Help us save the Adventure Game genre

[debikkel]

First off, Chris, this is not advertising, I'm sure you'll agree.

Hey all, this is me, Martin, thinking away here. It's quite a long story, but if you are a die hard adventure gaming fan remembering the days when Sierra and Lucasarts ruled the world, read on...

Okay, here goes: I've played adventure games all my life. You too probably. Nowadays the genre isn't of any interest to game publishers, because a worthless 3D shooter still outsells new quality adventure games (like Syberia 1 and 2). This way, our favorite game genre will never rise again. However...

Just last week I heared about a title that was released quite some time ago: Beyond Good & Evil. The title tricked me in believing it was a hack & slash title, so I ignored it. Didn't see any advertising anyway, so who cares right?

THE GOOD

Well, someone tipped me and boy was I glad to hear of this game. It is an adventure game with the quality of Space Quest 3 and Monkey Island 2, a detailed living world like Star Wars, a plot combining the best of Blade Runner and The Usual Suspects and a 3D engine of todays standards that finally has been put to good use! Right now, IMHO, BG&E is one of the best adventuregames ever, and I'm glad the author (Michel Ancel, the man behind Rayman) spent all those years developing a game the way he wanted it to be: a true adventure with an adrenaline experience like Indiana Jones, but not in the style of a Lara Croft "adventure", no, a real adventure with freedom of travelling through the world.

THE BAD

Upon release of BG&E, Ubisoft released another title: Prince of Persia Sands of Time. Excellent game, I must say. Love it. Anyway, Ubisoft knowing that with the proper marketing PoP would sell great, practically no marketing was put into BG&E, making it totally unknown to us all. Ironically, PoP borrowed the BG&E engine.

BG&E received reviews practically all with ratings of 9 and higher. Reviewers called it one of the best games ever, a Zelda Windwaker killer, etc etc. Players who discovered this little gem love it, and I totally agree. But compared to your average 3d shooter, these players are not many...

THE UGLY

Due to all of this. a sequel is probably not in the making. The game was released for PC first, and due to lack of sales, it was released for Xbox and other platforms at a low price. The price has dropped even more over the past month, and it seems that a beautiful little gem as this becomes the underdog that nobody knows about, only a few players who discovered this excellent game that will never have a sequel.

WHAT CAN WE DO

With this post I am trying two things:

1. Tip you all so you don't miss out on this game
2. Hope more fans will buy it, so Ubisoft will be encouraged to develop a sequel (or at least encourage them or other developers to enter the same road and develop quality games like this)

You can still order it for a mere $20, and so I did. I showed it to 3 friends and 2 collegues the other day, all adventure game fans of the old days. Two of them went out to the shop that same day to get it, the others ordered it over the net.

There was an official petition to make a sequel. It is now closed, but you should check out their reactions:

http://www.officialvideogames.com/petition.htm

The game is available for PC, Xbox, GameCube and PS2, and the PC version has a demo, that you can download here:

http://www.gamershell.com/download_3584.shtml

I hope some of you readers will at least give it a try, I promise you will NOT be dissapointed. Please post your reactions on the game below, letting the other readers know what you think of the game.

Sincerely,

Martin

[rwfromxenon]

Wow, just played through the demo. It's pretty cool.

[Eero Ränik]

It could've been perfect when the authors added more depth to it. Nothing beats a good story with lots of sidestories, but this game didn't fully satisfy me... At least the graphics and the music are great.