Beyond Good & Evil is a 2003 action-adventure video game developed and published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 2, PC, Xbox and GameCube platforms. The story follows the adventures of Jade, an investigative reporter and martial artist, who works with a resistance movement to reveal a planet-wide alien conspiracy. The player controls Jade and allies, solving puzzles, fighting enemies, and obtaining photographic evidence.
Michel Ancel, creator of the Rayman series, envisioned the game as the first part of a trilogy. The game was developed under the codename "Project BG&E" by 30 Ubisoft Pictures employees with production lasting more than three years. One of the main goals of the game is to create a meaningful story while giving players lots of freedom, though the game adopts a relatively linear structure. The game was received poorly when it was shown at E3 2002, and it prompted the developers to change some of the game's elements, including Jade's design. Ancel also attempted to streamline the game in order to make it more commercially appealing.
Beyond Good & Evil was critically acclaimed. Critics praised the game's animation, setting, story, and design, but criticized its combat and technical issues. The game received a nomination for "Game of the Year" at the 2004 Game Developers Choice Awards. While the game had a cult following, it was considered a commercial failure at launch. A full HD re-mastered version of the game was released on Xbox Live Arcade in March 2011 and on PlayStation Network in June 2011. A prequel, Beyond Good and Evil 2, is in development and was announced at E3 2017.
Gameplay
Beyond Good & Evil is an action-adventure game with elements of puzzle-solving and stealth-based games. The player controls the protagonist, Jade, from a third-person perspective. Jade can run, move stealthily, jump over obstacles and pits, climb ladders, push or bash doors and objects, and flatten herself against walls. As Jade, the player investigates a number of installations in search of the truth about a war with an alien threat.
In the game's interior spaces, the player solves puzzles and makes their way past enemies in order to reach areas containing photographic evidence. Jade's main tools are her Daï-jo combat staff (a melee weapon), discs for attacking at range, and a camera. Jade's health, represented by hearts, decreases when hit by enemy attacks. It can be restored using fictional food items and can be increased beyond the maximum with "PA-1s" that, when held by Jade or her companions, increases their life gauge by one heart. If Jade's health is depleted, the game will restart at the last checkpoint. Certain stealth segments later in the game automatically kill Jade if she is detected.
At times, it is only possible to advance in the game with the help of other characters. These characters are computer-controlled, and players direct them via contextual commands. For example, the player can order them to perform a "super attack", either pounding the ground to bounce enemies into the air, allowing the player to hit them from long distances, or knocking them off balance, making them vulnerable to attack. These allies possess a health bar and are incapacitated if it is depleted. Jade can share some of her items, such as PA-1s, with these characters.
In addition to obtaining evidence and completing assignments, Jade's camera can take pictures of animal species in exchange for currency, and scan objects to reveal more information about the environment. When the "Gyrodisk Glove" is obtained, Jade can attack enemies or activate devices from a distance by using the camera interface. There are also various minigames and sub-missions offered by NPCs scattered throughout the world.
A hovercraft is used to travel around the world, and also used for racing and in other minigames. Later, the spaceship Beluga is acquired. The hovercraft can dock with the spaceship. Both vehicles require upgrades in order to reach new areas and progress through the game. Upgrades are purchased using pearls that are collected throughout the game, by completing missions, exploring areas, filling in the animal directory or by trading credits for them. The vehicles have a boost ability, and can be repaired using a "Repair Pod" if damaged by enemies.
Plot
Setting and characters
Beyond Good & Evil takes place in the year 2435 on the mining planet of Hillys, located in a remote section of the galaxy. The architecture of the city around which the game takes place is rustic European in style. The world itself combines modern elements, such as email and credit cards, with those of science fiction and fantasy, such as spaceships and anthropomorphic animals coexisting with humans. As the game begins, Hillys is under siege by aliens called the "DomZ", who abduct beings and either drain their life force for power or implant them with spores to convert them into slaves. Prior to the opening of the game, a military dictatorship called the "Alpha Sections" has come to power on Hillys, promising to defend the populace. However, the Alpha Sections seem unable to stop the DomZ despite its public assurances. An underground resistance movement, the IRIS Network, fights the Alpha Sections, believing it to be in league with the DomZ.
Beyond Good & Evil's main protagonist, Jade (voiced by Jodi Forrest), is a young photojournalist. She resides in an island lighthouse that doubles as a home for children orphaned by DomZ attacks. Pey'j (voiced by David Gasman), a boar-like creature, is Jade's uncle and guardian figure. Double H, a heavily built human IRIS operative, assists Jade during missions. He wears a military-issue suit of armor at all times. Secundo, an artificial intelligence built into Jade's storage unit, the "Synthetic-Atomic-Compressor" (SAC), offers advice and "digitizes" items. The main antagonists are the DomZ High Priest, who is the chief architect of the invasion, and Alpha Sections leader General Kehck, who uses propaganda to gain the Hillyans' trust, even as he abducts citizens to sustain the DomZ.
