Beyond Good & Evil

Everything in the game feels well thought-out. The interface works like a charm, and the controls are easy to master.

Where most games entertain us with cutscenes to observe, Beyond Good & Evil is a cutscene. This is the first game to fully, properly inject the undeniable power of cinematic technique into the experience. [Nov 2003, p.70]

The audio component in this game is top of the line. Award caliber voice acting combined with an atmospheric and enchanting soundtrack creates an audio master piece of cinematic proportions.

A modern gaming masterpiece. It's as playable as any "Zelda," and as memorable as any "Metal Gear."

Do I really mean that after 25 years of gaming, and thousands of titles in my collection, that Beyond Good and Evil is one of the best games I have ever played? Yes.

BG&E is all about originality and uniqueness and no place does it shine better than in the graphics department. The sheer number of characters is astonishing, but the fact that each one has a personal style and attitude makes that game so much more believable.

It is titles like this that are the backbone of the industry and the reason I got into gaming in the first place. Few games draw you in as much as this gem does.

I'm of the belief that you should always leave your audiences wanting more instead of wishing for the experience to end. While some might consider that a sign that a game is too short, I was satisfied and indeed wanted more.

Rarely does a game so innovative and so uniquely fresh come along to grab a gamer's complete interest the way Beyond Good & Evil does. It is, by far, one of the most original games to come along for the Xbox and will certainly be enjoyed by those gamers who crave something completely new and downright fun.

Beyond Good & Evil's gameplay is part and parcel of an elegantly imagined gameworld. The animation is so smooth as to be almost flawless.

The cartoonish environment, though small, abounds with hidden desirables and fine detail-blaring propaganda, rich reflections and shadows, site-specific music, assorted visual gags-and even minor characters, unlike Paris and Ashton, possess crisp, individual personalities.

Players are made to feel as if they're interacting with real characters in a dynamic world. [Mar 2004, p.97]

Beyond Good & Evil is a gaming masterpiece, blending together light combat, stealth, platform action, puzzle solving and racing to form a compelling gameplay mix, tied together with a terrific story and wrapped up in gorgeous visuals and audio.

One of those rare games that shines from all points with an unmistakable quality of intelligence and personality...It is pierced throughout with humor, intelligence, and humanity.

Few adventures out there give you a world as detailed and lush as Beyond Good & Evil.

A visual treat because of its beautifully rendered indoor and outdoor environments, smoothly animated characters and subtle lighting techniques that contribute to the game's atmosphere.

The fact is that there's no other Xbox game that offers you the uniquely multi-layered experience that BG&E does. And isn't that what gaming is all about? [Dec 2003, p.98]

A cool game with a wonderful style and just enough gameplay variety to keep you around until the end.

A fully realized game, utilizing the JADE engine which "Prince of Persia" borrows. But more importantly, it has partially realized characters that have more feeling than human characters in other games.

A combination of solid Zelda-style gameplay and cinematic excellence push Beyond Good & Evil into the upper echelons of action / adventure games. This is what an interactive movie should be.

If you're an RPG fan and are sick of constantly repetitive RPGs hitting the market, and you overlooked Beyond Good and Evil due to it being a new franchise, GameBiz thoroughly recommends checking this title out.

It's an inventive creation that basks in some of the finest voice acting available, an incredible amount of visual pizzazz, and an incredible mixture of gameplay.

Beyond Good & Evil is easily worth the 9/10 I award it, and maybe even a bit more based of the power of the story alone. Hurry up and go buy it.

The story is intriguing, yet full of humorous interludes.

Wonderful direction, excellent storytelling, and a compelling plot. The gameplay is good enough to hold its own within the cinematic confines and actually does its fair share to charge the story forward.

Mixing Walt Disney's colorful whimsy, the industrial distopias of French cinematographers Jeunet and Carot ("City of Lost Children"), and "Zelda" mastermind Shigeru Miyamoto's genius for flexible gameplay, BG&E is mesmerizing, ominous, and, most of all, memorable. [Dec 2003, p.200]

The plot of the game itself sweeps you through a wide range of emotions from joy to anger to despair and although quite short, it achieves everything it wants to achieve.

A delicious blend of adventure, platform hopping, action and puzzle solving makes Beyond Good and Evil not necessarily revolutionary, but it's a wonderful combination nonetheless.

The animation is superb and very fluid. The controls are simple enough with a great interface.

While the game's repetitive nature and short length take away from its overall impact, Beyond Good & Evil is a fantastic-looking game that tells its story well.

What will keep people engrossed in the game are the characters, their humor under fire and their surprisingly poignant moments.

Rather than force you from one style of gameplay to another depending on which level you're on, BG&E blends the transitions together almost seamlessly. The additional styles never really encroach on the main crux of the adventure; they're always peripheral and therefore serve to enrich the experience, rather than dilute it. [Dec 2003, p.114]

A lot of people will look elsewhere for gameplay depth, but what BG&E sacrifices in control comlexity, it makes up for in story and pacing. [Dec 2003, p.174]

A relatively short, but sweet, action adventure game that is packed with a compelling story, intense gameplay and excellent production values in both the audio and visual department... A lot less about action than it is about adventure.

Good, but it never really lives up to its title - a vision that could have benefited from a little more focus... Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. [Jan 2004, p.110]

There is a place for games that are simply very, very well-executed, and BG&E fills that role with panache. But every time a cutscene pops up, it reminds you that it could have been so much more.

For the most part, this game plays like a kid's TV show with buttons: albeit one that is finely crafted and colorfully animated. [21 Nov 2003, p.L2T 46]

It's an 'experience' as much as a game, meaning that it will leave as many people cold as it grabs by the right half of the brain. Beyond good, then, but not quite excellent. [Christmas 2003, p.104]