Variety is the spice of life...and the spice of Beyond Good & Evil. One of the best PSN games I've played to date.
There are just so many gaming elements and genres swarming around in this game but isn't quite what makes it so unique because that's really not all that original of a concept. Its Beyond Good & Evil's ability to make them fit so well together to form the experience that it is. This game has:
1. The open world to explore
2. Conversations with NPCs and forming a party like a RPG
3. Racing
4. Chase sequences
5. Bonus content and side missions to pursue
6. Simplistic but brawler style combat
7. Shoot'em up sequences
8. Puzzles
9. Stealth gameplay
10. Online integration
I was totally not expecting to get so much content in surprisingly not a very long and drawn out game. Beyond Good & Evil does a great job at balancing the pace of the experience as well. Sometimes you'll find yourself either puzzle solving or sneaking your way through a section while other times you'll be engaged in combat with multiple enemies and bosses or racing your way through one of the many side missions. At heart, Beyond Good & Evil is an open world action game but it does so many other things beautifully. Combat is a bit overly simplistic (hit, dodge, run, repeat) and is one of the few things that I would say could stand to be improved in the game. The puzzles are just difficult enough to provoke thought but nothing that could potentially keep you guessing for hours and the further you get in the game, the more clever they get. They usually require a combination of all the skills you have learned up to that part of the game. There are also a few cleverly hidden secrets in the game (usually involving finding any of the game's collectables) and even one in particular that will require you to go to a website to uncover.
The story is pretty simple and can be a bit predictable in it progression. Jade, a human on a planet comprised with other humans and anamorphic beings lives in a lighthouse/orphanage with her adoptive uncle (a humanoid pig), Paige. The residents of this world are under constant attack by otherworldly beasts known as the Domz but are protect by technological shields and an elite part of the military known as the Alpha Section. Jade and Paige become leery of the Alpha Section and set out on a journey to uncover the source of the Domz' attack and its connection to the Alpha Section. The characters (or at least primary ones) are deep enough to associate them with their own personalities and to become attached to by the end. It's nothing "RPG" deep but the depth is there nonetheless. Visually, the game does show its age somewhat but the HD format does help a bit. The music is very well done and matches fittingly with the game's overall mood and associated scenes.
My Breakdown:
What's Good:
• The awesome amount of variety the gameplay has to offer
• An overall very unique feeling experience
• Decent voice acting
• Character development and depth
• Manages to compact an impressive amount of content in only but a few hours
• Useful and rewarding collectables
• Nice cliffhanger after the credits
What's Not-So-Good:
• Overly simplistic/underdeveloped combat
• The story could be a bit predictable at times
What's Bad:
• A very annoying final boss fight
• The ending was a bit unclimatic with a few questions still left unanswered
In all, Beyond Good & Evil is just one of those games that set the bar. I think that bar in this case in particular is, how to take different gaming elements and create an experience that adds constant variety to the way it's played. The chances of players getting bored or the gameplay becoming redundant, dramatically decreases. I highly recommend playing this if there is anyone left to try it besides me, lol.