The Backlog is a feature at the tail end of each week’s episode where some 1UP editors get together to discuss some cult classic games that the majority of gamers probably skipped in favor of some of the more well-marketed releases of their time. The game that the editors play is voted on by the community in forum polls. The editors all play separately, on their own time, often on differing systems. Meeting each week, for as many weeks as it takes, they discuss their progress and give their thoughts on the games. Each segment runs for about thirty minutes or more. So far Backlog has featured Shadow of the Colossus, Psychonauts, Indigo Prophecy (AKA Fahrenheit), and STALKER. Special guests relevant to each game are not a rarity. During the final segment for Psychonauts they were joined by lead designer Tim Schafer. After playing Indigo Prophecy they interviewed producer Constantine Hantzopoulos. I don’t believe they had a special guest for Shadow of the Colossus or STALKER; it’s likely that a language barrier was to blame.

If you’re wondering why I’m turning you on to this now, it’s because this week on the 12/01/08 episode of 1UP FM (at 73:15!) began the discussion of Beyond Good & Evil. You may recall BG&E being featured here at Downloadable Suicide as a cheap game that you need to play back in June. Did you play? Doing so has never made more sense than it does now.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
In all fairness, Sokkratez was excited about this game long before I was. A recent gameplay demonstration video caught my attention, but it wasn’t until the words “coop” were uttered that I was hooked. This is a free-roaming action shooter not unlike that found in GTA or Just Cause. There just doesn’t seem like there are limits to this game. The character’s got a swiss army knife of abilities, weapons, and support. Everything in the world seems destructible. Apparently they wanted to give the player anything they’d ever think of and more. Obviously that’s not possible, but it still results in such a wide array of ways to approach the game situations that it’ll no doubt equal countless hours of fun times. Fun times, that is, with your buddies alongside for the battle. Cooperative is such a huge feature for me. Right there is enough information to get me excited, so I can’t wait to find out more and get my hands on this game when it comes out August 31st.

Quake Live
Everyone likes free, right? Last time we mentioned a free ad-supported web-integrated Battlefield game. This time you get the ultimate in deathmatch games, Quake 3, launched via your browser. So, what’s the difference between Quake 3 and Quake Live anyway? Well, I’m not really sure. Web integration is probably the biggest noteworthy difference, but this is easy access Quake 3. I’m not sure more needs to be said. Am I right, Sokk? I never really got into the game during its golden years, but I find it the most respectable of all deathmatch games in existence and I actually look forward to fragging people at blazing speeds. I’ll be able to do that this year.

Mirror’s Edge
If someone mentions “parkour” one more time in reference to this game I’m going to cry, but damn if I don’t want to play this first person courier game. Yes, you deliver messages… except you’re doing it across 30 story rooftops on foot… while being chased and shot at by cops who want to shut you down. Apparently this country’s government doesn’t respect free speech as much as others. You don’t start out with a weapon (no doubt banned), but you can pilfer them from cops you knock out with your wicked kicks. It’s said that you can go through the whole game without firing a shot, though it’s somewhat of a challenge. Oh, and did I mention the main character is a woman and the art style is unique? EA’s come a long way to fund a risky game like this. DICE has earned their due, apparently. November 11th is the date.

Project Origin
When I first heard Monolith was making another FEAR game, I thought it was a mistake. I’d have rather seen a No One Lives Forever sequel or something. I mean I liked the first one, but do I want more? Then the videos started coming. The more I see the more Monolith proves me wrong. The graphics engine actually does more than push pixels. Monolith put it to good use to create some of the most amazing and cool effects I’ve seen in a shooter, effects that actually enhance the gameplay. They seem to have improved on every aspect of FEAR so that it’s a more rich and varied experience. (time will tell) So, this game left off where the original game stopped, completely ignoring the expansions (that were not made by Monolith) to FEAR. They couldn’t use the title “FEAR” in the name, but still manage to use it in a slogan: “FEAR ALMA AGAIN”. Apparently the game’s set during that time of the month cause she’s even more freaky. Expect to wet your bed at night sometime in the fall of this year.

Natural-Selection 2
Little known fact: I’m a fanboy. Ohnoes, PK! Whatever for?! Well, once I stop talking to myself I’ll tell you. It’s for a little Half-Life mod called Natural Selection, a sci-fi FPS/RTS hybrid. You have marines. You have aliens. Both play uniquely and both hate each other, much to the benefit of gamer’s everywhere. Like any FPS game you have weapons (or pokey things, as it is with aliens) and you shoot (or bite, claw…) the other team. Like any RTS you have resources and structures to build to expand your area of control and eventually destroy the other race. Both in the same game, and done in excellent form. I have never experienced multiplayer like this since. I’m hoping its sequel will change that. Just recently they announced that they were moving from developing the sequel on the Source engine to their own proprietary engine, which is actually speeding up production. I’m still guessing that it’s going to be a 2009 game, but it’s going to be cheap… like $20 cheap. The development is mostly an open book, so check it out over yonder. You may have already seen the dynamic infestation tech video on the internets.

Beyond Good & Evil 2
BG&E has a certain charm I can’t shake. You can read more about that in my cheap games post about it. So it’s not hard to guess that when they recently announced BG&E2 with a certain trailer, I couldn’t contain my glee. The fans have been asking for it for a while now and we knew the designer was pushing to get it funded (considering the first one flopped financially… at first), but until now we didn’t know for sure it was being worked on. Right now we know practically nothing about the game other than what the teaser video hints at. So, this is probably the last game on my list to be released, no doubt somewhere in the latter half of 2009 (hopefully earlier, but it’s done when it’s done), but it’s worth including due to my enthusiasm. Hey, there’s no limit on the “future”. (maybe I should put up BG&E3 on the list for good measure.. heh) Ah yes… good one to end on.

Released in late 2003 to positive reviews, the game nevertheless sold rather poorly. It was a new franchise with an image that didn’t grab gamers’ attention… until later. Through word of mouth alone BG&E steadily grew a base of adoring fans long after it was considered a financial failure.

THE STORY

BG&E’s perhaps greatest strength is the story and characters. It’s likely you’ll grow fond of them within the first couple minutes of the game — something unprecedented for me. It stars a freelance reporter by the name of Jade, who along with her friend Pey’j have adopted several orphans of a war with an alien race, the DomZ. The Alpha Section is the protectors of the city Hillys. But like all good stories, there’s more than meets the eye.

THE MUSIC

It’s not often we mention the music in a game specifically, but for BG&E we’ll make an exception. It still stands out for me as one of my favorite game soundtracks. For Christophe Heral this is his ONLY game soundtrack, and yet it shines. You’ll be exhilarated throughout the game by the masterful and thrilling score. I could write some more adjectives, but you get the idea.

GAMEPLAY

This is where the most contention lies as to the quality of the game. Some will say it’s disjunct and has poor combat. Others will point out the variety of gameplay and mini-games. I’m in the latter group. As a whole the gameplay of BG&E is excellent. If you take each element by itself, there’s not much to them. Attacking is mostly button mashing; driving consists of mostly just steering and shooting straight forward; etc. But regardless of each element’s simplicity in design, it’s still fun to do.

One fun gameplay element is photography. At the beginning of the game you’ll be directed to take pictures of various phauna to add to a catalogue of species on the planet. You get paid for each new species you photograph. (yes, even humans) The variety and uniqueness of the creatures makes it interesting and many will be a challenge to capture. If you take a snapshot of all the creatures, you’ll unlock a mini-game.

Besides credits, your other source of income is pearls. These allow you to upgrade your hovercraft. There’s a limited amount in the whole game and if you get them all you unlock another mini-game.

Some consider the gameplay more difficult than what you’d expect. This is mostly due to later levels that involve stealth and acrobatics. You may get a little frustrated in these areas, but you’ll have plenty of motivation to keep trying. It’s all very worth it.

VIDEO

There’s not much to show that wouldn’t spoil the story and various surprises, but here’s some clips from Beyond Good & Evil.

TECHNICALITIES

Ubisoft is known for their poor PC ports so don’t be surprised if you run into problems when running the actual game. The most common issues are poor audio/video sync during cut scenes and a bugged level that’ll require a workaround. To improve your experience, turn on Vsync in your video card control panel, avoid anti-aliasing as it will conflict with BG&E’s own AA, turn off all but one core on multi-core processors, and probably turn water quality to medium or low. Let’s hope Ubisoft doesn’t continue this trend. Luckily, this game is worth a little effort.

WHERE TO BUY

In my opinion this is positively one of the best games we’ve covered here, so I can’t recommend this enough. BG&E is available on Steam for $9.99 or on GameTap for the price of their subscription. ($10 a month, or $5 a month if paid annually)

This is a list of all of the cheap games we’ve featured in the blog. Every game is under $10 — many are even free! Here they are in order of price (low to high):