The Games of my Life

I haven’t had much time to play games, in the last few days. This weekend, I was ill (though, in the immortal words of Monty Python, “I got better”), and there has been a lot of other stuff to do. Still, I had a little time to “maintain my sanity”, and I’ve been playing two games, mostly.

The first of them is Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, on the GameCube, which I’ve already mentioned a couple of times here. It keeps getting better and better - good story, interesting characters, more decisions to make, and, best of all, the need for different strategies in every level - not simply “advance and kill everyone in your path”. It’s really a joy to play.

The second one is a bit older: Beyond Good and Evil, also on the Cube (this isn’t an exclusive, though, it’s also available for PC, PS2 and Xbox). I’ve had this game for about a year, but for some reason had never got around to play it… until now. And it’s brilliant.

IGN’s review, quoted on the back of the box, describes it as “Zelda for grown-ups”. While I don’t think that it’s a perfect description - among other reasons, because the Zelda games aren’t really for kids - it’s certainly a quick way to explain to people what the game looks and plays like. It’s an action/adventure game, with a great story (involving control of the media by the government - guess that’s where the “for grown-ups” bit comes from), and absolutely endearing characters. For instance, one of your “party members” is Pey’j, a pig-like humanoid - whose personality, voice acting and mannerisms make him more “human” and lovable than more than 95% of video game characters. Jade herself, the character you control, is one of the few female characters that is feminine without looking as if she’s just there for making male teens drool.

BG&E has been called “the best game nobody played”, as, while every review out there described it as brilliant, it almost didn’t sell. But you can probably still buy it, and cheaply, too. If you like the 3D Zeldas (Ocarina, Majora, Wind Waker), go buy it immediately; if not, or if you don’t know them, at least take a look at it; rent it, or something. It’s a work of art - so much that Peter Jackson recently contacted the main author, Michael Ancel, to create the game version of his next movie, King Kong.