Why Beyond Good and Evil Tanked 144
Via Joystiq, a post on the JumpButton blog talking with a PR manager at Ubisoft about the title Beyond Good and Evil. Despite critical acclaim and crackerjack gameplay, the title just didn't do very well commercially. The rep explains why it did so badly in the stores, and what that means for future quality game titles. From the article: "When BG&E was released in 2003, it was competing against some of the strongest franchises in gaming. Like a weak wolf cub in a litter, it was forced to fight its siblings for attention and nurturing. Strong brands such as Tom Clancy and the reinvented Prince of Persia were the favourite sons that year. While XIII, a stylish FPS based on an obscure Belgian graphic novel, almost suffered a similar fate to BG&E, but sales in European territories still managed to qualify that game for Sony's best-seller Platinum label. It was only late in the piece that IGN.com managed to arm us with a majestic and summarizing quote for the difficult BG&E: 'Zelda for grown-ups.'"
It wasn't bad (Score:4, Interesting)
Sturdy gameplay, but too much competition.
I did hate the dutch localised version though, but I hate all dubs.
Trailer (Score:5, Interesting)
One reason? Gallic weirdness (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd heard it was something to do with a photojournalist fighting a conspiracy in a sci-fi/fantasy world, so that aspect of the game was expected. What I didn't expect was the heroine's sidekick to be a talking cartoon pig, along with a host of other characters who looked like refugees from Banjo-Kazooie. Kind of a 'WTF?' moment that threw me out of the game to begin with. And I bet I wasn't the only one.
I got past it, though, and started to enjoy the game as it opened up. Unfortunately, then my GC's memory card crapped out on me and lost my saved game, and I just couldn't face playing through the whole thing again. So I guess I'll never know how the story turned out. Shame.
I enjoyed it.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Or Maybe... (Score:4, Interesting)
I enjoyed the beginning of th game. It was interesting, it had a story, it had talking animals... But after a while, there were fewer talking animals, the story got down to heroine-against-the-evil-corporation cliche crap, and it had pretty standard gameplay.
Trying to take pics of all the diff bugs/animals was amusing, but I doubt people cared.
And so I stopped playing about halfway through. I read the plot outline later and it didn't get any better. It apparently even had the standard evil corp moon base or something. -yawn-
So in the end, it wasn't competition that killed it, but general lack of excellence and innovation.
Obscure ? (Score:4, Interesting)
XIII [wikipedia.org] is one of the most known and appreciated "graphic novel" in Europe. In the US they have comics, in Europe we have graphic novels. XIII has sold hundreds of thousands of copies. It's been adapted in a TV show, not to mention the game. It's been translated to 5 languages other than the original french version.
I find it ironic that a game designer claiming his game didn't do well because it compete with high-profile franchises don't know the slightest about an other video game from the same publisher that suffered exactly the same fate than his.
Too short, too green, too girlie (Score:4, Interesting)
Having said that, I stayed up for 3 nights in a row and finished it faster than most games I've played - it was definitely fun, quite playable, and i liked the slight quirkyness, but i'm probably not your average player.
I enjoyed it. (Score:4, Interesting)
I enjoyed playing it, and have recomended it to friends. It was a nice change to play something that wasn't yet another FPS/RTS/whatever that was just the same as all the rest.
About the only bad thing I would say is that it did get a bit too easy towards the end.
I always assumed it didn't do too well because people looked at it and thought, "What? I'm a photographer? and I take pictures of things? F%$& that." without bothering to try it out.
Anthro oddities. (Score:1, Interesting)
At first, I was rather excited to see them. I happen to rather like anthromorphics - cute things, sometimes. Seeing them in a game had to be good. But... it was ignored. Completly. They had the appearance of anthros, but that is all. They were treated perfectly human, they acted perfectly human, noone even raised an eyebrow at it. Even the voices. It was as though someone, at the last minute of development, had thought "Ohh, lets replace all the character models! It will make the camera game more interesting."
It was strange, and a little discomforting. I would have liked to see just a few casual references, or a little more character development relating to it. Perhaps just one of them grumbling that the chairs wern't designed for a tail, or a comment about the difficulty of having fur on a hot day. Not this 'nothing to see here' attitude.
Re:Not the crowded marketplace? (Score:2, Interesting)
Good, not Great (Score:2, Interesting)
Now, the graphics and the gameplay seemed pretty solid, as did the story. However, at the same time these things all worked together to kill my interest. It was weird, because I wanted the game to succeed. I liked the idea of a game without blood, sex, and overdone violence. Unfortunately this game seemed to suffer from some assumptions I see often made about games that avoid those things.
I don't know about you guys, but back in the old days of the Atari and later the NES, games were difficult. Not impossible, not masochistic, but hard. Yet, these games were also for kids. Just because Contra was nearly impossible for a three year old with just three lives didn't mean kids didn't play that game.
Today, any game lacking blood, sex and graphic violence somehow has to be A) easy B) simple and C) uncomplicated. While these traits aren't overabundant in BG&E, they are there. Ultimately I found the story rather straitforward, the gameplay rather simple, and at that point all that was left were the graphics (something I rarely care about). The game was simply too easy for me.
I traded it in after a day.
I suppose kids would love it, but just because they would doesn't mean they can't appreciate something with a little more depth.
Major problem: blatantly unrealized potential (Score:4, Interesting)
Now, don't get me wrong. I certainly think it's a great game, and I'm glad I played it, and I would certainly recommend it on story, dialogue, voice work, and cinematic craft alone. It's polished well beyond most games, and while I've heard of bugs on the GameCube version, I didn't experience any going through it myself. However, all that polish couldn't hide the gaping holes that were found, mostly in the "free roaming world" portion. While it seems big enough when you're only using the little hovercraft to shuttle around in, once you upgrade to the flying machine, the limitations become very obvious. It only took some 20 seconds to fly across the entire available "massive world". There was only a single area that was unreachable without the flying machine, and 99% of the locations you could get to were pointless to explore, because they looked crappy to fly near and were ridiculously out of scale. I realize there are limitations on space in the console universe, but when everything is was obviously slashed to fit, it just felt like I was let down. If they had created a bigger Hillys than the one we're given to tool around in, with more extra stuff to do, then I think it would really have lived up to it's potential, but sadly it's just not the case.
It Was a Reasonably Fun Game (Score:3, Interesting)
Apparently Ubisoft released the soundtrack for download, so if you want the racing mini game song for your drive to work you can find it easily enough :-)
uhmm....Inept marketing unit? (Score:2, Interesting)
Maybe because the Marketing Unit had no idea of what they were going to sell?
BG&E was a game directed to "casual gamers", or at least to people that don't care about the latest shader effect or technology improvment...
And Ubisoft had no idea how to show it to the public.The closest thing the have ever produced is Rayman, and it was presented the same way : Like a childish Platform Game.
PR:"what? No Uber shader Effects? No 14.540 different weapons? NO EXTREME VIOLENCE? How we should sell this stuff???"
So it was basically discarded, giving more attention to Price of Persia 2: "Now with more Blood yeahh!!!!11!"and the Splinter Cell add-on "Now You can 0wn ppl online " .
It the same of what happened to ICO: A developer spends $MILIONS over an interesting game,and a group of inept PRs (that just want to get a portfolio to show to an Advertising company ) having no idea of what are presenting, condemns it to the bargains bin in less than a month.
The developer fails and collapses, the Publisher thinks that such games are unable to return a profit, and the Marketing unit leaves to work for a Ad firm as they wished.
You're damaged in the head (Score:3, Interesting)
You've neglected to mention its a sequence involving the main character holding conversations with animal orphans. For the orphanage she runs. For talking animals. With storyline supposedly called "Zelda for adults" there's little in the way of adult subjects. It's really not as engaging as people keep suggesting. Yes, it's better than the other Zelda knockoff, Star Fox Adventures. But that says as much as saying "it's plotline is better than The puppy That Lost Its Way." Or whatever children's picture book you prefer.
The clifferhanger ending is also easily interpreted as cliche and trite, and a a flaw. Especially if there is never a sequel. If BG&E stands out amongst your collection, I'd be afraid to hear what lackluster titles line your shelves.
It's the packaging, stupid (Score:3, Interesting)
Next, the box. The cover art features Jade armed with a - camera? She doesn't look sexy, or fierce, or engaging - just a chick wearing green lipstick with a camera over some generic apocalyptic background. None of the interesting aspects of the gameplay or the storyline are conveyed in the cover art, and it emphasizes the parts of the story (the camera!?) that aren't as fun.
The tagline on the back, "Expose the CONSPIRACY. Capture the TRUTH," is way too generic. The blurb is short, and makes the game sound generic and uninteresting:
"A government conspiracy wreaks havoc upon the planet Hillys. As the rebellious action-reporter Jade, you must penetrate your leaders' web of lies and expose their horrific secrets. In a world of deception, believe in nothing... except yourself."
Okay, first - it's pretty much clear from the get-go that the government is full of bad guys. Next, there's almost no conspiracy theory aspect to the gameplay, it's a straightforward Zelda for Grownups quest. And last, that blurb sounds BORING. The back of the packaging is just as uninspired. It's just a bunch of fairly unimpressive screenshots, done over to look like they're on strip 35mm film.
BG&E sold for crap because on the shelf, it looks like crap. It failed to distinguish itself from the hundreds of other generic games with generic titles released that year.
Fortunately, Ubi seems to have learned the packaging lesson, by and large. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was a better game than Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, but it sold for crap because the cover art is arguably as bad as BG&E's. Warrior Within, though, sold much better. The cover art for that one? Stark white background, pissed off guy, two giant curved swords dripping with blood. Straight, to the point, interesting enough to make me check out the back of the box.
Marketing counts for more than you'd think.
Re:Followthrough. (Score:2, Interesting)