Articles
The
Best Adventure Games of 2003
by Randy Sluganski
February
13, 2004
JA’S
BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME OF 2003
| BEYOND GOOD & EVIL Developer: Ubi Soft Publisher: Ubi Soft Release Date: December 2003 |
 |
Usually when a game’s
retail price drops in half only a month after being released, it’s
due to poor quality or lack of marketing. Beyond Good & Evil
is the exception. The past year was a watershed for action/adventures
and BG&E led the pack.
Ubi
Soft put a major marketing campaign behind BG&E and the
game received rave reviews from both the gaming community and the
mainstream press. It is my belief that the game should have been marketed
more to the adventure audience and less in the teen-orientated console
magazines, for BG&E is a game they would devour. Many gamers still
have bad memories of the awful action/adventure hybrids of years past,
not realizing that this is now a viable, separate category.
BG&E is a
hybrid of action sequences that, unlike many games of this ilk, involve
no special coordination; racing sequences that are a blast; fighting
sequences that are a breeze and lots and lots of exploration and puzzles.
The plot is a take-off of Orwell’s 1984 set in a future ruled
by aliens.
The main character is Jade.
Both cute and nimble she belies the belief that game heroines need
to possess unrealistic body proportions. It is her sidekicks though
who steal the show: Pey’J a talking pig and Double H, a gung-ho
soldier reminiscent of Buzz Lightyear.
At times it seemed that
JA reviewer Ray Ivey was about to run out of superlatives when reviewing
BG&E
:
Beyond Good and
Evil joins that august list of hybrids in which the designers went
out on a limb and the limb didn’t break.The simplest way to
describe this game is that it’s a sort of Zelda-like
action/adventure. But that wouldn’t tell the whole story.
The game also has a Pokemon-like creature collection element
(more on this later), object collection reminiscent of classic platform
games, very fun racing elements (ditto), strong stealth elements,
plus an overall feel that’s very reminiscent of a pure adventure
game.
