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Excellent Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game was fantastic and definately worth more then the reduced price. I've had alot more fun playing this then Halo and some other highly regarded titles. It's a little gem of a game. Immersive, clever, fun to play and highly polished. I've always had a bit of doubt when it came to UbiSoft's games but they've done a great job and this game just has to be part of anyone's collection. It took me a total of 15 hours to complete but it was well worth it, the value I got from it was much more then some repetitive shooter or boring driving game that seems to be the norm in gaming nowdays.

My Favorite Game: Beyond Good & Evil

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: June 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Beyond Good & Evil is a great game. If you don't own it, do yourself a favor and buy it. It is without question one of the most cinematic experiences I've ever had playing a video game. The graphics are absolutely stunning: the whole game looks like a cutscene. This is made even cooler by the fact that the whole game is presented in widescreen format (black bars at top and bottom of the screen). Perhaps one of the best things about the game, though, is the music. I know this is an odd thing to say about a game, but the use of music in Beyond Good & Evil is just simply unsurpassed. At several points in the game, events that your character performs trigger beautiful musical pieces that are unlike anything in a game before it. If you enjoy games with side-quests you're going to love this game; they give this game a lot of replay value. If not, this is still a great game, but you're probably not going to enjoy it as much since you'll "finish" the game a lot faster. This game was not well recieved when it was released last November. Other games like Prince of Persia and Knights of the Old Republic overshadowed it's quiet release. Consequently it quickly dropped to $20. At twenty bucks this game is a ridiculous steal! I'll say it one last time, do yourself a favor and pick up this game. You won't regret it. I hope this helps out the other people looking for a Zelda-type game on the shooter-dominated Xbox.

My favorite game, a classic in every sense

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: August 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The game is a masterpiece. It does everything right. I wish every game were as original and deep as this one.

Beyond Good & Evil is set on the planet Hillys, which is being invaded by the DomZ aliens. The Alpha Sections, the elite forces of the planet, claim to be defending the population, and the majority of the plot focuses around their actions.

You are Jade, an action reporter who, at the beginning of the story, is looking for a new mission. She runs an orphanage at the lighthouse for children whose parent were taken by the DomZ. Unlike the other 90% of female characters in videogames, she is not dressed like a slut. This is quite an accomplishment, as the lack of good female characters is a major problem in the games industry today. It keeps actual women from wanting to play these games, among other things. As I always say, "I would rather identify with a character than ogle them". Jade is not an sex object; she is a fun, interesting character to play.

Jade is not the only character worth mentioning in the game. She has two wonderful sidekicks that help her in her quest, as well. They are not merely meatshields, as in most other games, or one-dimensional, temporary tools, as in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. They are characters nearly as well-developed as Jade herself. I grew really fond of Uncle Pey'j and Double H, whereas in... _every other game_ sidekicks have been almost entirely annoying and stupid. Besides the sidekicks, there are a number of more minor characters. They were all important in some way, and I remember each and every one of them.

The gameplay of Beyond Good & Evil is what The Legend of Zelda should be. The main gameplay consists of sneaking past guards to take pictures that expose the conspiracy in the game. This may not sound interesting, and it may not involve constant blood and gore, but it is actually quite tense and exciting. You can never quite tell how close you are to being caught. The game is not gory in the least, and if you chose to, you could go through the game hurting only a handful of monsters, robots, and bosses-I don't think there are any points where you are forced to attack a person.

Although the game is short, it is not packed with all of the junk that normally goes into a longer game. In the Zelda series, for instance, about half of each game consists of running errands that have nothing to do with the main plot. Nearly everything in Beyond Good & Evil is plot-central, and there is none of that standard, silly "You must collect eight magical crystals" trash. The plot is extremely engaging and intricate, with a few unexpected twists. The plot is linnear, but you may move throughout most of the world whenever you choose.

The game is full of wonderful, small touches that just scream class. When I was caught by the Alpha Sections for the first time, I was horrified, thinking I would have to start again from my last save point. But I was merely sent back to the beginning of the same small challenge, with a low health. The low-risk environment this game mechanic creates really improves the game, as it encourages experimentation in the world.

Although much of the gameplay resembles that of Zelda, the main challenge of sneaking past guards is only vaguely reminiscent of it. The atmosphere during the stealth areas is highly charged, and never gets boring. What amazes me about this part of the game is how many different puzzles were created using only a few gameplay elements. With only guards, a few lasers, and a handful of other elements, the game contains a staggering number of unique and challenging puzzles, each with multiple solutions. This betrays the great skill of the level designers of Beyond Good & Evil, and the immense amount of time and effort that went into fine-tuning the gameplay.

The primary theme in this game is one of deception. Even after the game ends, you have no way to be sure of who was telling the truth and who was lying. Beyond Good & Evil was originally intended to be the first of a trilogy, but due to its poor sales, it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

If you like endless gore and violence, graphics so realistic they're boring, whorific women with no personalities, nonexistant plots, and boring, cliched gameplay, then maybe Beyond Good & Evil isn't for you. If you would rather play an epic, polished, beautiful work of art full of excitement and character, then this is one of the few games you'll find that delivers it.

Great game.. easy to learn!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Beyond Good & Evil puts you in the role of Jade, a young woman who, along with her humanoid pig uncle, Pey'j, runs a lighthouse on the planet Hillys. Hillys is at war with an alien force known as the DomZ and an elite squadron known as the Alpha Sections protects Hillys from the alien threat. An underground rebel organization known as the IRIS Network charges that the Alphas control both sides of the equation. You quickly hook up with IRIS and spend the bulk of the game infiltrating Alpha strongholds in search of the truth. The game gives you a companion most of the time and many puzzles will require you to get your associate to do things.
Most of the game's sections have you out and in search of photographic evidence. You're looking for specific pictures and the areas of interest are marked on your map. The game does have combat but it's a fairly straightforward system. The strength comes from the game's puzzle solving. Sometimes it's as easy as using your projectile attack to push a button on the other side of a force field. Sometimes you'll have to find fuses in other parts of an installation to power elevators or other equipment. Sometimes you'll have to learn a password to proceed into a locked area. And there's a whole lot of sneaking around. Beyond Good & Evil is a fantastic-looking game that tells its story well. It may be short enough to rent and complete in a day or two, but fans of action adventure games will find enough to love in the game's overall design to make it worth purchasing.

A fun adventure game.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: April 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game has a beautiful world to offer. In my opinion, it bests the Final Fantasy series's last dozen installments in terms of sheer originality. The combat is enjoyable, if a little too simple (Ninja Gaiden this ain't), and the storyline is also very engaging. This is also one of the few games that succeeds at constantly divvying up the quest between action, puzzle, and exploration elements of gameplay. You could play this seriously as an adult or with younger kids.

It's a shame that a lot of people ignored it when it first came out, but now that the price dropped, maybe you will pick it up like I did. It may not be HALO or GTA, but it is definitely worth the $25. A neat little title to spend some quality time with.

Just brilliant fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: July 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Can a game be fun to play and have a compelling, even profound story? The answer is yes, and Beyond Good and Evil is the proof. Not since "The Curse of Monkey Island" have I enjoyed such a marvelous game. I have played the game three times now, and every time I start it up, it makes me smile inside. All the elements that make this such a good game are there; a profound story, characters that you actually care about, fun mini-games and races, a world that is so beautiful that you want to be a citizen of Hillys, action and adventure, and a soundtrack that is glorious.

For years, the planet of Hillys has been locked in conflict with a race of alien invaders known as the DomZ. Wary of her government's promises to repel the alien conflict, Jade, a rebellious photojournalist, sets out to capture the truth behind the war. Soon, Jade finds herself in the middle of a horrific government conspiracy involving the elite Alpha Forces secretly aiding in the kidnapping of the citizens of Hillys for the DomZ, who use the abductees as their source of power. She must join a group of rebels who call themselves the Iris Network, in order to save Hillys from annihilation.

This game is truly the best game I have ever played! Like so many who love this game, my only complaint would be that it is too short. It would be very nice if Jade Reporting and company would be able to journey beyond the moon of Hillys. The ending is wonderful, and very compelling (please make the sequel, Ubisoft). I cannot give a higher recommendation to buy this game.

One of those hard to find games

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: September 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

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.

Pure Eye-Candy

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: October 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Beyond Good & Evil is a platformer type game for the Xbox. You play a girl named Jade, whose world is being invaded by the evil aliens known as, "Doms". Even though there are platforming game elements (jumping puzzles, switches and hidden passageways), it plays and looks amazing! You can go hunting for orbs (money), go hunting for creatures, take photos (also pays money), race in your hovercraft, play alien mini-games, go shopping, upgrade your hovercraft, explore caverns or walk through the city, talk to characters, discover secret areas, and uncover an evil conspiracy. Your hovercraft is your primary means of transport which can of course travel and both land and water and is equipped with self-repair bots(limited) and laser cannon (unlimited). You'll fight against the most bizzare creatrures and they look awesome! Even the world looks awesome its a living, breathing world filled with alien inhabitants. You'll even see flying cars (think Bladerunner), futuristic building and exotic islands. The free-form gameplay (go almost anywhere, do almost anything) is what really makes this game shine! And the amazingly beautiful graphics is icing on this yummy game. If you like platformers or free-form gameplay go buy this game!

Pros:
+free-form gameplay
+amazingly, beautiful graphics
+day and night cycles
+excellent story
+exellent animation
+excellent controls
+excellent sound effects
+excellent voice-acting
+excellent music
+play mini-games
+good puzzles
+shoot, walk, drive, fight
+okay for kids

Cons:
-some maps areas closed off
-no car-jacking allowed
-no envirnoment destruction
-weak weapons

Beyond Wonderful & Awsome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: January 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is the best game I recieved this christmas by far. The combos that you can use when figting are really cool and fighting enemies is very fun. Taking pictures is also a really fun part of the game, too. The animals are usually all easy to take pictures of and make this game even more intresting than it regularly would. This is also a beutiful world that you can do as you please in with your hovercraft. Everyone should own this game! Buy it now!

A storyline so immersive it will hold you to the end

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Beyond Good & Evil is Michel Ancel's (the creator of Rayman) newest title for both the consoles and the PC. You play the game as Jade, a reporter on the world of Hillys, where the DomZ have been engaged in war will the governments Alpha Forces.

As the game begins you are immediatly thrown into a simple (and yet addictive) combat system. Easy to pull off combos and dispatch the DomZ in a whirl of spins and slashes will a long pole that Jade carries around with her.

As the game progresses a government conspiracy begins to surface, and you soon find yourself joining a radical group called Iris to expose the conspracy behind the Alpha Forces and the DomZ. To do this Jade will have to photograph evidence of the DomZ and other things, many twisting and reshaping your idea of the war on Hillys.

Being an Adventure game there is plenty to do in the open world, collecting pearls (your curancy to purchase upgrades for your ship) participate in races, and just explore the world similar to Wind Waker, but in a smaller and much more manigible size.

The puzzles and dungeons in the game are challanging, fun, and always a little different, making this a very enjoyable game. The only downside to this game is that it is very short, and the is no more to do after you finish the game except play it again (which is supprisingly fun to do), but with the two HUGE plot twists at the end (make sure to watch the entire credit sequence), it will keep you thinking for hours later, for the storyline and cut-scenes blend so well into the gameplay that this game sets new standereds for storyline design and developement.

This game is definately a hidden gem in the overcrowed gaming market, and it would be a sin to pass this one up!

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