Dripping with epic-icity
This review has been almost half a year in the making. I started playing BG&E in August before school started here on campus. I completed the game for the first time a couple days ago and I'm still taken aback by how super-awesomely-cool this game is. Not-so-secretly, I'm super jazzed about the sequel next year even though I don't personally own any of the next gen systems [and I refuse to buy Wii!].
The story centered around Jade a freelance reporter/photojournalist, so this was instantly going to be met with both a 'stink-eye' as well as be relatable to someone who was[is] a reporter and photojournalist. The most interesting aspect of this angle of you playing as a young lady is the world she inhabits. This world is a hybrid of what a Jim Henson team & Tim Burton [prior to Corpse Bride] would have thrown together. Initially you are teamed up with your best friend and bigger bro-kinda in Pey'J. You look after a kind of shelter with orphans and they are all of varying races. It is pretty much a great adult game that you could play with your kids.
Sans Green Sweat Band & Jacket?
The game starts off with you fighting a creature, which is a classic staple to get you the player use to the controls. What you will notice immediately is the lack of a jump button, which in an action/puzzle/platform game; kind of jarring. For the most part the player has control over the camera, but there are instances where the camera will say, 'hey jerk...go here'.
What makes this game different? Well, you may be wondering how large of a d-cup Jade is and/or how much skin she shows when forced to traverse foreign caves and lands afar. Let me stop ya right there homie. Jade flips, rolls and sassy talks throughout the game, but she does it all fully clothed? Astonishing! Not to say that the game should get extra credit for something [in best Chris Rock cadence] "It's supposed ta do!", but the fact that you are playing an attractive character who is attractive BECAUSE they think and have responsibility and morals etc. Is a change of pace, that I haven't seen followed since the release of this mini-epic.
Okay...Which One Of Us Smells Like Bacon?
At this point, you may be wondering why I am going so in depth on a game that was released years ago. For those of you who don't know...I just bought a PS2 last year and have amassed a collection of quote 'classic gamey games'. I have been playing through them and writing reviews and/or impressions. It also helped that 1up FM did backlog segments on this very game, which was the proper catalyst for me to finally finish the game.
"The Sun Is Warm...The Grass Is Green"
The reason it took me close to five months to finish the game would be that damn Slaughterhouse. Being stuck there day after day sent me up the walls! I couldn't figure out what was the final photo to take, and to make matters worse I was reading multiple guides that say that if you make it to a certain point in the Slaughterhouse, the game has a glitch that won't allow you to finish the mission!
Although I do wish I would could have figured out a way to get a photo of the final boss [who wasn't as hard as people online were saying], it would have been the cherry on top of an already solid game. I hear the soundtrack is being sold somewhere in a foreign land. I can't wait to see what we'll learn about Jade's heritage or what the hell that was on Pey'J's hand in the upcoming current-gen sequel.
I Give Beyond Good & Evil the coveted prize...
That's Right...It's Christmas....go ahead and say it...
Now time for the next game in the library...Burnout 3: Takedown