Rating: 
Summary: sadly, a best kept secret.
Review: As most of the reviewers have said. Great graphics, great story, and overall a very fun game. There's no point in restating everything that has already been said.
How'd we all miss this game for so long?
Rating:
Summary: One of those hard to find games
Review: I don't mean by my title that this game is hard to find. More that a game as well done as this only comes around once and a while. I spent about 20 hours exploring the world of Hylis. 20 hours which seemed to be only 10-15 hours. Time passes much faster outside the little bubble of blissful ignorance that will form around you while playing this game because, frankly, the outside world will seem to fade as you almost become Jade, becoming increasingly immersed in the beautiful yet dark world of Beyond Good and Evil.
The game opens with an alien attack by creatures known as the Domz. After a simple battle, you recieve your camera and can begin exploring your small island home, which also happens to be a lighthouse. When you first get the camera, you'll recieve one of the game's main side quests: photographing all the world's animals. This quest continues throught the game and takes a bit of work to complete, although you won't regret it. It is one of the most entertaining mini-games I have ever seen, keeping you entertained durring and between misions. After you've finished photographing the animals and exploring the environment, you begin you're adventure by recieving a speedboat from your best friend and companion, Pay'j.
Before I go on to mention anything else, I should probably go into detail about the environment. Although the game's graphics are often very cartoony, the cartoon world of Hylis comes alive in the form of the teeming life you see everywhere around you. There are the small things, such as the detailed rock walls of caverns, to the way the water moves, to all the people walking out on the streets. Everything just seems so alive that it will seem almost magical. The game also has a wonderful distance engine, which allows the player to see things from a very large distance, such as a whale leaping from the water, or other boats, or even the larger details of the game's several islands.
While running around taking pictures and fighting evil is fun, it is just as much fun to cruise around on the speed boat and the rocket ship, once you get it. While there is some fighting and picture taking to be had aboard the ship, it was not quite frequent enough for me, and I had to just make due with the 3 boat race courses and the four smugglers caverns, with the occasional Domz attack.
The main collectible in this game is the pearl, and pearls are required to progress through the game, with some additional pearls added in to give you more choice as to what quests to perform to progress in the game. The games quests vary. While you will get pearls automatically for progression in the game's rich plot, you will also have to take pictures of animals, fight some hidden Domz, win boat races, defeat smugglers, infiltrate government buildings in which pearls are held, and other little quests, many involving the perchase of pearls. Also, to avoid all the annoying serching that most games have to get the last collectibles, you can buy an item that will label pearl and animal locations on your map so that you have an idea of where to look, although it won't tell you how to get them.
The puzzles in the game are very well done, and, for the most part, simple. There is one puzzle later on that is quite well done because it is hard without being contrived or ridiculously pointless or anything else that can be complained about. Other puzzles involve finding clever ways of sneaking past guards or getting over a wall. It's one of those games where solving puzzles isn't extremely difficult as long as you look for the game's hints, yet still give a very rewarding feeling after their completion.
Almost done... This game isn't exactly an action game. Like in most RPGs, you can't fall of edges into bottomless pits, although enemies can kill you. Jade will do most jumping and action oriented moves by herself, leaving you to fight monsters and solve puzzles. The controls are very responsive and should never frustrate the player, especially with the fantastic camera, which places itself in basically the best position almost automatically, although there are sometimes when it would be nice to be able to move it. This makes doing battle simple, although it's not to hard to begin with. Most enemies are slow to attack and give you plenty of time to prepare a good strategy to dealing with them.
To wrap up, I need to mention the two most surprising things about this game. First off, it had almost no bugs that I could find. I found one spot where I fell through a floor, but I can only blame myself for that one, and it was easy to avoid the spot once I knew what I did to get into it. Did I mention that there are save points EVERYWHERE, so you never have to worry about getting really far and then getting stuck having to turn it off and losing 30 minutes of playing. Also, being killed only places you back at the entrance of a room, making some of the more frustrating sneaking bits much less so. The other bug was simply a quest desription bug on Salene which described the Pay'j quest as the "escaping the Slaughterhouse" quest. Other than that, I had no problems with the game's mechanics. Another surprise in this game was the increadible music, which had a great Latin feel and really got your feet moving and sometimes your head moving from side to side.
This game's story line never lets up and keeps you on the edge of your seat right up till the fantastic final battle. There were even several spots (especially the lighthouse bit near the end), when I almost cried because of the game's extremely emotional presentation. The only irritating thing is that the game seems to have one of those 'prepare for a sequal' endings, with some little loose ends to tie up, yet I have heard no plans for one as of yet. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled, I guess.
Anyway, if you're still reading this (I didn't realize I had this much to say about BG&E, sorry), this game goes beyond good and bad and reaches a level which few games attain of utter perfection. Every little thing in this game is thrown at you in just the right amount to entertain you, yet keep you begging for more. If you can find this game used, it makes a great addition to anyone's collection, but even new it's still a great deal for a great game.
Rating: 
Summary: as good as computer games seem to get
Review: i find computer games compelling, but generally disappointing. beyond good and evil starts to really approach something special. it doesn't entirely make it but perhaps goes farther than any other game i've tried and i've tried alot now. i've rated it based on criteria important to me below which i think will explain.
Story: B- it starts out great and is an interesting sort of fantasy sci fi story. compared to other games its great, but when you hear people talk about games with a good story, or that it's like playing a movie, think twice. this is never true, and bg and e is no exception. the premises, world, and characters are well set up, but never fully padded out. the conclusion is not terribly satisfying and things are not really made to have full sense or clarity in the end.
Characters: A- everyone is at least somewhat charming and fun to look at, even more minor characters, with distinctive looks and personalities. the voice acting is top notch and that helped alot too. and everyone (outside of villains) was really kind of sweet which was refreshing and nice to experience in the usual grim world of these games. it reminded me of grim fandango in this way.
Gameplay: B very fun mostly with a nice amount of diversity that i think is crucial to a game like this. hovercraft racing, sneaking (which i usually don't like too much but found manageable and somewhat fun here), an inventive little table game, picture taking, fighting and so on. some parts better than others. fighting a little weak, but easy mostly and looks nice.
Graphics: A- games tend to shine in this category, but BG&E was really wonderful to look at, beautifully designed and without alot of that fakey realistic computer quality so many games have or strive for. it looked cartoony in the best way possible, like a really well done beautiful cartoon, and yet 3d!
Dreariness factor: B this is the issue in games when you go from room to room killing or whatever and it's all dark and bleak and usually there's way too much of it. i'm am sorry to say there's a bit of it here- the endless rooms of the slaughter house for instance, but there's alot of sunshine and brightness and the sweet characters which helps alot.
Technical issues: i didn't have any real problems
Learning factor: A- introduces you smoothly and nicely to how to be jade (your character) it is very fun to discover what you can and get to do.
Product materials: B- one small booklet that provides a pretty good amount of info, though could've provided more.
Chore factor: C+ sometimes you have to go through alot of rooms and quards to get very far along in the story or to a pearl or whatever and there were moments where it felt a little more like work than fun. the way the game mixes stuff up helps, but some parts went on a bit.
Difficulty: B i, unlike, it seems, most people, like games that are somewhat easier. this one was probably easier than average, which was good for me since this game has no difficulty levels. it is challenging without being excruciating (mostly). i liked how hard the puzzles were for the most part too.
Game saves: B usually i hate not being able to save. hate hate hate (do you hear me vice city, mafia et al), but it was well handled here and sometimes i even liked not having to worry about it. and even if you die you rarely get sent back too far, so it all kind of worked in this game, though i did once have to lose 20 minutes of playing cause i had to shut down at an inconvenient time.
that's it. if you've never bought an adventure game or any computer game i really intensely recommend this. if you're just interested in a good game buy this. if you want to cut the heads off of snakes (?), um, maybe try something else.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing game for the money
Review: I had read reviews of this game that said it was really amazing, and had seen quite a bit of hype in magazines and stories from last years E3. I could never find it in my local rental stores so I just kind of forgot about it. Then I saw it for $20 a couple weeks ago. I bought it mainly because of the low price. When I started playing it though, I was blown away. The visual design of this game is so beautiful. The characters and animals are original and will stick out in my mind for a long time to come. As an aspiring conceptual artist and possibly game developer, this game really inspires me.
The gameplay is really varied and fun. Good amount of puzzle solving that will keep you guessing, but not frustrated.
I strongly suggest you pick up this title if you are a fan of action/adventure games.
The only problem that I had with Beyond Good and Evil is the camera angles in some of the indoor environments, and that the game is ENTIRELY TOO SHORT. I finished the game in 15 hours.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent PC game from the creator of Rayman
Review: I have no idea why Amazon.com has so little information on the PC version of this game, but this is truly an excellent game. Amazingly, the game somehow manages to successfully meld Zelda: The Wind Waker style adventuring with Metal Gear Solid style stealth and oddly enough, photography.The first thing you'll notice about the game is that it sports some very impressive graphics. (On a good PC with full DirectX 9 support) The world is beautifully rendered and cool blur effects are used very often. Looking around in first person causes a light blur effect which look really really cool. I've never before in a game ever wanted to move the camera around for so long just because it's so fun. The game ran respectably on a Pentium 4 1.4 ghz with 384 ram and a Radeon 9500 Pro but I'm not sure how it'll run on lower end systems. If you're not sure how the game will run on your system, try the demo first. The controls are excellent also, using the standard wsad and mouse configuration most of the time but switching to set camera angles at a few certain places. The preset camera angles are always very good and useful and help navigating tricky areas. The gameplay is hard to explain but it's truly fresh and fun. Basically, about half of the gameplay is nonlethal stealth like Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell, which is a love it or hate it thing. Luckily, if you happen to die during a stealth part, (Basically, if you get found, you'll probably die.) the game will quickly take you back to the beginning of the room which lowers frustration a lot. The other half of the gameplay is Zelda style combat which is fairly simple but still quite fun. There is also quite a lot of puzzle solving, which for the most part is very simple, such as finding switches or having to turn off the power and take a fuse before the power turns back on. Some puzzles are more involving but non of them will cause extreme frustration. My only concern might be that the stealth parts can be a little tedious, especially when you find yourself sneaking through room after room after room in a complex. The stealth parts in the game may be too difficult for 7-12 year old children. Overall, this is truly a fantastic game which I would recommend to most gamers with a little patience.
Rating: 
Summary: Buy it if you want your peter to shrivel into your belly
Review: I never thought a video game could emasculate me but Beyond Good and Evil proved me wrong. All the previous reviews refer to how beautiful the graphics are in this game. True they are beautiful but what's the point of having beautiful objects in a game if you can't blow them up, cut their heads off, dismember them or rip their guts out? So what do you do to the beautiful objects in this game? You take pictures of them of course. One of your objectives is to take pictures of anything biologically unique such as a giant monster snake and then transmit the pictures to a science lab which gives a certain amount of credits for each picture taken. The credits are used to buy items which can help you later. Now the last thing I want to do to a giant monster snake is take a friggin picture of it. I'd rather decapitate it, cook it's corpse over fire pit and eat it.
Rating:
Summary: Under-estimated, Under-rated, Overly Fun Title
Review: I picked this game up for $14.99 at the local CompUSA, and I did not expect much out of it. I had read many online and magazine reviews, but seeing as it was relatively cheap, I decided to make my purchase.
And I haven't regretted it at all.
With many layers of different types of gameplay, it's superbly immersive and almost like an interactive movie. Even from the very beginning, the game thrusts you into the fray during a cutscene. The integration throughout is fantastic.
Later, as you take more quests and become a reporter who tries to unveil a conspiracy, you have to sneak around (great stealth element) and take pictures of evidence (once again more immersion into the game world).
Other events and things you can do in this game are to take pictures of all the animals of the world (for scientific documentation), race in your hoverboat (and upgrade it), fly to outer space, and just plain explore the vast world that Beyond Good & Evil has to offer.
It's very open-ended ala Grand Theft Auto: Vice City style, where you can do things at your pace and/or further yourself by making money/upgrading your hoverboat. Even minor details are in this game, such as night/day transitions and animal movements/behavior.
Because the game is so immersive, you begin to "care" about the characters in the game, and the storyline/plot furthers this all the way until the end. Fantastic movie elements, suspensefulness and foreshadowing are all present in this game.
The music is also something that caught my attention, with beautifully orchestrated tracks, these songs are more than worthy enough to be in a motion picture. Even in the beginning, as the game launches you into a fightscene, the music is very upbeat/serious music, with opera style vocals in the background. The game is filled with memorable music, and it really pushed my appreciation for Beyond Good & Evil. It's production values are fantastic, and in all honesty, even that is an understatement.
Normally I don't write reviews for anything on Amazon.com but this game was just so fun and memorable that I'd like more people to know about this game and be able to experience it. This game did not sell well because of it's obscurity, but don't let that scare you away. Open your mind and try it out. There's something in this game for everyone. I hope you have lots of fun with this game!
Rating:
Summary: Very annoying controls
Review: I uninstalled the game halfway through it because the controls are too annoying. At various points, you lose the ability to control where you are looking and just have a fixed view, or have a changing view that the game controls instead of you. Unfortunately, the direction keys are tied to view, so sometimes w is forward and sometimes it is sideways and sometimes it is back. So the game taking control of the view takes control of where you're trying to move, so you have to compensate, and meanwhile you just got killed while trying to get reoriented to the room that's swirling around you.
Rating:
Summary: It's the best!
Review: Sometimes a game gets everything right the first time around. Beyond Good and Evil is as close as it gets. It seems there was very little marketing for this game and that's a real pity, because this is the one of the best action and adventures games since Zelda. A pure gem.
Most adventure games are a real pain. Badly made, poorly acted, shoddily rendered or even worse, all three screw-ups combined. Black Mirror Springs, Road to India and even Uru (Myst4) has many gaming aspects wide of the mark. Then BGE appeared out of the blue. The art direction is just amazing - it's eye candy all the way. Then game play is a hybrid game, with action sequences, some racing, lots of exploring, tricky puzzles and lots of stealth. The fighting is a bit to easy for my taste, but it serves well to get your adrenaline pumping. The atmosphere is great, this games immerses you from minute one. BGE is not very difficult - I would recommend it for beginners and more advanced gamers alike. You play the role of action reporter Jade, s instantly likable, without the obvious qualities of, say, Lara Croft. Your job is to capture the truth and expose the evil governments conspiracy. This games kicks ass with it's cheap price tag of $19 at most stores. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Sometimes a game gets everything right
Review: Sometmes a game gets everything right the first time around. Beyond Good and Evil is such a game. It has been marketed without any ruour or buzz, and that's a real pity, becasue this is just a great little game. A gem.
I've played every adventuregame there is out there, and many of them are a real pain. Badly made, badly acted or badly rendered. Black Mirror springs to mind, Road to India and even Uru (Myst4) got many things just wrong. Then BGE appeared out of the blue.
First of all the art direction is just amazing. The colour palette used is extremely nice - it's eye candy all the way. Then the gameplay. It's a sort of hybrid game, with actionsequences, some racing, lots of exploring and some stealth and puzzles. The figthing is never very difficult and serves to get your adrenaline going. When you 'die', the game let's you start again at the beginning of the sequence, so you can try till you succeed. It makes for a nice change every now and then after an hour or so exploring. The racing (with a hoovercraft) is cute. It's not difficult either, and with the effects (especially the water) it is so beautiful that you never get tired of it.
The exploring is so much fun, it makes you want to wander around forever. The atmosphere is great, this games immerses you from minute one.
BGE is not very difficult - I would recommend it for beginners and more advanced gamers alike. The heroine is instantly likable, without the obvious qualities of, say, Lara Croft. Jade is very lovable, and you really want to help her out when she's in a tight spot.
So, finally, is there nothing wrong with this game? No, it is that good. And for this price? Wow, it's a steal.
|
