Beyond Good & Evil

"Beyond Good? I think not."

Alright, this will be my first review I'm submitting to GameFaqs.com, and I must say, it's about time. After reading enough of what other people have to say, it's a wonderful release to express my opinion about games such as this.

Allow me to preface when about 5 months ago (and BG&E was an old game even then), I heard about this game. I'm not quite sure how a title like this evaded me up until this point, but apparently it was considered a "sleeper hit." After reading several reviews, magazines, and conversing with the occasional friend about this title, I decided it was time for me to pick it up.

I played... and I played... and I played. You know, and don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad game, but to be honest, people created far too large of a hype about this "sleeper."

Lets start off with the less imporant categories:

SOUND (6/10): Ok, honestly, for me sound does not make that large of an impact on a game (unless of course it's something such as DDR), however, there are certain things a character may say, or a certain tune which may truly just annoy the heck out of me. So when I rate categories such as sound, if i didn't NOTICE ANYTHING about the sound, it receives a 9. The more obnoxious it gets, the lower I give it from there. A 10 is reserved for the few games that were able to catch my attention with sound effects, theme songs or what not. OK, there is nothing really wrong with any of the music in this, and the sound effects are... normal, but if I heard Pey'J say another crappy phrase... lets put it this way, fortunate for him I don't eat pork chops. A lot of the short phrases characters will say simply become obnoxious and repetitive, and if you so much as bump them, they may release another foul line. BUT... like I said, everything else was fine in this area, so ... sound gets a 6.

GRAPHICS (8/10): Really, I wouldn't be giving it an 8 out of 10 if it were a new game, however I am taking into account it's time period. On the other hand, it suffers from poor framerate (similar to the Dynasty Warriors), and everything, from the characters to the water tends to appear slightly grainy.

REPLAYABILITY (2/10): Don't tell me I'm exaggerating... a 2/10 is what this deserves in replayability. Keep in mind however, I don't expect every game to have high replayability... that's part of what makes certain games good... the suspense/storyline. On the other hand, it would have been nice if there were some extras, multiplayer mode or the like.

STORYLINE (9/10): Alright, sorry, this did not deserve a 10. I reserve 10's for the superb (generally RPG) games out there. A very general plot, without spoiling anything, is you are a character Jade, who has a camera and a stick. She makes money taking pictures of different species, and then it comes time to defend Hillys (the planet) from an alien race with mysterious power known as the DomZ. Sounds simple, but there are a few good plot twists. And for this type of game... I would especially give it extra credit in the story area. Good goin Ubi.

GAMEPLAY (7/10): Gameplay, in my eyes is the most important factor, with storyline following close behind. Without good gameplay, the rest of it all is completely ruined. Now there are 2 "types" of gameplay present in BG&E, one that is done well, and one that could *really* use some work.
1. Battle
2. Puzzle/Adventure/MiniGames

First, the bad.... I'm not sure who really enjoyed the battles that take place in this game, but frankly, they were lacking at best. The game combines a 3rd person view from behind (as in Dynasty Warriors), with slower and less fights. Basically, there is one main attack, the X button, and you just mash it to beat the DomZ. On the PS2, these fight sequences (and I'm not talking about the intended slow down that occurs) may also suffer from poor framerate, and as a whole can seem really glitchy. There is not much flexibility with the battle controls... so it's essentially run, hit, run.

The good part of the gameplay, and what most people find entertaining is ... everything else. I do admit I had a blast hiding/sneaking (even more fun than MGS2) at times, and the game includes some pretty cool puzzles. Some of the small side quests prove to be entertaining as well... such as driving a hovercraft through a cave chasing some thief. Can be very entertaining, however, the world is very...small. You will feel limited in the places you can go, and the scenery may seem extremely redundant after a small period of time.

CONCLUSION: So why did this deserve a 7 if I seem to be so negative about it? Really, the game is rough around the edges, and needs quite a bit of polishing, but down to the core, it can be pretty fun to play. Exceptions include the very last boss of the game, who was not only boring, but just... tedious to defeat, with absolutely no fun included.

BUY/RENT: This depends on the type of games you're into. If you like games such as Zelda (but don't try to match it up to Zelda--it has potential but comes up short), you should probably buy this. But if you're unsure go rent it. Or better yet check out a used game shop near you :)

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/18/04