Beyond Good & Evil

The Good
- lovely graphic style & character design
- fitting soundtrack

The Bad
- too linear
- not much exploring to do
- too easy
- the sophisticated gamer may find the whole experience "too shallow"

The Bottom Line
Well, this game was for a long time on my list of games to get my hands on as it was considered to be a insiders tip. To my disappointment this game didn't catch me.

The controls and interactivity with the world and during fighting are limited to actions that can be done with one or two buttons - you don't have really the freedom of doing much more than needed. My personal feeling is that you can't really explore the world - but rather follow a more or less a "given" path through the game and just pressing some buttons here and there to perform "predetermined" actions as you advance.

The photo shooting task becomes dull after a while.
The cartoon setting and the characters are modeled quite good - and the voice acting is pretty good too - some characters like the Reggae listening rhinos are quite memorable.

But in an overall view the game is boring - during puzzle solving and also during fighting. Sorry, but this game is only average.

The Good
Rayman creator Michel Ancel has realised an ambitious vision of the futuristic world of Hylis - a central city (think Star Wars) with islands of varying sizes dotted around a huge lake (don't think The Wind Waker). His green-lipsticked photographer heroine, Jade, is unquestionably cool, undoubtedly French and makes a welcome addition to the growing list of noteworthy female gaming characters. Her companions (a Buzz Lightyear type and a Mr. Fix-It pig), with whom teamwork is key, are also well thought out and acted with admirable humour.

The game is very playable; whizzing around the lake on your hovercraft, which handles very well, is a joy. The game's puzzles, whilst mostly of the lock and key type, are logical and usually interesting although not always particularly taxing, often requiring Jade to make use of one of her companions (e.g. one character pressing a switch whilst another goes through a door). There are some excellent stealth sections, requiring Jade to creep past guards and sneakily take out their air supplies with her wrist-mounted disk shooter. The camera works very well too, rarely obstructing the player's view of the action as so often happens in modern games. The photography aspect is cool - Jade is a freelance photographer working on an assignment for the local underground newspaper. As well as her mission to uncover the secrets of the Alpha Sections and the DomZ, Jade can photograph the local wildlife. This is a great aside from the rest of the game, and the sight of the enormous whale in the lake is truly awesome. The lush graphics, interesting plot, characters and mini-games make this one to get hold of.

The Bad
Some players may feel that the game is too short for an action/adventure game at around 10 hours - and also that there's little warning of when the end is coming. It is quite possible to have gone straight from mission to mission without really exploring the whole world, which is regrettable. Having mentioned this, it's also worth pointing out that it's a shame that there aren't more places to explore. On first sight of the city, it seems huge. In reality, most of it is for show. Perhaps Beyond Good & Evil 2, if there is a sequel (and there are hints that this may be the case), will expand the universe a little and give the player more distractions from the main thread of the game.

The Bottom Line
BG&E deserves a hearty recommendation for anyone who enjoys action/adventure games in the mould of Starfox Adventures, the Zelda series, etc.

The Good
Creative gameplay, combat system, good pace, great music, lots to do. The gameplay is multi-faceted. Bits of stealth, action, searching, taking pictures(it's a lot more fun than it sounds most of the time), combat, and lots to do on the side.

The Bad
Overly predictable story line. Big, corrupt(though outwardly seeming good) group assisting evil race bent on domination/destruction. Rebel group recruits you, and things go from there. This game is very inappropriately mistitled, as it's all about Good & Evil.

The Bottom Line
A great game, with many innovative ideas, revolutionary methods, multifaceted-gameplay, decent story if predictable.