere near enough polish. Of course, we know that Ancel has plenty of experience making innovative platformers, and with the direction we know BG+E to be taking, it’s a fair assumption that it won’t be too difficult for the development team. The mystical, fairy-tale like quality of the Rayman series has been somewhat transplanted, if transposed, into Beyond Good and Evil, and there’s a quality about seeing the game in action that’s almost refreshing. Whether the final build will be able to deliver remains to be seen, but it’s a fair bet that gamers won’t be disappointed.

Preview by Adam Matlock