When the tallies of the great games are taken at the end of cyber existence, Beyond Good and Evil will not be on them. But then again, neither will Battle Realms, neither will Hostile Waters, neither will Giants or Warrior Kings. Why? Because for some reason these games never got the acclaim they deserved - the mags rated them, the public ignored them. So here now is a list of reasons why the public are a load of retarded blind fools.

You start the game with a nice view of a peaceful planet, and a news report of impending war. Then suddenly something is happening, and you aren't quite sure what. Then you're in control of Jade, the game's main character, and fighting strange green blue alien things. You are told to press the left mouse button and thats about it. Luckily this is about all combat at this stage consists of, but as pressing the directional arrows also has an impact on what happens, you se there's a little more to do in combat. However it is simplistic and this would be a problem, if the game was a lot more combat heavy. But in a lot of situations, combat is not at all necessary. And not all areas where there is combat in the offering need to be visited.One main 'good thing' about the game is its open endedness. You can explore the planet, have your own little adventures in caves and the town, buy stuff, win stuff and talk to a variety of people when not attempting missions. And of course there is the photography - Jade is equipped with a camera which she can use to take pictures of wildlife. You see an animal you haven't snapped before, you hold shift to aim with the camera, get the target at the required zoom level and press the shutter. Straight away the picture is sent to a 'science centre' and you get money. The camera also allows you to take personal pictures (a sort of advanced screen shot function), allows you to take pictures of maps and codes to be analysed, and also forms the basis of your missions - making reports.

I wont detail who you work for in the game, but every mission revolves around photographing things (usually evil things) to prove certain other things about some aliens. Unfortunately it isn't as easy as snapping wild-life; in fact its damned difficult to find what you have to photograph, let alone get in good position to take the shot. Whilst the levels them selves are a linear progression, there are a few different ways to complete them, although most encounters with 'baddies' after the first objective (which is a lot of wildlife bashing) are more puzzles that need to be solved, rather like some aspects of Sam Fisher's earlier adventures - only Jade has a lot less chance to resort to violence. Even combat in some areas is handled like puzzles, with half the challenge being working out what to do, then usually kicking people in the back for a while. Of course it isn't just Jade on the missions.

Right from the first fight you get to see how great the supporting cast are, as they make great entrances, and you really feel you need them at points - indeed some puzzles relate to getting your friends to places so that they can help you get to other places, which sounds a lot more confusing than it is. The dialogue is well written, and the voice acting is great - these are some of the best characters outside of a Lucas Arts adventure game, which is high praise.

The simple fact is, that Beyond Good and Evil cannot be pinned down in any genre, other than generalised under the title of 'adventure.' It has platform elements, but none of the annoying jump timing that infuriates after the third fall to one's doom, and none of the irritating camera issues that can plague that kind of game. It has elements of stealth, but again it does with it something different, more of a puzzle than of any skill at controlling. But whatever you don't like about any of the genres that are mashed (well, delicately woven) into it, you'll like so much more because this game is so good. If every adventure game was made like this, taking the basic 'third person game' premise and doing with it whatever the hell they wanted, we wouldn't give a damn that point-and-click was dead. This isn't a game to show off to your mates with, not one that will get you saying 'awesome' but one that you will enjoy every aspect of, finish it, and remember it long after it is wiped from your hard drive. And now it's on budget as well. Just get the damn think, ok?

90% - I don't know why it deserves this, play it and you'll see it is unquestionably a classic game, so that's what it gets here.