Welcome to Hillys, a planet caught in the grip of a war between the menacing DomZ alien invasion and the elite government troops. Enter our heroine - a journalist who goes by the name of Jade (in keeping with her penchant for green clothing and make-up).

She lives at the lighthouse with a pig!?! Called Pey'j where proceedings kick off and you get your first taste of combat and are issued with your trusty camera.

Before you can crack on with unraveling mysteries, photographing the local wildlife and exposing conspiracies, Jade has an urgent cash flow crisis to deal with.

She is so skint that at the beginning of the game the lighthouse's shield generator (which protects the island) is down because she doesn't have enough dosh to pay the electricity bill.

Fortunately for Jade the science centre is cataloguing all of the animals on Hyllis and paying top dollar for photos of any animal life she may come across.

Before long though you will find yourself heading out over the shimmering blue water of Hyllis on your hovercraft - and what a vista it is! The landscape is quite breathtaking with great views in all directions.

Beyond Good and Evil gives you lots to do says Darkfader.

Although Jade is an independent woman she is not a lone operative. She is accompanied by Pey'j in the earlier parts of the game.

This 'bacon breath' as he is referred to in the game is not a playable character as such but from time to time he is available to help Jade out with both puzzle solving and combat.

Besides earning dosh from taking snaps of the animal world, there is also an assignment waiting at the black isle - which is the first story driven mission. However a la GTA it is up to you when you choose to take up the mission.

That's one of the beauties of the game - in my time in Hyllis (eight hours or so) I've explored, fought, raced, chased, completed various missions, bought upgrades for the hovercraft and played several mini games - BG&E is a truly multi genre game.

In addition Hyllis is populated by a large and colourful cast of characters most of which you can interact with. This adds yet another dimension to the game, which along with all the other mini games makes the max amount of time you can spend in Hyllis almost infinite.

BG&E is a game which exhibits real personality. Visually BG&E is a very unique and finely crafted game with a lot of attention to detail. The character and creature designs are meticulous and the environments truly breathtaking.

Although it does not do anything groundbreaking and the combat system is rather simplistic, it left me with a warm and happy feeling after playing it. What more can you ask for from a game?

8/10

Darkfader