Beyond Good and Evil Preview
We try out Ubi Soft's upcoming mutiplatform action game.
Beyond Good and Evil is the upcoming multiplatform third-person action game from Ubi Soft. The game has been in development for the past few years in the French developer's studio in Montpellier, France, under the watchful eye of Michel Ancel, whose work on the Rayman franchise provided Ubi Soft with one of its first bona fide hits. We recently had the opportunity to visit Ancel and his team to get a look at the game's development firsthand and have come away impressed. Beyond Good and Evil is shaping up to present a compelling experience that offers a complete package of impressive graphics, strong audio, and solid gameplay, all anchored by a unique story.
Although the preliminary bits of story information that have trickled out on Beyond Good and Evil's plot have seemed to be fairly standard, there's quite a bit more to the game's tale. The title follows the adventures of Jade, a young woman from the planet Hyllis, who becomes involved in a rebel movement to expose a conspiracy within Hyllis' government that's tied to attacks on the planet by a mysterious alien force. At the start of the game you're thrown into things, as you take control of Jade while she attempts to fight off an attacking horde of aliens. However, in the wake of the attack, Jade is contacted by a rebel group, after being declared a hero by Hyllis' government. According to the rebels, all is not as it seems in the government. The rebels tell Jade stories of mysterious shipments of humans being, sent by the government, to parts unknown. They ask Jade for her help in discovering just what is going on. Although skeptical of the seemingly tall tales of conspiracy, Jade eventually sets out to investigate the odd goings-on in her planet's government and ends up getting considerably more than she bargained for. Fortunately, she won't be taking on her quest alone, as the game features a quirky extended cast of characters who offer support over the course of the adventure. You'll meet the first of such character's in the game's opening battle, when Jade is assisted by her "uncle" Pey'j, a pig-man. The other key member of her support network is Secundo, a virtual assistant in her PDA, who offers information and attitude on her adventure. As you progress through the game, you'll find even more colorful folk who will help and hinder Jade on her quest to solve the mysteries of Hyllis.
The twists and turns in Beyond Good and Evil's story are reflected in its gameplay, which starts out simple but ends up being something else altogether. At its core, Beyond Good and Evil is a story-driven, mission-based action game. Your first fight, at the start of the game, and the subsequent exploration segments that follow offer a good, albeit partial, idea of what to expect. Your time in the game will eventually be divided between exploration, combat, stealth, and vehicle sequences--with some minigames thrown in for good measure--that all blend together pretty well. You're eased into the various types of gameplay slowly, which should keep players from being overwhelmed when they start the game. (This is a good thing.) Beyond Good and Evil features a good measure of GTA III-style freedom that encourages you to explore Hyllis. Following your introduction to combat in the game's opening, you'll spend some time exploring and interacting with the people and creatures that inhabit Hyllis. This intro sequence also introduces you to one of the game's more unusual gameplay elements: Jade's camera. You're asked to help collect information on the wildlife of Hyllis, for a local museum, by snapping shots of the animals and insects that you come across in your travels. As you collect shots, you'll digitally transmit them back to the museum, and they'll wire you cash for your troubles. However, later in the game the camera takes on an entirely new use in the stealth sequences. You'll be able to use it to fire discs that can be used to trigger unreachable switches, or you can use it to make noise to distract guards so you can sneak past them.
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- GameSpot Score8.3great
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Beyond Good & Evil Official Trailer 2
Make sure that you get a look at this nice trailer for Ubisoft's Beyond Good & Evil.
- Oct 22, 2003
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Related Unions
- Ubisoft
- Ubisoft Montpellie
- Fantasy Action Adventure
- Release: Nov 19, 2003 »
- ESRB: Teen
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