Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition Review

Teasers

Once again, Ubisoft is bringing back the action adventure about journalist Jade and her pig uncle Pey'j, but unlike the HD edition of yesteryear, the anniversary edition has been lovingly restored.

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All screenshots and gameplay scenes are from GamersGlobal
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If I am not mistaken, Beyond Good & Evil originally at the end of 2003. With the release of the 20th Anniversary Edition by Virtous Studio (under the supervision of Ubisoft Montpellier) did not work out in time for the eponymous anniversary.

But well, like the submerged Beyond Good & Evil 2 shows (which is still in development), it seems that taking your time has become part of the brand's identity. But enough of the nitpicking, because this new edition is definitely one of the better ones! I myself played the original for a while on a CD and have vaguely good memories of it, but I didn't finish the adventure and didn't play the HD edition that was released on PS3 and Xbox 360.

The new, polished version costs around 20 euros and offers improved graphics and music, adjusted controls, auto-saves and a new treasure hunt mission – the latter is a completely new piece of content in this edition and reveals new things about the past of protagonist Jade. There are also other new skins. However, the gameplay has not been changed in any depth, so you essentially get the familiar game, including the dubbing from back then.

The adventure begins directly with a fight in which Jade protects children. The epic songs and the action-packed introduction reminded me of a not dissimilar prologue scene in Nier Replicant.

Dungeons & Journalists

In the world populated by humans and anthropomorphic animals, you slip back into the shoes of journalist Jade, who, together with her uncle Pey'j (pronounced like the name Paige or the English word Page), looks after children whose parents were kidnapped by the alien DomZ invaders. In the story, Jade very quickly comes across a conspiracy. The Alpha protection troops, who are supposedly fighting against the invaders, are allegedly making common cause with the enemy. Jade is therefore soon working with a resistance group.

In your search for the truth, you'll find yourself in linear dungeons where Jade and Pey'j use their fighting staffs and pipe wrenches to make the enemies look like shit. You don't control the companion directly, but at the push of a button he'll support you with his jet boots, which he uses for a stomping attack. The fights are basically simple brawling, but the combat mechanics work well with Jade often being surrounded by enemies and you being able to switch enemies effortlessly from one blow to the next. It looks nice and prevents counterattacks. It also gets a bit more versatile later on with long-range attacks or an improvement for the charged blow, which then also shoots fireballs.

However, if Jade is hit, her life bar drops quickly. It is therefore advisable to buy more hearts early on. Because when I was really surrounded and Pey'j joined in the fray, I sometimes didn't even see the attack that sealed my end. In addition to the opportunities for more life points, this is also mitigated by the fact that healing food immediately regenerates hearts without an animation having to be played first.

Deaths are also less annoying in the new edition because, while you still only have a manual save that you update at save stations, there are a few auto-save slots. Every time a very short loading screen takes you to a new area, your progress is saved and you can load one of these auto-saves even after you quit (although a display strangely says that the current game progress will be “deleted”).

In the linear sections, you also solve environmental puzzles. For example, Pey'j uses his stomper to hurl explosive creatures into the air, which you then use the staff to hit in the direction of the thing you want to blow up. To reach the goal, Jade also has to jump, which is similar to the Zelda-Play before Breath of the Wild automatically jumps on edges and this usually works without any problems.

By stomping on one switch, Pey'j catapults Jade, who is standing on the other switch, into the air. The commands to the companion are triggered in a context-sensitive manner.

Pigs don’t fly, they swim

On the other hand, you are always travelling in the overworld, which consists mostly of the sea and is travelled by the hero duo by hovercraft. It seemed big enough back then, but today it is very manageable and you wonder why you cannot sail to the city in the middle without a loading screen – unless you have just Starfield played.

There aren't many places in the overworld, but it's still nice that Jade already knows almost every NPC she speaks to in the city center, and you can find very useful upgrades while shopping at the merchants. You also have to upgrade your armored hovercraft regularly to overcome new obstacles (such as guard drones that tow you into restricted areas). But you need pearls for that. You win them from side quests, mini-games like hovercraft racing or air hockey, or from photos.

Jade's camera is integrated in a nice way throughout the game. It is often a main goal to capture important evidence in a photo. Or you can take a snapshot of floor plans to unlock the map for an area. You also take photos of new enemies and you should also keep your eyes open for opportunities to photograph peaceful creatures that you have not yet caught your eye. Each snapshot is rewarded with some money and eight new subjects earn you a pearl.

While walking in the pedestrian zone, you can talk to passers-by, buy items from item dealers, start mini-games or even subscribe to a newspaper that will send you the news fabricated by the villains in your email feed.

Nice textures and great material

The revised graphics of Beyond Good & Evil also look good when viewed through the zoom lens. Some of the environmental textures are rather blurry, but details such as Pey'j's blueprints on the wall and the character models are shown to their best advantage in 4K resolution, and the well-aged cartoon-like style also benefits the title. Various animations, such as Jade's strange way of running, have not aged well. Technically, I can report that the PC version I tested did not experience any performance problems or bugs. The camera is still not entirely reliable, however. It sometimes jerks back and forth when it cannot decide whether it wants to be next to or in front of an object in the foreground. In general, however, it was comfortable to use with both a mouse and keyboard and a controller.

In the German dubbing, you will occasionally hear that the sound files were recorded two decades ago and every now and then the emphasis in a sentence does not fit the context, but the speakers at the time were a great choice, especially the warmth between Jade and Pey'j still comes across well today. Unlike the dubbing, the music was re-recorded. The varied soundtrack with excursions into styles from Latin to reggae still stands out today – fans will probably involuntarily sing along to “Propaganda!” when they enter a certain bar.

Speaking of which: The bonus material is a special treat, especially for veterans. Archive material with text panels and sometimes video provides plenty of impressions and anecdotes from the first concepts to the finished game.

Author: Hagen Gehritz (GamersGlobal)

BEYOND GOOD & EVIL 20TH AE PC

Conclusion: Hagen Gehritz

Beyond Good & Evil is obviously still a twenty-year-old game. From today's perspective, the constant loading screens are noticeable, even if they are extremely short. The cutscenes show how far studios have come in terms of staging in the last two decades. But that also applies in a positive way, especially if, like me, you have nostalgic memories of this era of game design. Beyond Good & Evil is lively and, like many titles from the early 2000s, is keen to experiment with all of its mechanics. I was very happy to pull out the camera for each new enemy before beating them with the stick. The rhythm of the mix of fights, puzzles and side quests is also consistent – although even back then, stealth was also supposed to be part of the gameplay mix, but sneaking is one of the game's weak points.

In terms of the story, the hero duo immediately worked as sympathetic characters for me and some of the motifs still seem current – the first enemies you kill with Jade are only fought because the protective shield of her house fails because her power is turned off in the middle of an invasion because she is a few credits short in her account.

Graphically, the remaster looks prettier than I expected, especially when it comes to the characters. Two things that are often seen stood out: the selectively reflective water and Pey'j, whose pigskin looks too realistic to me and breaks with the comic style. But that doesn't ruin the game for me – all in all, I was pleasantly surprised at how fast Beyond Good & Evil still plays despite its age, how much has been revised in this new edition and how extensive the bonus material is. The 20th Anniversary Edition therefore gets a “thumbs up” from me.