Hello there, and welcome to the first installment of “Plenty for Twenty”, where I’ll tell you about some very good games out there that won’t break your budget.

This week’s game is one that’s very dear to me — in fact, I’d rate it as my favorite game of all time. If you talk to other gamers who have played it, you’d more than likely get similar responses. When it was released, critics and reviewers raved about it. It landed on virtually everybody’s “Top 5 of the Year” lists. But despite all of this, it was a commercial failure. Insufficient advertising and a holiday release against several big-name franchises quickly sent this game straight to the bargain bin.

Those of you who know your gaming history probably already know which game I’m talking about. But for those of you who don’t, I’m talking about the excellent “Beyond Good and Evil”, available for Gamecube, PS2, XBox, PC, and published by Ubisoft.

You play as Jade, a photographer who lives on the world of Hillys. She is thrust into the middle of an alien attack, government conspiracies, and an underground revolution. Your objective in the game is to complete your various missions. You do this by infiltrating government bases in search of evidence to expose them to the populace of Hillys. When you find the evidence, you take a photograph and send it back to your fellow revolutionaries, where it is promptly published in their underground newsletter. Along the way, of course, you’ll have to fight guards, sneak past traps, and solve puzzles to find what you need.

BG&E dabbles in quite a few genres, and does each one quite good. The stealth portions of the game are quite challenging because you do not get a noise/shadow gauge like other games of the sort. Combat can be awkward at first, but you soon get the feel for it — there’s really not that much fighting in levels, and it boils down to finding enemy patterns. The puzzles are unique, but not too hard. You also have hoverboat racing portions, which aren’t too difficult at all. But the most interesting playing style you have is the photography portions. Not only do you take pictures of evidence, but you’re also charged with catologuing the animal population on Hillys. Snap a picture of a not-on-file animal, and you’ll get money to buy power-ups and health items. Additionally, you can earn pearls to upgrade your hoverboat.

Graphically, BG&E is stunning. The alien world of Hillys is vast and beautiful, and the character designs are some of the most creative ever seen in gaming.

The music is an eclectic mix of reggae, jazz, latin, salsa, hip-hop, and symphonic. The voice acting is top-notch, especially that of Jade and her uncle Pey’j. You’ll get a blast listening to the varied accents of Hillys, they’re a treat to hear.

If there’s one bad thing I can say about this game, is that it’s far too short. It can easily be completed in fifteen hours, and for a game this well put-together, you’ll want to spend much more time with it. The story and the characters draw you in and actually make you care about them. Unfortunately, due to its poor sales, its sequals — as this was the first game in a planned trilogy — are up in the air. But don’t let that stop you from picking up a copy at your local game store — even though it’s short, you’ll love every precious minute of it.

If you liked that, try...

1. Plenty for Twenty: Devil May Cry 3
2. Plenty for Twenty: Shadow of the Colossus
3. Plenty for Twenty: God of War
4. Plenty for Twenty: Ratchet and Clank
5. Plenty for Twenty: Final Fantasy X-2

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