Beyond Good & Evil

Upon release, Rayman creator Michael Ancel's Beyond Good & Evil was met with critical acclaim and, regrettably, relatively poor sales; this was attributed by many to be due to the fact that BG&E was released at roughly the same time as big Ubisoft titles like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, which, as we all know, were very successful releases and went on to spawn multiple sequels. With that, Beyond Good & Evil was left behind, going on to become one of the favorite cult games of all time, along with titles like Psychonauts.

The story of Beyond Good & Evil takes place on the fictional world of Hillys, which is being invaded by an alien race known as the DomZ, who harvest the inhabitants of Hillys and drain them of their life force. Photojournalist Jade and her "uncle" Pey'j are drawn into a conspiracy shortly after taking on an assignment that proves to be a test given them by operatives of the IRIS Network, whose goal is to expose a large scale DomZ conspiracy to lull the denizens of Hillys into a false sense of security and slowly abduct and either infect or consume all sentient life. Jade and her companions, both "uncle" Pey'j and ex-military IRIS operative Double H, will set out to expose the DomZ conspiracy and eventually bring the evil alien race to their knees in an epic science-fiction adventure. The story, it seems, takes a page from Greek philosopher Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," in which one person escapes the pseudo-reality projected before them and takes upon their shoulders the task of disillusioning the rest of their people with the truth of what's going on around them; and, for me at least, this was a very interesting aspect of the narrative.

Beyond Good & Evil has been called a "Zelda-clone" by many, and while it does borrow some aspects of Zelda's tried-and-true formula, it also throws in a few of its own. Obviously, as an action adventure game, you'll encounter a variety of enemies and obstacles like puzzles, but many of these favor teamwork over rushing in and unleashing death and woe upon your doomed enemies, and more often than not, you'll find yourself resorting to stealth rather than combat. Some situations, to elaborate on that, will favor stealth over combat but can be taken on either way if push comes to shove; other times, you'll find yourself required to either fight or move unseen through a large room full of enemies.

The bulk of Beyond Good & Evil's roughly 15-hour main story is spread out across several missions that typically send you to some dangerous location to obtain more and more evidence to expose the alien conspiracy. Between missions, you're generally free, and often encouraged, to explore Hillys in search of various side missions and visit the many shops to obtain upgrades for both your hovercraft, which you'll be using a lot in both battles and exploration, and fairly often in races for prizes valuable in nature.

With the main protagonist being a photojournalist, you're going to be doing a great deal of photography, both on the job and off. There are many life forms across the planet that you'll find both during missions and outside of them. These include everything from people walking the streets to the very same creatures you'll be fighting. Some of these can be difficult to get photographs of, particularly when they're trying to kill you, but you'll usually be given an opportunity outside of battles to get a shot of hostile life-forms, and every time you complete a collection of about 10 photos, you receive a reward of money and usually a Pearl, which is a rare item you gain through various side-missions that can be exchanged for upgrades to your hovercraft.

Most of the time, Jade will be working her way through maps to find points of interest, generally having to solve puzzles that will more often than not require the cooperation of either Pey'j or Double H. This typically isn't a problem, because the friendly AI is usually pretty responsive, but they'll occasionally drop the ball or get caught on objects, and getting them back on track can be a bit of a chore. Also, some of the puzzles do tend to repeat themselves throughout the areas, and it will occasionally come off as tedious, climbing between those two beams to kick that gear. Still, new facets are added to the mix often enough that it usually won't be much of a hindrance. For example, though the stealth sections can be frustrating at times, new elements and layouts typically make each segment feel completely different.

Combat is simple enough in Beyond Good & Evil, usually executed through combos with the X button, also allowing you to evade and guard against enemy attacks. Occasionally, you'll need to use a powerful charge attack, which deals damage to enemies within a given radius and temporarily stuns them. Later in the game, you'll be able to purchase an item that enhances this ability to an extent, allowing you to unleash energy projectiles with a rapid button press to further damage enemies within a slightly larger range. You'll also have your partners, both Pey'j and Double H to assist you in combat, and while they attack on their own, you can also use the Triangle button to cause them to unleash a team attack with you, which briefly knocks enemies airborne and allows you to send them flying in any direction you choose (indicated by a translucent targeting reticule); some puzzles will even require you to do this to either start an object in motion or clear a wall of some kind. Also, as you progress through the game, you'll gain objects to increase the life energy of both you and your allies, and you'll find that an even distribution of these usually makes for the best setup in battle.

The boss battles are generally fun, and each one typically offers its own unique aspect; a few of these battles even take place in vehicles. One boss fight is a sort of Whack-a-Mole-like battle that has you fighting a large flying worm beast that bursts from holes in the ground and occasionally flies trough the air to attack you and your partner from above. Other battles have you fighting huge skeletal serpents on the water, slowly blasting away segments of their bodies until they finally explode and sink to the bottom of the bay. The final boss fight is easily the most difficult in the game and has your controls reversed for the final stretch, while the opening segments have you fighting illusions of your teammates off to eventually land an attack on the boss itself.

One of BG&E's finer points is the graphical presentation, which is admirable. Hillys is, simply put, big and very pretty. While the open-world aspect of the game pales slightly in comparison with many that have been released since, Hillys never really feels limited. The textures are particularly nice-looking, and for its time, Beyond Good & Evil's water graphics are among the best. The shadows in the game project well, though there are occasionally some odd instances of shadows projecting onto walls or ceiling strangely; this usually doesn't occur, but there are a few rare instances in which it's difficult to miss.

The characters themselves, both in animation and modeling, look fantastic; it's almost like a Saturday morning action cartoon that you play through and advance on your own. As you progress through the story, you'll find more and more people switching to the side of the IRIS Network and protesting in the streets of the main city. The attacks, post-battle animations, cutscene animations and expressions; everything is masterfully done and rendered gorgeously. Jade's emotions are well-represented as well; she has a pained expression when struck, shows constant worry in some of the later segments, and during battles and stealth sequences her face shows a look of steadfast determination. At a few points the game gets very emotional, and the great visuals really help to convey this.

The voice acting is almost always great, with a few minor blemishes here and there, but every single voice, down to the very last, fits perfectly. As you wander about the various areas in Hillys, you'll hear a lot of conversations between people around towns and in other areas. Over the town's loudspeaker, you'll hear speeches from a military group's leader that gradually rise in intensity and desperation as the story progresses. The music is among the most atmospheric in a game to date, ranking right up there with the soundtrack of the Silent Hill survival horror series for pure atmosphere. It seems to have distinct oriental sound to it, noticeable in the lighthouse background theme and some of the music played in the shops around the main city. This isn't to say that the soundtrack isn't varied. There's a bit of electronic, almost industrial music in some of the areas, and one of the shops has a distinct reggae-type music playing from a radio whenever you enter.

Although Beyond Good & Evil is pretty short, and sports a couple graphical and AI-related issues, it's truly something to behold. And while it doesn't sport a whole lot of replay value, the endearing characters, beautiful environments and soundtrack, and engaging gameplay should keep you coming back for more. At the bargain price of under $20 now, Beyond Good & Evil is one of the best-value games out there, and you can't go wrong with it.