#favegame

Beyond Good & Evil - A Favorite Classic

Like most gamers, there will always be a new favorite game, and there’ll be classic favorite games from when we first discovered games, be it video games or card games or board games. If I thought back to my first foray in to pc & video games, I could easily name California Games or Pitfall or even Earthbound,  as games that I fondly remember and would play over and over again. But a game shouldn’t be a favorite for just nostalgic reasons. 

Which is why I want to briefly mention Beyond Good & Evil, a game made for the PS2 (and other competitive consoles at the time). It’s an action adventure game in a futuristic fictional world where humans and sentient animals live, trying to get by under the regime of a powerful company. You play as the protagonist Jade, who’s sort of a freelance photo journalist and caretaker to orphaned children, who takes up a job for to suss out the secrets behind disappearances of people around the planet via the major corporation, Alpha Sections.  While, partly a 3d platformer, you’re also expected to solve puzzles and race around the planet, along with taking photos to show proof to the world just what exactly is going on. 

What grabs me as a great video game, are the memorable characters, fantastic soundtrack, and at the time, a very interesting premise. So many games rely on just straight up violence or brute force, where here, for the most part, you’re needing to rely on your wits and your friendships, and of course, your trusty camera. And only when all else fails, then relying on whatever means necessary to stay alive. Also, still rare back then and even now, here we have a non-sexualized woman of color that’s the main character, and fully realized person.