New Second Opinion Posted: Beyond Good & Evil

[Dale Weir]

Thom Moyles reviews Beyond Good & Evil

"I'd love to agree with Gene. I'd love to because Beyond Good & Evil has aspects that give it the potential to be a really special videogame. Aspects like characters that have character, rather than some outlined archetype straight from the marketing department, a plotline that could have a lot to say about the ambiguity of moral choices, consistently stunning art direction and a refreshingly simple control scheme."

http://www.gamecritics.com/review/be...vil/2nd_op.php

Kudos? Criticisms? Comments? Let us know what you think.

[Nicato]

Kudos: I think that the review sums up my experience with the game quite nicely. At 20 bucks, BG&E is worth a run-through and the game does have a lot of heart. But by no means is it game of the year material.

Criticism: How does BG&E contribute to games as an artform? You mentioned charater--which the game has a lot of--but you could have empathized pacing more. You could stand to be more aggressive.

Comment: There is no denying the value of a good story, but sometimes gamers get so deluted in that aspect that they ignore playability. And playability to me is like grammar in a novel or acting in a movie.

[GC_Thom]

Originally posted by Moron Lite
Thom, I'm a bit curious about the part where you say the camera isn't used for anything but plot advancement. What about the whole photography of species aspect? I can't remember how many pearls you really need to beat the game, but I'm pretty sure that a lot of the potential photography to be done isn't necessary.

Maybe I should have said 'game advancement'. Using the camera to cagalogue the species is pretty much a side-quest to get you some more money - and it is required in terms of plot progression, as without taking pictures of species, you won't get the money to turn the power on at the very start of the game.

Also, just to be the Wind Waker basher that I am (), I guess I'm just not seeing how you can do the whole "I'd rather do X in game Y" thing here, when the sneaking is obviously worse in WW than in BG&E, the water transport worse than in Wave Race, the combat worse than in...etc. I kinda get the impression that you're holding the two games to different standards.

One, I think that the story and the art direction of Wind Waker is head and shoulders above BG&E. Two, I think the combat and the level design is head and shoulders above BG&E.

There are aspects of BG&E that are better than similar aspects in WW, but I don't feel like there's anything really 'going on' in BG&E compared to how WW uses what it has. WW does something special for me, which is honestly touching me with the story and providing me with engaging gameplay. BG&E, for as good as it was, did neither for me.

Originally posted by Nicato Criticism: How does BG&E contribute to games as an artform? You mentioned charater--which the game has a lot of--but you could have empathized pacing more. You could stand to be more aggressive.

I felt that Gene more than covered what BG&E did well. A Second Opinion is intended to be a response to the original review (with some notable exceptions) and I didn't want to cover something that Gene had already done well enough.