Beyond Good Marketing
I've just finished playing a game on my Xbox. I don't often post on this subject, I tend to leave the gaming side to Rich. But, in this case, I feel like I am righting a wrong and playing a part in reversing a cruel injustice simply by mentioning the title of the game.As I said, I'm no hardcore gamer, I don't read every Xbox title out there, I don't read Edge, I just like playing good games when time and budget allows. I'm fairly varied in my tastes, but anything that doesn't get a 5 star review in Official XBox won't be of interest to me, I don't have time to fanny about. Nothing much is out there at the moment, bar a couple of titles that I'll wait for and buy when the cost is down, Half Life 2 and Destroy All Humans for starters. So I decided to look back through some of the old '5 star' reviews in the back of the mag, see if I could get a bargain. One that caught my eye was:
Beyond Good and Evil.
Where the hell has this game been?! I have never heard of it before, and now I've finished it I can't understand why. What an absolute tradgedy that this didn't tear up the market. To cut a long story its vaguely speaking, a RPG, and when I say that, I mean it in the nicest way possible, with a hint of stealth game play and a myriad of mini-games. With talking beasts and children running amok, it looks like its in danger of going cutesy, but never does. This is a thoroughly believable universe, with believable characters, culture and design.
The graphics are nothing short of superb, with a real quality of design that makes it stand out from others. The sound and voice acting are again topnotch and the game play never left me wanting.
You know when you finish a book and you feel sad to leave its contained universe? That's how I felt with this game. Its a rare feeling for me to have that level of emotional investment, it does happen of course, but rarely, and to me this is a mark of a quality game. Initially I thought maybe it failed because of a lack of violence or grittiness, but I dismiss that now, hasn't hurt Mario or Sonic too much! I have to put it down to poor marketing and presumably some strong competing titles released at the same time, because nothing else can explain it to me. Apparently they were planning a trilogy, which is a reflection of Ubisofts own faith in it. What a shame it never got there!
If you want to squeeze the last few drops of quality gaming out of your now obsolete last generation console, PS2, GameCube or Xbox, I can suggest a lot worse than picking this up for a fiver. You won't regret it.
Beyond Good and Evil.
Where the hell has this game been?! I have never heard of it before, and now I've finished it I can't understand why. What an absolute tradgedy that this didn't tear up the market. To cut a long story its vaguely speaking, a RPG, and when I say that, I mean it in the nicest way possible, with a hint of stealth game play and a myriad of mini-games. With talking beasts and children running amok, it looks like its in danger of going cutesy, but never does. This is a thoroughly believable universe, with believable characters, culture and design.
The graphics are nothing short of superb, with a real quality of design that makes it stand out from others. The sound and voice acting are again topnotch and the game play never left me wanting.
You know when you finish a book and you feel sad to leave its contained universe? That's how I felt with this game. Its a rare feeling for me to have that level of emotional investment, it does happen of course, but rarely, and to me this is a mark of a quality game. Initially I thought maybe it failed because of a lack of violence or grittiness, but I dismiss that now, hasn't hurt Mario or Sonic too much! I have to put it down to poor marketing and presumably some strong competing titles released at the same time, because nothing else can explain it to me. Apparently they were planning a trilogy, which is a reflection of Ubisofts own faith in it. What a shame it never got there!
If you want to squeeze the last few drops of quality gaming out of your now obsolete last generation console, PS2, GameCube or Xbox, I can suggest a lot worse than picking this up for a fiver. You won't regret it.
posted by Bob at 11:04 am
<< Home