Beyond the Beyond

• Release Date: 1999
• Genre: Role-Playing
• Style: Third-Person 2D RPG
• Similar Games: Legend of Legaia (PlayStation)

Game Description

Beyond the Beyond is a story based around a young boy forced to face the threat of impending evil while searching for his father. The player can totally immerse himself in this epic RPG that will engross you. Battle scenes are done in 3D to give the game a great graphical look to it as well as having a rich and full storyline. Meet interesting characters and battle some of the most atrocious monsters you've ever encountered. Setting the mood is the accompanying sound track that really complements the game. Prepare to go on a journey with Camelot's Beyond the Beyond.

Review: Overall

Beyond The Beyond had a lot to live up to. It was one of the very first Sony PlayStation role-playing games and was supposed to bring the genre into the 32-bit era. And it had been in development for quite some time. You wouldn't be able to tell that by the finished product, though. Beyond The Beyond failed impressively at just about everything it tried to do. In fact, it's one of the most uninspired and downright horrible role-playing games I've ever played.

For one thing, the story is very lackluster and highly uninteresting. It's so cliched and unoriginal with its save-the-world scenario and the characters are equally as bad. There's your average hero and heroine, your typical arrogant characters and your usual comic relievers. You really never get immersed with their stories because their emotions are either forced or you really just don't care about the character. Another thing is the lack of 32-bit power. Beyond The Beyond looks, plays, and feels as if it belongs on a 16-bit system. The graphics and textures are extremely bland and the characters have little to no detail whatsoever. In fact, some characters don't even resemble characters at all; they look like blobs of color floating around. The sound is equally as bad. Come on, this is on a CD--where's the CD quality music? There is no excuse for some little analog keyboard playing dinky, cheesy riffs that were converted into midi. The tunes and sound effects are also completely

unoriginal and lack any kind of creativity. To make it worse, the music is extremely repetitive and really starts to grate on your nerves.

The only thing that even remotely resembles the world of 32-bit gaming is the 3D battle sequences. And while they are in 3D, they look just as horrible as the rest of the game. The textures are blown up so much that you can see each and every pixel. The characters are animated poorly and the monsters are very uninspired (and also quite cliched).

Beyond The Beyond is such a disappointing game; the end result is a serious blow to the genre in general. It feels so much like a regression of 16-bit games and doesn't even come close to bringing anything new to the table. The story has been told before, the characters are cliched and boring with little personality, and the graphics and sound are horrible. Anyone interested in this genre will want to pass this game up.

Review: Enjoyment

With a story done hundreds of times before, bad graphics and sound, and unappealing game play, Beyond the Beyond is very boring, unoriginal, and not enjoyable whatsoever.

Review: Graphics

Ugly is the only word to describe the visuals. The textures are very pixilated and the character sprites are unappealing and feature little to no detail. Even the animation in the game is pretty bad.

Review: Sound

The music score in Beyond the Beyond is absolutely atrocious and the sound effects are painfully unoriginal.

Review: Replay Value

There is none. There's not even a reason to play it in the first place.

Review: Documentation

The manual is helpful in telling you how to play the game. It explains some items and how magic works, etc.

Production Credits

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

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