Beyond Good & Evil
A commercially overlooked but critically beloved adventure by Michel Ancel. Journalist and photographer Jade uncovers a conspiracy on the planet Hillys using a camera, combat and stealth. The enchanting world, likable characters such as the pig-uncle Pey'j and a story about truth and propaganda leave a strong impression. Varied gameplay from investigation to hovercraft races never grows stale. A plot with a topical political subtext was ahead of its time. A cult gem that deserves far more attention.
Game 41 of 269 for Sony PlayStation 2
The same title elsewhere (3)
Beyond Good & Evil launched simultaneously on PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox, and the story, map and gameplay content stay the same across every version. As with many multiplatform titles of the era, Xbox's more powerful chip and extra memory usually meant slightly sharper textures and smoother frame rates than PlayStation 2 or GameCube, whose versions are in turn very similar to each other. No platform lost gameplay content or levels, despite the game famously flopping commercially at the time. The differences between versions are therefore subtle and technical rather than fundamental, so picking a platform today mostly comes down to what hardware and controller you prefer.
