Beyond the Beyond

"A decent game by Camelot"

One summer day I was checking out some games at an online store, I came across Beyond the Beyond. I thought to myself well it doesn't look to bad, it has some kid with a sword in both hands, a dragon flying right behind him, and some guy with horns popping out of his head in the background. I immediately whipped out my wallet and began to fill out my name, address, and credit card # on the online form provided. After completing the form I thought to myself, I have five days until I should receive my game in the mail, so I decided that I'll go ahead and do a little research on the game. To my surprise I ended up finding out that Beyond the Beyond was the very first RPG for the playstation. ''THE VERY FIRST RPG'' kept pulsing through my mind and the first thing that popped in my mind, Summoner for the PS2. By this time I was already worried about my purchase because I did not like Summoner and no one has ever mentioned anything about Beyond the Beyond, and that usually means that either the game was horrible and no one wants to remember it or a good game that fell between the cracks of time. I crossed my fingers and hoped it was a good game that many passed up for a well known game that was released at the same time.

As the big hand on the clock moved to the number twelve with small hand pointing to the five, I bolted out of my work like most people do when it's time to go home, with an exciting yet nervous feeling. Today my game will be sitting on my porch wrapped in nice brown box with plenty of dents and dirt (every time I receive a box like that I picture a person with my package acting like Jim Carey in the beginning of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective). I reached my final destination searching high and low for this game and hoping as I popped into my PS2 that I wouldn't be disappointed. I found my package on my front porch, I immediately shredded the brown box to pieces and held my new game aloft. I rushed inside to switch the power to the on position on my PS2 , then I push the power button on my TV remote, and gently inserted the black bottomed playstation disc into my PS2.

Gameplay

This game was a lot different from what I imagined it to be, it looked like a super nintendo game! I thought a company would try to utilize the potential and power of a next generation console but, I guess not. Beyond the Beyond is one of those games you hate one minute and you love the next minute. For the most part Beyond the Beyond looks like a super nintendo game(moving around towns and the world map) but the battles are done in 3D and it also allows you to rotate the camera angle during the fight, it may have been new and innovative at the time but now that we have been spoiled by many other great games it only receives a minor compliment by me. The thing that bugged me the most about battles is the APS system that stands for Active Playing System, it not only will it deteriorate your controller very quickly, it will also build up that thumb muscle more than a ''M Life'' from AT&T. The APS according to the manual says that ''certain buttons must be pressed at a certain time in order to do a critical hit, double hit, receive a little more VP from a herb, or to defend an enemy attack'', the only button you really need to press is the x button and you can forget about the timing part because all you have to do is keep tapping the button during the entire battle if you want all those goodies to happen.

Onto the funkiest hp system's ever created, first you have your VP or vitality points(your main hp if you will) then you have your LP or life points. The way it works is that once you run out of VP your character becomes groggy and looks half dead with two birds flying around his head, after a few other character/enemy turns you will come back to life and lose LP and gain some VP. A unique system that just can't seem to hold it's own because your party can get wiped out very easily by just about an enemy(mages and spell casters being the worst), before long you end up in the groggy stage only to lose more LP and then gain very little VP when you come back to life. The battles in the game are not only unfair but completely unbalanced. No matter how much you level up you will never at the same level as the enemy and to top it off it only takes one or two mistakes during a battle and your party will be completely wiped out. The game is definitely tough and will take a lot of patience to complete.

Story

During medieval times a war separated the two countries of Marion and Bandore causing people to live in one or the other. Marion is a country full of peace and good hearted people who do their best for their country, Bandore on the other hand is full of cut throats, tough guys, and the scum of the earth. As a fresh new day begins with Finn's uncle chopping wood outside of his house in the country of Marion, his wife comes outside and tells him that Sir Kevins(Finn's father who is currently the head knight for Marion) has taken Finn out to practice fighting. Sir Kevins dream is that one day Finn will be able to protect his homeland and also become a knight in Marion's army and that is why he trains Finn so rough. Finn's aunts is so furious because whenever Sir Kevins returns from training Finn, Finn is always unconscious from being train to sternly by his father. Once Finn is handed to his aunt from Sir Kevin's she rushes Finn inside so he can hopefully recover from the ''beating'' that Sir Kevins gave him. Sir Kevins begins to speak with his brother to ask if he would ever join the Marion army again but his brother says he's a family man and his family comes first, Sir Kevins then tells his brother that the country of Marion is currently under attack and he feels that the situation will worsen and then returns to Marion Castle.

Audio/Video

The audio has a few nice beats here and there but nothing that really reaches out and pulls you into the game. The music is pretty plain and does a decent job of keeping the tempo of the story line. The game is like I stated before it looks exactly like a super nintendo game; the characters have a few frames of animation while moving around towns and on the world map. The only difference that separates this game from a super nintendo game is the fact that the battles are in 3D.

Replayability

Personally I would not want to replay this game ever again, it was fun while it lasted but nothing remarkable to make me go through it a second time. For all the rough times this game will give you, you don't even get a movie to watch at the end or any special bonuses. There are a few side quests in the game and those are pretty much mandatory if you plan on beating the game.

To buy or to rent

I strongly recommend that you rent it first if you can find it because this game is really tough and requires a lot of time and patience. The game will get frustrating very early on and continue that way until the very end. The only people I recommend buying the game is a hard core RPGer, who wants every RPG out there to be in their collection.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/12/02, Updated 04/12/02