Beyond Good and Evil PS2 Preview

At Ubisoft's 2003 Gamers Day some footage of their upcoming platform game, Beyond Good and Evil was shown. Beyond Good and Evil is coming from the creator of the Rayman series, Michel Ancel, so will no doubt become an ongoing franchise if it is successful upon release later this year.

In Beyond Good and Evil you play as Jade, (who happens to wear Jade lipstick, Jade Green Trousers etc), a young woman helping young orphans who's parents have been taken by the Domz, a weird alien race which are trying to take over the land of Hyllis, where Jade resides. Jade has a protective force field, until one day when the power company cuts it off due to lack of payment. This gives the Domz the perfect time to attack, which they do. The orphans are captured and Jade must fight to get them back. She too is captured and a friendly pig hero named Pey'j rescues her. The science laboratory requires pictures and will pay money for them, but Jade smells a conspiracy and it becomes her prerogative to expose it.

Beyond Good and Evil is split between two main genres, platforming and games like Pokemon Snap. To get from place to place, you as Jade will have to run, jump and bash enemies. However at times Jade will spot a unique item, creature or something amiss in the environment. That's when its time for you to pull out her trusty snapshot camera and submit it to the science laboratory. This is how you will gain money to keep the electricity company happy

We took hold of some demo code at the Gamers Day and have played through it. The code contains two levels, which have been seen extensively in various trailers. The first level has you in control of a hovercraft to defeat a dragon-like water creature after which the game moves forward a little and you have to sneak your way through a Domz base and get out once spotted. The two levels are fairly short but from what we can see, Beyond Good and Evil looks quite original and should appeal to all platform fans.

In Beyond Good and Evil, Jade will come up against enemies such as the Domz, dragon-like creatures, a weird green alien eye and many others. The enemies look as heavily detailed as Jade and even on the PS2 the game does look great. Jade animates really well during fighting, jumping, twirling and launching a special magical attack. She even looks great when crawling to avoid detection from the Domz.

Jade will not be alone in her quest to expose what is going on. Help from IRIS (the laboratory she is working for), The Alpha Sections (who train men for combat against the Domz),  Double H (a soldier who looks like he would be more at home in a tale about Camelot then a space opera) and of course Pey'j the pig. The player only controls Jade and most of the time she will be alone.

Beyond Good and Evil uses the Jade engine which was specially built for this game. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time also uses the Jade engine but obviously in a completely different manner. The engine allows transitions between vehicular combat and on foot adventuring, immersing you more into the game as you continue on this adventure.

Mission types will also vary. Beyond Good and Evil will feature the standard platforming missions where items have to be obtained and used to progress. As well as missions involving a hovercraft which over time can be upgraded and will eventually feature rockets which Jade will use to blast into space. Missions where Jade is tasked with avoiding the enemy by running and avoiding fallen objects and fire. Although Beyond Good and Evil is in the platforming genre, it is not a traditional platformer by any stretch of the imagination.

If you love a great platforming game and want some extra elements such as vehicular combat and an interesting storyline then check out Beyond Good and Evil when it releases for the Playstation 2 and PC in November 2003.