Beyond Good and Evil (HD)! XBLA and PSN. On sale for 200msp on November 28th

anoffday · March 2011

I think the hardest one would be photographing all the animals. And that's only because it's easy to miss some. Just take pictures of everything, including enemies.

SteevL · March 2011

I got everything on my first try in the Gamecube version. I made sure to read about the missable stuff, but there weren't many.

Deusfaux · March 2011

I'll sell someone my mint Xbox copy if they want it

PaperLuigi44 · March 2011

Oh wow, this game is fantastic. Great main characters, interesting world, photography in video games is always welcome, and the music! When that music kicks in during the first fight, I just...

Wow.

anoffday · March 2011

So this machine next to the pellet game that requires a code. I think I remember this. Didn't you get the code from the website or something? I wonder if it's even still possible to get it?

edit: Oh wow. They totally re-did the old website for this remake. I didn't know that. That's awesome. This is exciting. Also, I think what I'm thinking of is under the dark room on the website which requires an ubisoft login. I could be wrong, though. It's been awhile.

FyreWulff · March 2011

Yeah, they still mention the websites in the voiceovers, so they had to update them or look silly..

Drake · March 2011

Nice to see new people getting turned on to this beautiful game. I bought it full price on a whim much like you did anoffday, and I consider it one of my luckiest moments ever in blind purchasing anything.

If I had a 360, I'd buy it again. But seeing as I just bought the GoG edition not long ago, I think I'll be able to live with myself for skipping this generation of consoles.

Krathoon · March 2011

I thought the textures would be improved on this. Are they for sure the same ones from the PC version?

This article gives me the impression they are different.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/01/beyond-good-and-evil-hd-saw-multi-faced-high-quality-updates.ars

(edit)

They are different. People are contrasting and comparing in the ubi forums. It seems some flowers were lost, however.

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/908103432/m/2321097488/p/1

SirUltimos · March 2011

Ubisoft actually put the soundtrack up for download years ago. A few songs from it are still in my most played list.

Nova_C · March 2011

I bought this on GC way back when and about a year or so ago as part of an UBI pack on Steam. Aaaaaaand I'll probably buy it again on XBLA because the mouse controls are bullshit in this game and my GC has been permanently retired.

Krathoon · March 2011

The arcade box art made Jade and Peyj look rougher for some reason. Edgy.

anoffday · March 2011

SirUltimos wrote: »

Ubisoft actually put the soundtrack up for download years ago. A few songs from it are still in my most played list.

Yes, I was just thinking about this. I remember downloading that. I wonder if it's still up somewhere?

Nova_C · March 2011

anoffday wrote: »

SirUltimos wrote: »

Ubisoft actually put the soundtrack up for download years ago. A few songs from it are still in my most played list.

Yes, I was just thinking about this. I remember downloading that. I wonder if it's still up somewhere?

http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/beyond-good-evil

EDIT: (http://www.stormeffect.com/beyond/index.htm is better)

There's most of it, dunno if it's missing tracks or if the numbers are off.

OC Remix had one done for BGE called Frame Of Mind that I really like. The girl who sung it, Aurora, apparently did it with a regular headset mic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP3gwTD891w

Drake · March 2011

I'm not sure if it's still up anywhere, but it is an extra if you buy the game from GoG. Not a huge help I know, but it's something.

DodgeBlan · March 2011

I kinda want to play this again, but I think it would just make me sad that we won't see another version.

It's not the best game I've ever played but the combination of unique style, excellent soundtrack and fun exploration means it will always be one of my favourites. Why can't all games be as awesome?

FyreWulff · March 2011

Also, games like these show why MS requiring leaderboards for every single XBLA title is stupid.

Also I think Ubisoft limited the max amount of people on them because people on my friends list with low completion percentages (so far) disappear off the list. Or they're just broke.

Fizban140 · March 2011

How does this game hold up, has it aged well? About to try it again, I never beat it but I played the very start...a while ago.

Drake · March 2011

The gameplay is as fun as it ever was in my opinion.

And the system for expressions and the character animations are incredible. Tons of feeling is communicated just through postures, movements and expressions.

Chris FOM · March 2011

As soon as this hits the PS3 I'm there. I'm not quite as big a fan of the game as some people are, but it was still truly outstanding and if there's anything I can do to make BG&E2 more likely I'll do my part to support it. Plus I only played through it once on the GC years ago and would love to go through it a second time.

Monger · March 2011

Nova_C wrote: »

The girl who sung it, Aurora, apparently did it with a regular headset mic.

It's not super noticeable since it's drenched in a high quality reverb and pushed way back under the rest of the high quality mix, but that's definitely a pretty cheap mic.

Still, that's as incredible as anything you would expect based off BG&E's fucking amazing soundtrack.

The_Spaniard · March 2011

I wonder if the PS3 version is going to support 3D.

DarkPrimus · March 2011

I am loving playing this game all over again. Alternating between waves of nostalgia and "oh man I don't remember this part".

Samir Duran Duran · March 2011

Krathoon wrote: »

The arcade box art made Jade and Peyj look rougher for some reason. Edgy.

Yeah I thought so too, seemed like a strange call.

Also is it just me or did they make the main characters boobs bigger in the art for the XBLIG version?

Also her stick thing looks different I just noticed.

Thirith · March 2011

BG&E is one of those games I expected to love and came away 'only' liking it. It's a very likeable game, but I've always been faintly surprised at the superlative praise it gets from some. I may still get the HD remake to play it on my PS3 (and new 50" TV! Yay!

) if it's decently priced on PSN.

l337CrappyJack · March 2011

I was definitely worried that was like a screenshot and whoever was doing the texture upgrades decided to hottify Jade and make Pey'j look more grimdark, but I was pleased to see it was just artwork.

Thirith wrote: »

BG&E is one of those games I expected to love and came away 'only' liking it. It's a very likeable game, but I've always been faintly surprised at the superlative praise it gets from some. I may still get the HD remake to play it on my PS3 (and new 50" TV! Yay! ) if it's decently priced on PSN.

Yeah, there's always something off when I play the game, like it's not quiiiite all there. I think a lot of it can be chalked up to charm and personality. Especially in an age of dark brown world war 2 shooters and superviolent RPGs, it's nice to see something relatively relaxed and character driven.

Monger · March 2011

Man, I shouldn't've bought and then started playing this. That was a mistake. I should know better. I have this big stack of games that I haven't played before and now all I want to do is take more pictures of rastarhinomen and play more future airhockey and bitch to console UI designers about how their virtual keyboards are still all equally inferior to the text wheel.

DarkPrimus · March 2011

Oh yeah, definitely the best text input UI in a game.

l337CrappyJack · March 2011

DarkPrimus wrote: »

Oh yeah, definitely the best text input UI in a game.

Bar none. Whoever came up with that deserves an award. I think of him every time I try typing a message on Xbox Live.

Skull2185 · March 2011

Man, I finished up the last few chapters of Enslaved on hard last night to get that out of the way, and then I started BG&E.

It was like falling into a big comfy couch. I kinda just mellowed out, exploring and taking pics of animals and stuff. Once in a while hitting things with a stick. Love it! I forgot how good the soundtrack was as well.

Now to tough out these 7 hours before I can go home...

SirUltimos · March 2011

I'm really shocked no one has copied the text wheel. It's kind of weird to get used to at first, but Jesus Christ is it fantastic once you figure it out.

Dr. Worm · March 2011

How much space does this take up on the 360 hard drive?

JHunz · March 2011

Yeah, I liked BG&E okay. Didn't think it quite deserved the level of praise it gets everywhere.
But the text wheel was absolutely magnificent.

Skull2185 · March 2011

Dr. Worm wrote: »

How much space does this take up on the 360 hard drive?

I think like 1.6 gb

OptimusZed · March 2011

I've heard a lot of good things about this game.

I also have 950 funbucks sitting on my account.

There goes my day.

Lunker · March 2011

Cantido wrote: »

ObiFett wrote: »

I hear nothing but good things about this game but I can't figure out what kind of game this is. It seems action, but also rpg, with puzzles and a cooky story? What sets this game apart as awesome?

I don't want to wiki/google it because I am sure I will run across spoilers galore.

Action Adventure with puzzles. It combines LoZ's dungeon exploration and sidequests with Mario 64's power-star collecting. Stars are now "Pearls" which are sold to one particular shop that sells you upgrades to continue the main story. You collect Pearls by doing a surprisingly wide amount of sidequests.

The dungeons are genuine LoZ esque dungeons, with an emphasis on simplistic stealth later on.

The combat and action are more LoZ than Mario. You don't have a jump button and you only have one attack button, but the combat is way more fun than LoZ because Jade has at least cooler combos. There is locking on, but you can also attack different baddies by pointing at them a-la Prince of Persia.

It is a really strange (but wonderful) hybrid of games, and it's one of the best recent cases to show how trying to silo games into specific genre labels is kind of goofy. It's a lot like Enslaved, actually—right down to the bo-staff combat and the pig sidekick. I think most people will say BG&E is generally a much better experience overall, but it's definitely a case where the game is greater than the sum of its parts. Along those lines, it's probably apt to compare it to Darksiders, as well, just replacing the fuck-yeah Joe Mad art style with a serene, European aesthetic.

Cantido's description is very well put. It's mostly a Zelda overworld/dungeon shell, but you've got action segments, hovercraft racing segments, photography sidequests, some hovercraft combat elements IIRC, and other bits and pieces of things, all put together with a conspiracy-theory-mystery, X Files-meets-The Bourne Identity storyline. I honestly can't put my finger on why I enjoyed it as much as I did (and will be doing! Bought it at launch, even though I likely won't have time to play for weeks to come)—it's just a nice, total package.

Cullen · March 2011

Thirith wrote: »

BG&E is one of those games I expected to love and came away 'only' liking it. It's a very likeable game, but I've always been faintly surprised at the superlative praise it gets from some. I may still get the HD remake to play it on my PS3 (and new 50" TV! Yay! ) if it's decently priced on PSN.

I feel the same. I played it after hearing much hype here and from my friends, and came away thinking it was good but not great. Things rarely live up to hype! I think if I'd came at this game with no expectations then I'd have thought more of it.

I think the thing that annoyed me the most was the quote from IGN on the back of the box: 'It's Zelda for grownups'. Number 1 if it tried to be a Zelda game then it did an ok job at best. The quote is kind of an insult to the game as it borrows from Zelda but also from many other games to make something unique. Number 2: 'for grownups'? Yeah in the same way a Disney film is for grownups. It had grownup elements but was purely in kids fantasy/fairy tale in terms of story and setting.

Kuratosu · March 2011

Continuing to enjoy my time with the game. I can't believe I missed out on this for so many years. Unfortunately the game locked up on me after a long stretch of not saving last night, so I turned it off. Will definitely go back to it this evening though.

It's funny. It's been very rare for me to not only get hooked on a game this generation while playing, but also think about it when I'm not playing.

Synthesis · March 2011

My unbridled enthusiasm for this has been somewhat diminished by the total lack of "inverted" controls or camera controls.

But, apparently, I played through the whole game without them a few years back. I can do it again.

Lunker · March 2011

Kuratosu wrote: »

It's funny. It's been very rare for me to not only get hooked on a game this generation while playing, but also think about it when I'm not playing.

It's a decidedly "last-gen" game, and I mean that as one of the highest compliments available. It doesn't have a lot of the things that irk people about modern game design. This and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (which came out around the same time, ironically) were two of my faves from last-gen, and they still hold up astoundingly well.

Dr. Worm · March 2011

Lunker wrote: »

Kuratosu wrote: »

It's funny. It's been very rare for me to not only get hooked on a game this generation while playing, but also think about it when I'm not playing.

It's a decidedly "last-gen" game, and I mean that as one of the highest compliments available. It doesn't have a lot of the things that irk people about modern game design. This and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (which came out around the same time, ironically) were two of my faves from last-gen, and they still hold up astoundingly well.

Both made by Ubisoft. Coincidence?

Ubi's always made beautiful-looking games.

Agreed with many of the other comments about this game not fitting into any easily-defined genre, which IMO is one of its strengths. It's not meant to be pigeon-holed; just enjoy the variety of game play styles in the unique setting.

Penny Arcade

Beyond Good and Evil (HD)! XBLA and PSN. On sale for 200msp on November 28th

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