Wha?…..Heeeeyyyyyyy….long time no see!!! What’s it been? Since high school? How the hell are ya? What have you been doing with yourse…..ah fuck it. You get the idea. Yes, it’s been a hell of a long time since I’ve posted anything, and the last thing was only a picture and a stupid headline. Guilty as charged. Now get off my back! I’m coming back with what will hopefully be a week of daily posts before retreating once again into hibernation. Kicking things off is the first of my Winter Games to eat a bomb, Beyond Good & Evil.

Okay, I think we’re about ready to go

Beyond Good & Evil is one of those titles that will forever be tossed out at gaming roundtables because it stands out as a sober example of the artistic ideals of the industry coming into sharp contrast with the stark reality of business. An original IP with a fine pedigree, it comes from Michel Ancel, the creator of the Rayman series and later the videogame adaptation of King Kong. Not only did the title have striking visuals and sounds, but the story and characters were compelling, the gameplay was exciting and legitimately fun, and this game even dared to explore social commentary of the government’s control of the people through propaganda and deception.

So what seems to be the problem? It was loved by the press, it was loved by those who played it, and it was technically sound…where did things go wrong? As much as the populace decries the unending string of sequels and knock-off’s…..they’re comfortable. They’re low risk. If I liked Grand Theft Auto, chances are I’m going to be perfectly willing to drop $50 on GTA: Boston Bomb Scare and probably willing to check out something similar such as Crackdown or True Crime. Without a big marketing hook (although the game resembled a cross between Legend of Zelda and Splinter Cell) and with a world that was a little too foreign to be instantly accessible (your uncle is a talking pig…’nuff said), the title was lost in a wash of holiday releases. Even Ubisoft’s own slate contained 2 other releases at the exact same time…XIII, which would also fade into obscurity, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which would spawn a resurgence of the franchise from the early 90’s.

In any case, all of this has been covered before and surely will be covered again. The wikipedia entry is very informative, but I’d highly advise you to skip over the story section if you have any intention of ever playing the game. You’d be doing yourself a serious disservice. As for my own personal experience, I began this game years ago on the PC and had never gotten very far, largely due to the controls. The game was quite obviously designed with a gamepad in mind and the context sensitive buttons bear that out quite well in play. Unfortunately, the keyboard and mouse setup was a bit more awkward and the biggest oversight in my book is that they didn’t include even an option to use a gamepad. I had more or less resigned to let it pass me by until I saw it for Xbox one day and just decided to get it for that as well. You know, show my support and all. After a couple of highly enjoyable play sessions either a shiny object or a lack of time for gaming came along and once again stole my attention away, landing it on the Winter Games list.

This is what Winter Games is all about. It’s about focusing your attention on the games you’ve longed to get back to and finish off. BG&E is a stellar example of the reason behind it….a sequel is unlikely, and there will be little in the industry to draw it back into the public consciousness. Every effort should be made to revisit games such as these, and to draw as much enjoyment out of them as they have to offer. As far as this one goes, that’s saying quite a lot.