A Gem
Signing up for Gamefly allowed me to look back at the vast amount of games that I had missed from previous generations. Naturally, Beyond Good & Evil fits the bill. This is one of those games that critics loved but consumers never stopped to notice. As a result, the game is no longer in production, listed as backordered on just about every website, and has no way to get noticed. I'm here to tell you that those critics weren't wrong. This is an exceptional game, and it's worth the scavenger hunt to find.
In the game you play as Jade, a freelance photographer and operator of a lighthouse, and she also looks after foster kids. In the very beginning of the game you realize that you're pretty short on credits so you start looking for work. You are offered a job taking pictures of all of the wildlife on your planet of Hyllis. While this sounds like a fairly daunting task, the animals aren't very hard to find. In fact, after about an hour it'll become a reflex to whip out your camera when you see little critters running around. That's also a good way to get pearls, a form of currency you'll need in order to upgrade your hovercraft as the story progresses.
The plot of the game is that your planet has become involved in a war with the DomZ federation. Your defense is known as the Alpha Section, but there is an underground group that claims Alpha isn't as nice as it seems to be. The group, known as IRIS, claims that the DomZ is actually controlling the Alpha Sections as well, and it's goal is to expose this fact to the people. The problem is, they don't have a photographer good enough to get inside the Alpha facilities and get the shots. That's where Jade comes in.
Early in the game you'll meet Pey'j, Jade's pig uncle. He's a mechanic who's raised Jade from a young age and Jade looks up to him a lot. Also, you will meet Agent "Double H" in an early mission and he will serve as your companion through most of the game.
The game has you going into 4 dungeons. The core gameplay of the dungeons is stealth. You'll have to sneak past guards undetected in order to advance to the next room. The game also has a lot of puzzle solving. Just about every room has a puzzle to solve weather that's hitting a switch from far away or finding the right part to fix a door, you'll need to be thinking about the environment in order to progress in Beyond Good & Evil.
The stealth parts of Beyond Good & Evil can be frustrating at times, but the most frustrating thing about the game is the camera. The game has a lot of those scene specific angles where it tries to give you exactly what you need to see, the problem is sometimes it can get a little unstable and jerk around on you in the middle of a fight. Speaking of fights, the action parts of the game are done by mashing the A button in whatever direction you want, and you can press X to dodge. Your companion character can also help out, but all he's good for is stunning enemies for a few seconds.
The game is a little on the short side. It took me about 10 hours to get through the story, and once you beat the game's final boss you can't progress any further in your save file. You can still load your last save before the fight, however.
The strength of this game is in the presentation. It's presented in a letterbox format to give it a more cinematic feel, and that's backed up with some top notch graphics and sound. The visuals are great, and you can tell a lot of care went into Jade's facial expressions. The audio in the game is stellar. The soundtrack is very well done, and each voice actor is perfect for their part and does it fantastically. The creators went so far as to develop local music that Hyllians listen to, and you'll find the songs to be quite catchy.
All in all, Beyond Good & Evil is definitely worth at least a rental, if not full purchase. The game's story is very well told and it's a great game while it lasts. Outstanding level design and presentation make Beyond Good & Evil very easy to recommend.
