This seems like it should be able to run at 120 fps

6:57 "character expressions are also changed... this character is now rather enjoying his time being captured (in the new 20th Edition)" 😆😆

I can't wait for the 20th anniversary of Ubisoft telling us that Beyond Good and Evil 2 is still coming out

Most of the changes are upgrades but man, Jade's hair just being a solid black looked way cooler in my opinion.

might be in minority here but i prefer the more painted texture look of the original.

a lot was lost with the "upgraded" textures, models and color grading compared to the original and even hd versions

I love what they're doing with this, but look at the image at 5:20 and tell me the whole thing doesn't look faded and whitewashed.

Maybe I'm the weird one, but I really prefer the HD version to the Anniversary one at a lot of shots, especially when showing Jade's face, there's just something wrong with the light in the remaster, making everything look overly bright. Same thing with water most of the time. Reminds me how fan ENBs make game look amazing in 2 scenes and then horribly wrong in 8 others.

This game was special back in the day

I think the HD version looks artistically better.

We need a PoP Anniversary Edition like this.

I really don't like how pale Jade looks in the 20th Anniversary Edition. It just looks off to me.

I may be missing something here but I simply can't believe that that level of texture quality is all a 3.5 GB VRAM buffer is capable of in a 20 year old non shader-heavy game. My only theory is that the engine doesn't support texture compression but as far as I can tell, DXT compression has been on the market for quite some time by 2003 and I doubt Ubi Montpellier would pass up on the opportunity to make Jade support it and save on space and texture streaming budgets...I understand why Switch would look inferior but this just makes me believe there was just no effort put into that version whatsoever.

Oh man, character skin is NOT an "upgrade", on the contrary! Specially Jade's skin. And I can't even describe what's wrong with her hair.

Some of the lighting and her skin tone looks fked up to me in the new one.

They lightened Jade's skin tone?!

This game was made by Ubisoft before it became what we know today. Giving green light to new IPs and experiments, instead of milking the 10th game of the known franchise without any real improvements over previous games. This game could have been canceled or made by a completely different studio if it was worked on today. And that's why I'm not surprised that Beyond Good & Evil 2 was rumored to be cancelled, even if it will finally come out I'm not trying to be hyped up for it because I prefer to be surprised if it will be good rather than being disappointed if it won't, which is unfortunately somewhat likely. Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag, Far Cry 3 and Rayman Legends - these were the last great games from that company, so good that from time to time I just feel like I wanna replay them again and finish for like a 5th time. Even though I played and tried to love what they did later I just couldn't. Watch Dogs is a game I love even though it has issues, because it was something new and revolutionary in some cases. Watch Dogs 2 was just alright, nothing special but with completely different atmosphere over first game. Watch Dogs Legion however, for me it is straight up garbare. Other example, Assassin's Creed Unity was good but definitely not better than Ezio trilogy or Black Flag. Origins and all newer titles were repeatable and boring after few hours, and they don't even differ that much from each other. Your opinion may vary, as I know that many people like new Assassin's Creed games and there is nothing wrong with that, but I don't believe Ubisoft is able to make the second Beyond Good & Evil as good as the original anyway. The remaster looks great and still has the charm of original game, but this is just an improvement over the original we had, of course that's what you want from a remaster but I'm not expecting any of their new games to be as good as this as I see how quality of their games is regressing over time.

Why they lighten Jade’s skin tone? 😢

It's insane to me that a literal PS2 game drops below 60fps at 1440p.

I wish we had more games this size today

A rayman 2 overhaul like this.. come on now ubisoft

It’s genuinely crazy the performance mode is only 1440p

The lighting and overal look looks better in the original. Jade's skin looks strange and the lighting is colder

I would really like to see a DF retro comparison of gamecube/ps2/xbox versions of the original and highlighting the differences of each port. I remember the camera feature having different resolutions between the ports.

They added Denuvo DRM and Ubisoft integration bs, achievements are only on ubisoft connect, and they want to force us to play this version since they've removed the original from the Steam store. This just adds to the record of Ubisoft treating gamers terribly.

Thanks for the video Tom. Gotta say, I was ok that switch was at 30fps until it was mentioned that the OG Xbox could get well above that. Kinda disappointing. Seems like Series X|S and PS5 doing pretty ok. Was thinking performance mode would target 120fps since resolution mode was already 60fps.

not very impressed honestly. level geometry stands out in bad ways in this remake, it blended a lot better in the original. lighting is terribly cold. adding high frequency normals to very character doesn't always go well with the low poly style. the microphone has a mesh texture now? incredible!

Man, I wish they put the HD release on the switch and made it run at 60fps 😢

I feel like you can't go wrong with the hd edition. The 20th anniversary edition is great, it's just the most drastic. Sometimes these comparisons get us to nitpick too much though because the upgrades can outway any seeming cons but we may not be able to count them all without playing it. Though the new price is excellent, can't go wrong with that either.

The normal maps on the rhino dudes are pointing the wrong way. 5:53 OG graphics clearly have wrinkles that go IN to the skin, but the new graphics have weird ridges that point OUT instead. No doubt because the normal map is inverted. Hell, you can even see it's wrong on the model. The normals on the body texture go in, while they only go out on the head, even for areas that look extremely similar on the body.

The HD Edition is still visually impressive.

Honestly, I think i prefer lower resolution textures without normal maps like, for example, skins. It breaks the special look of an old game. Sadly, the switch is the only version to feature it and its frames go below 30 :C

Looks like the emulated PS3 HD version on RPCS3 will still be my preferred version.

Jade seems pale in the new one.

Surprised they went this far. Looks gorgeous!

The normal maps are too distracting. I loved the smooth cartoon look. I wish thwy would go the Nintendo way and just add polygons while keeping the original feel. in that regard, the switch version seemss close enough

as long as they keep that "Propaganda" song that plays in the Akuda Bar, I'm all in.

If the Switch version was just the Xbox 360 HD version ported with some enhancements and a couple of extra bells and whistles, would it have performed significantly better? I feel like with these remasters, the Switch is done a disservice by trying to port them over when the older gen version with simple improvements would probably do a lot better. Like Alan Wake, for example. It probably would look and perform a lot better if it was a port of the older gen version rather than the remaster.

Much like back in the day....I bought it on PS2 and then on OG xbox (much improved visuals) the floating TV 📺 went from blurry mess to clear. I downloaded on Switch and will purchase physical on PS5. Worth it for the Chefs kiss game from that era.❤

Anyone know FOR SURE if there's a Y-only invert option? My ps3 version will only invert x+y and im not an absolute pyscho so i can't play it. Would love to finally give this a go though 😭

Thank you DF for covering this remaster. The game had a few magnificent music tracks, if I recall correctly the battle theme was one of them. That being said it's sad to hear that switch performance is not good and that even on PS5 there are huge framerate dips on occasion.

I’ve first played the BG&E on PC at release, and recently replayed it on Steam Deck. It’s one of my all time favorites, and the art style holds up perfectly well. The only thing that could be distracting at first were the “glove” style hands on some of the characters, as for the rest I never felt like any kind of upgrade was warranted

the 2011 version you couldn't invert the y-axis (or you could if you invert both (i can't fully remember, but it wasn't ideal))... can you now?

This review is kind of shocking because DF usually have good taste around these types of remasters. The review praises the high texture resolution, normal maps, dynamic lighting, and re-arting in general without criticizing how those things break the look and feel of the game and feel flat and unnatural. Redoing the art in this type of remaster almost always results in a major downgrade unless its done very carefully and tastefully, in which case only certain assets generally need changes, like Nightdive's Quake 2.

Thanks for the video, great remaster !

I like Tom's style of reviewing-very objective and well-rounded as always. Thanks, Tom!

This game always reminded me of star fox adventures dinosaur planet , which was my favourite game.of all time and still looks incredible to this day , I also loved this game too obviously for the fact it had massive similarities to that 😄

I've been waiting for this vid to see if this is a worthwhile upgrade to the the backwards compatible version of BG&E HD on Xbox I already own. I'm glad to hear that it is!

Great Video DF, I have been waiting for this. The Switch Version is a little disappointing but very Playable nonetheless, the same with the Series S Version also. I think the 1440p 60fps Mode on the PS5 n Series X is the way too go, especially for the first Playthrough at least.

"It's available on Steam": YEEEEE "It requires Ubisoft Account": NAAAAAY

I love the fact that Jade from this game, Alyx from Halflife 2, and Kristen Holt from G4 TechTV formed a kind of woman zeitgeist back in the early 2000s! Cute, short dark hair, and curvy! How did this look ever go out of style?

Good memories playing that game in the past. Nice video!

Beyond good and evil 2 will never be released

This was a great coverage. Thanks Tom 👍🏼 P.S any physical release announced?

3:50 I don't know if the new lighting is doing Jade any favors in these scenes.

This is the absolutely minimum any remaster from here on out should be. Enough with the patches that are resold as new versions. This is a remaster, not a remake, but still manages to actually give the game enough of a boost that it makes sense to spend money on it.

What a beautiful game. I couldn't never find another game that mixes genres like action adventure, exploration, racing, even a photograph game, so seamlessly. I urge anyone to recomend any to fill the void in my heart.

Sounds like they added two pointless modes instead of having a triple buffering setup and a single mode running at 1800p or something.

That was a great video. I played the OG GC version and it was truly magical for its time. I'm going to get the PC version of this edition.💪🏻 While we're at it: I learned that a version of "Blade of Darkness" was recently released on consoles. Could you do a similar comparison with the latest PC version?

DF is on point on sharpness and quality content as always, but the coarse skin is what put me off on this one, Peyj is a little uncanny valle-y. The cartoon style looks weird with all those overly detailed textures.

insane nostalgia 🥲

Niche I know but any chance of a quick mention of how titles like this perform on the Steam Deck?

Proudly had this game on the Gamecube. My friends were very impressed with it!

It holds up, so much fun and an interesting world

I fully understand that Switch's ram is preventing a generous use of HD textures, especially if there is no dynamic fidelity logic in place. But Ubisoft not being able to deliver more geometry and expected performance on a 20 year old game with vastly more powerful hardware is an absolute L in my opinion, Switch deserves better!

Rayman 3 Hoodlum Ravoc could have the same treatment, it is a great game

Nice video, thanks for sharing.

This game is a gem i found randomly with a friend of mine back in childhood.. so many great memories and what a great game 👍

Already bought it. Finally going to play this for the first time after testing the intro on the PC version for years

I really think Halo Anniversaries negative reception and then Halo 2's upgrade's extremely positive reception left its mark on the industry. Showing that fans will notice and appreciate when updated graphics keep the art style and mood.

Is the camera also improved so you can look around a lot better? In some missions it felt really clunky to do so.

I really hope they changed that god awefull ending with the upsidedown controls

3:15 - are you sure it was a boost to 720p, not 1080p?

I was waiting for this video

Another quality video as always men! Always look forward to your guys content.

Ive been playing it on switch and its awesome. I remember playing this on the xbox 360. Also im wondering how ubisoft hasnt brought some of there other older games to switch. Like Farcry 3 and 4 and maybe somehow the older tom clancy games.

BG&E2 release date confirmed: Never.

The Switch port is so frustrating... it doesn't even have a performance mode...

A fitting treatment for this timeless classic.

I’m just glad it doesn’t crash every five minutes anymore

Interesting. One of my favorite games from the Gamecube. I actually have the HD version in my Ubisoft backlog as they gave it away for free several years back but I haven't played it. Might give that version a spin.

With the additional horsepower of the Xbox series X and the PlayStation 5, they should have rendered the reflections in reverse to the above water elements just like they used to do back in the good old days like for a Super Mario 64

i haven’t played any version of the game yet and the original looks better in almost every shot. the art style in the 20th Anniversary Edition is smothered under generic, lifeless lighting and textures

Performance mode in the remaster of 20 years old game? Performance mode that still cannot hold ice solid 60 fps? The game should run 4k 120 fps, no mater what happens on the screen... For God's sake God of War Ragnarok in its variable fps mode in most cases held way beyond 60... Shame on you Ubisoft...

I like that the Switch gets 20 year old, 60 fps GC games remade in stunning 30 fps! Tales of Symphonia, Paper Mario TTYD, Beyond Good & Evil... What amazing upgrades will we get treated to next?

Overall good intentions and it seems to be realized well enough (minus the mentioned FPS drops and lower FPS on Switch). It's a very special game that is dear to my heart and (I am sure to many more). Alas it wasn't very popular and didn't get much traction at the time even if it was fantastic and original game. From purely stylistic point I am a bit baffled why the lighting on Jade's model looks so off? It lacks the warm undertones and it straight up looks like she is sick/pale - puke tint. Hopefully this will be addressed in a patch because it really stands out - at least in the footage shown here!!! Otherwise I think a bit of the overall presentation is lost due to better and high quality texture - and that usually happens but in general it's for the better and takes little time to get use to it :). Again I feel Jade's model have a bit more angled look, but hey guess that's nit picking, because overall it looks great! At times it even feels like a remake more than remaster. On that note an actual Remake would've been dream come true, but I know it's just not the type of game that can attract sales to justify it. Remaster is highly likely a probing ground. As for Beyond Good and Evil 2 - let's just all admit it's not gonna happen. Even after they scrapped the initial concept and went with some weird ass big mmo type of universe - which I ultimately didn't follow how it crumbled - add to that (the creator) Ancel leaving and, yeah. Even if something called BG&E2 comes out it will be very far from what the original gem was. (At least we got some cool cinematics for BGE&2 left :D).

Seems fine but I hope they add triple buffered v-sync.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't this run at a mostly stable 60fps on GameCube? I mean cool that it has some visual updates, but is that enough of an excuse to have it at a spotty 30fps on Switch?

So subtle upgrades, id expect it to run like 4k/120.

I think somewhere in my basement is an unopened copy of the original game I got from a local shop that was going out of business. I'm sad to say it stayed on my eternal backlog 😅

Guessing performance is also the same on Series S as in resolution mode and has those drops?

I'm fine with how the game looks on my Switch Lite, but I've stumbled upon some bugs and fps drops. Hope it gets fixed, crazy how a game that old can perform like that in 2024

I got the PC version myself on Day 1, it's great to see a remaster being this well priced (and on top of that, of one of my favorite games ever). The PC version run almost flawlessly for me (weirdly enough, I had to lower textures / shadows though), but that was good for me... Except with the patch that release a couple days ago. Idk why but it has completely killed performance on my machine :\ Exiting any load induces a heavy FPS drop for quite the time, it's bizarre.

would have been cool if they also fixed old bugs like companions disappearing, a certain boss just freezes mid air and you have to reload the last savegame etc. the remaster is a different style, the lighting in combination with new materials that are reflective is just not the OG artstyle anymore what would be really cool is beign able to switch to the original graphics, its still the same but highly upgraded engine it seems. also customizing the inputs for every key (especially on pc) is missing

Music in this game is amazing

Fine enough on Switch, but what's with the tiny subtitles? Is there any way to make them bigger?

yeah, it’s higher resolution but…i think it’s crappier looking

Does the PC version hit 120fps or unlocked? Definitely ready to replay this in 4K but not at 30fps.

No mention of the real time lighting and shadows or did I missed it? By far the biggest and most obvious improvement for me are the shadows being real in the remaster

Tbh I actually like how the textures look on Switch more than the PS5. I don't think the hyper detailed textures look 100% cohesive with the games art style, at least when looked at up close like this, far from bad though. If the Switch version ran better and looked sharper, I'd probably overall prefer that version.