I must say, in a genre that's plagued by generic titles and horrid little 12 year olds, this game is quite a breath of fresh air. The existence of an actual plot as well as very interesting and unique graphics (though as shooters go, that's not hard, simply using colours other then brown and grey'll do it) make for a highly enjoyable game. However, that's not why you should buy this game. That would be simply for what happens when you pull of a successful headshot with the sniper rifle. I won't spoil it, I'll just let you discover that little gem within a gem for yourself.
Not my bag (hence the 4/5 stars I gave it), but I can stomach them if they're done well and a little nostalgia always helps. Rayman Forever succeeds on both fronts and as such if you're after a fun little time-waster in the way of old-school 2D platforming, I see nothing but fun times for all who purchase this game.
Beyond Good And Evil is a third person action adventure, starring reporter Jade as she tries to save her homeland from essentially genocide. It is a largely solid game, though it suffers from a lot of unfulfilled potential. As I have never played this game it its heyday, it should be noted I'm writing this review based on recent nostalgia-free experience. This is most apparent in the story and settings. The game tries to make you feel like a tiny part of a society living under an oppressive and powerful regime, yet it ultimately falls short in this regard. This can be seen by the fact that most levels focus on stealth, and the main goal is to gather photographic proof of the regime's atrocities so that the population may rise up, rather then killing them all yourself, and while I believe such a premise has a lot of potential, the combat makes your character into a one woman army, which serves to destroy any feel of smallness of your part. Enemy soldiers, though tough, are easily defeated provided you can land a single stealthy attack on their weak spot and as long as you have one of your NPC companions with you, you can easily take out large groups with regular combat. The fact that almost every level ends with a large boss battle further takes away from the feeling of insignificance, as flattening some behemoth that's ten times your size tends to hammer home the fact that Jade is more of a one woman army rather then a simple reporter. The fact that the game ends on a cliff-hanger (I.E. Blatantly leaving room for a sequel when the story could've been easily wrapped up) doesn't win it any points in its favour. The game could've stood to be a little longer too. I'm no gaming master, yet I managed 100% completion in just one weekend. The controls are a little less then ideal, but I can't in good conscience mark the game down for it, as it was made specifically for console controls and didn't handle the transition to PC all too well. That said, it's not too difficult to map the controls in a way that suits you, so it's not exactly a game-breaking flaw. Now the bad stuff is out of the way, I can talk about what's good. For starters, while the story isn't perfect, it is quite original, and for that I applaud the designer for at least putting some effort into it (a rare thing in gaming, especially in the console family). The combat, despite being at odds with the setting and story, is quite intuitive, beautifully animated and all round quite enjoyable. The game features a female protagonist who is more then a mere marketing novelty or eye candy. The support characters too are a colourful lot and the dialogue is enjoyable too. Basically, like with the story, you can see the developers have made a genuine effort which as I said before is a rare thing and I applaud them for it. The soundtrack is also brilliant, and the entire thing just happens to be sitting in my music collection as I type this. All in all, I'd give this game 88 out of 100. It's a very solid game that any adventure game fan would enjoy. In fact, I'd recommend it to anyone looking for something unique in the way of gaming. At $9.99, it's well worth the price, even if you finish it in just one weekend like me. Granted, it may not appeal to the average fan of Halo or anyone who likes things that feature "space marines" (I feel dirty from typing that) teabagging corpses, but if you're after an fun little adventure with a unique story and characters, I'd say it's $9.99 well spent.
...In what other game is the following scenario possible? You walk into a town that is fairly indifferent to you, one of the local kids runs up to you and starts following you around, asking for food and otherwise being an annoying little shit. In response, you kick the little fucker square in the groin and as the kid collapses in pain you stomp on his/her head until death occurs. This, and many other oppertunities for mindless and graphic violence is reason enough to purchase this absolute gem of a game. No more needs to be said.
