Beyond Good and Evil–created by the same team behind the Rayman series–combines several genres into one. However, an action adventure is probably the most fitting description to apply to this great game. While Beyond Good and Evil (BGE) may look like a cartoonish game designed for small kids, don’t let that fool you, it is one of the most original games in quite some time.

Graphics

This game is really beautiful. Everything just looks gorgeous, especially the character models. Instead of the lifeless and emotionless logs that most games have, the character models in BGE look brilliant, and best of all, they actually show emotions. This greatly increases the feel and atmosphere of the game, as you can imagine. The environments are also very beautiful, especially the water, which is probably the best I have seen in any game. The game also features some nice blurring and other such effects in its cinematics.

Sound

The music in this game is fantastic, and along with the great sound effects, it’s already enough to beat the majority of other such games. However, I must say that the voice acting is just simply amazing. The voices suit the characters perfectly, and is just superb. Unfortunately, most of the times when you are talking to another character in the game there are no voice-overs, just plain old text. The voice-overs occur mainly in cinematics, which fortunately enough, there are plenty of in this wonderful game.

Gameplay

This is the best part about BGE. The gameplay is just so varied and combines so many different elements from different genres. The basic plot is that an alien force (the DomZ) are attacking the planet of Hillys, and the only hope appears to be the Alpha Section, or is it? Jade (your character) soon discovers that her protectors are not who they appear to be, and that a rebel group known as the IRIS Network may be on to something that could eventually save the planet. There are many things you may do on the planet Hillys. First of all, you are free to explore the town that you are living in, and buy equipment or search for pearls (a type of currency). You have regular money as well as pearls, which can be used to upgrade your vehicles. An interesting way to earn both types of currency is to take pictures of any animals that you may find. Of course you will gain more money if you capture a picture of a more dangerous animal, and once you have finished a roll of film you are rewarded with a nice pearl. Sometimes you are assigned missions, and they usually take place in installations and every room that you walk in has some form of puzzles. Most of them require little thinking, but some are tougher than others, but there are none that will make you scratch your head for too long. The combat actually don’t happen as often as other action games, but they too are spectacular. You use a Dai-Jo stick to bash the aliens in or you may use one of your companions attacks to weaken them to make it easier for you. Usually you are rewarded with a pearl after killing an extremely tough enemy, although you may be rewarded with some regular money instead, which is just as good.

Conclusion

The main complaint I have is that BGE is a wee bit too short…you can probably beat it in around 20-30 hours. Since there is no multiplayer support, the game’s lifespan shortens quite a bit. You might still want to play the game some more after you finish it though, since you probably haven’t found all the pearls or gotten the photograph of every animal yet. Besides, the fights are really cool!

I really suggest that you try this game, because it’s beautiful, as well as being original and unique. Hack-and-slash action game fans might want to have a look at BGE too, because even though it is somewhat short, its brilliant action sequences and the relatively easy puzzles will give you a great time. Beyond Good and Evil is definitely worthy of your purchase.