Beyond Good & Evil

The Good
One of those games I run away from ever since the first time I heard about it. Yet this game shares a lot in common with another game I approached with same method, only to accept it as masterpiece once I opened the package, Kingdom Hearts. This is probably the only (or at least one of a very few) game that I didn't have any sound problem when playing, must be 'cos it didn't feature any cinematics with typical movie format, but I was pleasantly surprised nevertheless. The world is quite detailed and creates a feeling like the one in Anachronox, enough to explore, yet every step makes a new adventure. Only this time, main protagonist is really a beautiful gal if I do say so myself, Jade's the name. Along with her friends, and a handful of jokes, she'll drive you forward like no game before it. Controls are really nicely balanced for PS2 controller and work real nice without giving you trouble of memorizing too much stuff to do. This game makes a unique experience mixing stealth, arcade, adventure, with a nice touching yet simple story.

The Bad
The main title of this game is simply beautiful but is scarcely used in the game itself, think they should've released a single with several different version of that tune along with the game, would be a great plus. Making of featurette under extras looks like patched up fast and finishing before it started with not much to offer. On top of all that, ending wasn't that delightful, especially with 'so called' open ability for a possible sequel.

The Bottom Line
Features you may expect to find in this game:

The Good
So many things, how can I summarize all these great things? Well, I could start off that this game is extremely fun. This game also has insanely good graphics, amazing music and cool characters. My favourite character (other than the main character) is Double H.

The Bad
There are only 2 things I didn't like about this game. I'll sum it up in two words: short and repetitive.

The Bottom Line
I own this game, but all I have to say is you CAN NOT describe this game, even when you've experienced it. It's just that good...

You have to play it to believe it.

The Good
As a rule, I hate "family" games, films, anything, I hate cute anthropomorphic animals, I really hate games that only let you save at checkpoints. And I usually dislike pastel colors.

Despite all this, I absolutely loved Beyond Good & Evil.

Maybe it's the way the anthropomorphic animals look more relaxed than all-out cutesy. Maybe it's the subversiveness of the way this game, rated nine years and up, shows a militaristic leader distracting people from the truth with propaganda rhetoric. Maybe it's that I got a bit of Thief-like sneaky action again. And that Spanish hip-pop works amazingly well.

Let me elaborate. Our heroine is Jade, freelance reporter who runs an orphanage in her spare time. No, wait, it's not cutesy. ...okay, so maybe it is cutesy, but it works, really. Just trust me on this. Anyway, the object of the game is to take photos to uncover the truth. No, wait, it's cool, it really is. You get to ride this hovercraft around between islands, and as a side income, you take photos of rare animals... Wait, where are you going? I said it works, don't you trust me? Can't stand this non-violent nonsense, you say? Well, when she's attacked, she's got this stick to beat monsters with, see, and it has this super-attack which makes it glow--

...very well, I'll just sit here talking to myself, then.

Jade gets around both on foot and in hovercraft, and, eventually, a spaceship. Searching for rare animals and taking their picture is actually where the big money is in this game: A lot of effort went into designing the teeming animal life of the planet, something like eighty species. This is simply the most brilliant secret-object-hunting excuse ever; and it adds to the tension of fights, as you'll want to get out the camera and take a snapshot of the monsters you're about to beat into a pulp.

Unusually, you spend most of the playing time with a companion to help you in fights, use special skills and operate equipment; think Lost Vikings with less frustration and some fresh gains on the format. The sneaky bits are generally excellent, and very suspenseful despite the cartoon esthetics.

With the roaming around the islands and the money-earning, you get the feeling of GTA3-style freedom, while in fact the design is quite tight. This allows for a lot of special-case scenarios: Every place in the game feels truly unique, never a cookie-cutter repetition; practically every problem has to be faced with a new twist, right up to the end. There are several sub-games such as racing and board games, and replaying the game to find all the hidden areas reveals an impressive variety - this also means you have several paths to finish the game. Combinations of paths, even.

The Bad
Of course, this level of quality can't be kept up indefinitely, and because of this, the game feels short but sweet - moreso because you'll be constantly glued to the screen. You'll wish for two more sequels to appear within the year.

The Bottom Line
So buy it already. Pump up their sales figures so they'll make another, because I need Beyond G&E 2. Badly.