Beyond Good & Evil HD Video Review

00:00:10.250originally released in 2004 on ps2 Xbox

00:00:13.710and GameCube Beyond Good and Evil was a

00:00:15.570commercial failure but time-tested fan

00:00:17.400favorite it's also very very French

00:00:19.890years later Beyond Good and Evil finally

00:00:21.810has a second chance to shine this time

00:00:23.699in HD via PlayStation Network and Xbox

00:00:25.859Live Arcade set on the earth like planet

00:00:28.680Hillis the story follows photojournalist

00:00:30.570and caretaker of orphans Jade she's

00:00:33.090joined by her uncle page a giant talking

00:00:35.160pig man and engineer the two are pulled

00:00:37.380into a tale of underdog resistance

00:00:39.000against an alien threat known as the

00:00:40.620doms it's no tale of two cities but it's

00:00:42.719a fun story that'll keep you hooked to

00:00:44.190the end

00:00:44.700the gameplay blends genres as varied as

00:00:47.250photography and racing with combat Zelda

00:00:49.950like dungeons stealth missions and pure

00:00:52.020exploration euro Kane will go together

00:00:58.350but I'm sticking to you not bees on

00:01:00.840honey whether you like it or not

00:01:03.769arguably beyond good evils most

00:01:05.700memorable quality with its art direction

00:01:07.380seven years on the game really does hold

00:01:09.570up well while there's some noticeably

00:01:11.490sharper textures the game's world

00:01:13.049actually benefits from clean gold shapes

00:01:15.030and exaggerated character facial

00:01:16.530features everything looks bubbling

00:01:18.330cartoony

00:01:19.049Jayde's moves particularly his stealthy

00:01:21.119wall shimmy and backflipping combat

00:01:22.650skills still flow beautifully to bump up

00:01:25.200to a buttery 60 frames per second

00:01:26.820framerate really improves a sense of

00:01:28.259speed the game no longer causes the

00:01:30.090engine to stutter when things get hectic

00:01:31.409either game designs come a long way

00:01:34.020since 2004 though and the world still

00:01:35.790feels very static hey it's an old game

00:01:37.979you got to cut it a little slack right

00:01:43.530let's go

00:01:50.730beyond good and evil was the

00:01:52.510evolutionary precursor to a lot of

00:01:54.310different gameplay concepts for example

00:01:56.020Jake can take on multiple enemies at

00:01:57.880once which might not sound like a big

00:01:59.440deal however the way she transitions

00:02:01.540from enemy to enemy is still very slick

00:02:03.310it just works you can see how this

00:02:05.260concept was adopted by Ubisoft zone of

00:02:07.030Assassin's Creed Jade's

00:02:10.450context-sensitive moves and auto climb

00:02:12.250also set the bar for many games to come

00:02:14.200the game carefully blends platforming

00:02:16.450with timing based puzzles obstacle

00:02:18.280stealth missions and plenty of clever

00:02:19.990lateral thinking challenges then this

00:02:24.459the photography only early in the game

00:02:26.290you're asked to keep an eye out for

00:02:27.190animals to catalogue you're awarded with

00:02:29.170pearls in cash but thorough exploration

00:02:30.670and you really do need all you can get

00:02:32.800if you don't collect enough pearls and

00:02:34.360upgrades you can't progress to the next

00:02:35.800area this is a bit of a throwback to old

00:02:37.840school game design it works though and

00:02:39.730the game's not short on side quests

00:02:41.350parlor games and other distractions

00:02:42.959young good kneeble is not without some

00:02:45.130problems though despite improvements to

00:02:47.290the camera you're still constantly

00:02:48.730rotating that sucker having to nurse the

00:02:50.830camera when chasing down a giant

00:02:52.270zigzagging alien in your hovercraft is

00:02:54.190definitely frustrating the radial menu

00:02:56.680one of the first was client is also

00:02:58.390convoluted making item use more of a

00:03:00.100hassle than it should be some of the

00:03:01.989puzzle design be a little obtuse - while

00:03:04.660the game does hint at your next

00:03:05.769objective sometimes they're looking for

00:03:07.299very discreet items to trigger or spaces

00:03:09.280to crawl to

00:03:18.060beyond good and evil is a game that

00:03:20.019tries it's handed just about everything

00:03:21.670but never quite achieves perfection in

00:03:23.560any one area because of this if you're

00:03:25.720already a fan think of this HD

00:03:27.190re-release is the perfect refresher

00:03:28.720course before Ruby soft takes the wraps

00:03:30.340off the sequel if you've never played

00:03:32.290young good and evil before now though

00:03:33.730you'll probably still wonder what all

00:03:35.200the fuss is about

00:03:37.739sure there's some clunky design choices

00:03:40.090it's a 7 year old game but hey there's

00:03:42.519no denying that Jade's conspiratorial

00:03:44.170adventure still sparkles of creativity

00:03:46.049for all things good and evil ed - IGN

00:03:48.879com