Beyond Good and Evil for PlayStation 2 Reviews by Gamers

There are few games I've played which have blown me away so completely that i have only one question to ask: why the heck didn't I hear about this game before? kinda like good will hunting..... But anyway! the graphics are superb, the photography and rewards systems are amazing, and most of all the voice acting is some of the best i've ever heard, ever. Pey'j, your pig-man uncle, has one of the most engaging relationships with your character that i've ever seen in a game. When your character loses contact with him, you really feel like you've lost someone you loved. The cut scenes are amazing, with incredible motion capturing and just a little absurdity, the water effects are great, and the combat is simple, yet surprisingly satisfying and effective. I give this game a perfect score because it is one of the few games i've ever played which i am actually angry that i didn't ever hear of before. Brilliant, brilliant, and more brilliant, please play this game.

Like other reviewers, I was a little skeptical of this game when it arrived. It had such high ratings but the story seemed... well... stupid. And honestly, the story is stupid. Maybe I wouldn't care so much if the title wasn't "Beyond Good and Evil", which suggests a complex story with moral ambiguity. You'll see none of that. I'm not sure where the "beyond" was, because the good guys were purely good and the bad guys were purely bad. It's about as simplistic a story as you can get.

BUT!! The characters are amazing and the gameplay is stunning. The world is open, so you can travel and investigate, running into many mini-games on your way. I preferred the mini-games to the missions, actually. My favorite activity was photographing all the species. I wish more was done with this feature. The point of photographing is to earn money from the science center, which you can then use to buy Health Uppers, etc. Unfortunately, there is no tie-in to the story... I would have loved a subplot about extinction or saving some of the species.

The gameplay mechanics are great for the PS2. The camera and AI rarely interfere, and you get the hang of the character controls pretty quickly. Driving the spaceship was the only mechanism I found frustrating.

The levels are easy, with puzzles occuring naturally and intuitively within the plot. Again, the only complaint here is one part of a mission that requires you to bump boxes around with your hovercraft. It was frustratingly difficult for no reason. In any case, there's no need for a walkthrough on this one!

Because the characters were so lovable and memorable, and because the missions were so intuitive, I found myself absolutely in love with this game.

The only thing I wished was that there was more. I wanted more species, more mini-games, more places to explore in the city. As it is, you can only visit 3-4 establishments in town.
more more more!

Here's hoping for a sequel!