Beyond Good & Evil

Beyond Good & Evil
Developer(s)	Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft Milan
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft
Release Date(s)	PlayStation 2 NA November 11, 2003 PAL November 14, 2003 Windows NA November 19, 2003 PAL December 5, 2003 Xbox NA December 2, 2003 PAL February 27, 2004 GameCube NA December 11, 2003 PAL February 27, 2004
Genre(s)	Action-adventure game
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ESRB: T (Teen) OFLC (Australia): G 8+ PEGI: 7+ USK: 12
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube
Distribution

Beyond Good & Evil is a video game for the GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, and Xbox platforms. It was designed by Michel Ancel, developed by Ubisoft in-house and released in late 2003. It focuses around the exploits of Jade, a female reporter. Tyrone Miller, a public relations manager for Ubisoft, said the title comes from a "need to investigate beyond the superficial facts of what is good and what is evil."

A prequel, Beyond Good & Evil 2, is currently in development.

Gameplay

Beyond Good & Evil combines elements of an action-adventure game with those of a stealth-based game, among other computer and video game genres. While Jade has the ability to attack enemies with her Daï-jo combat staff (an ability only available to the player when combat is necessary), she can also crawl and sneak around when necessary to avoid confrontation with enemies that outnumber her or are too powerful to engage in combat. At times, it is only possible to advance or defeat a certain enemy with the help of her friends Pey'J and Double H, creating an additional element of teamwork. Pey'J (a humanoid pig) and Double H (Hub) are mostly artificial intelligence-controlled in that the player does not ever directly control them; however, the player can tell them to execute specific actions when those actions become available. For example, in combat, the player can order them to perform a "super attack," which is usually pounding the ground to bounce enemies into the air, which can then be hit as projectiles.

Being a reporter, Jade has access to a camera. This camera is mostly used to take pictures of animals (often to exchange for currency) and to get evidence of certain actions or objects that may help to expose a military conspiracy.

Traveling around the world of Hillys is accomplished via an upgradeable hovercraft and later a spaceship, which is also used for races and other mini-games. The main city in which the player begins serves as a hub allowing the player access to the various areas they must explore in order to expose the conspiracy.

The game also has an on-line component called "The Darkroom" where registered players may enter scores. The score depends on a number of variables, such as the number of pearls found, the number of pictures taken, the minigames won, and the time taken. The score works the same no matter what platform the game is played on. After entering the code, there is an online minigame that, upon winning, gives the player an in-game code unique to their save file. This code unlocks a customizable minigame.

Story

Setting

Beyond Good and Evil takes place on the futuristic planet of Hillys, where a mix of human, anthropomorphic animal, alien, and robotic species co-exist. The planet is under siege by alien DomZ forces. The DomZ abduct beings on Hillys, and either drain their life force for their own, or implant them with spores that convert them into creatures that work for the DomZ. A militant force called the "Alpha Sections" emerges to defend the populace. However, the Alpha Sections have a mysterious secret hiding beneath their helmets. An underground group of journalists, the IRIS Network, attempt to uncover the secrets of the DomZ and the Alpha Sections and expose the truth to the population of Hillys.

Plot

Jade and Pey'j.

The game revolves around Jade, Jodi Forrest, who along with her 'uncle' Pey'j, David Gasman, have been looking after children of Hillys that have lost their parents to DomZ. When she runs out of money to run the shield to protect them from DomZ attacks, she takes up photography of rare species on Hillys, but soon finds the job is a cover for the IRIS Network, a rebellion that believes the Alpha Sections are behind several disappearances happening all over the planet. After joining IRIS, the group sends Jade on several missions to spy on Alpha Section activities with her photography skills.

Her first target is an Alpha Sections Factory, where she discovers evidence of human traffic being orchestrated by the DomZ under the cloak of the Alpha Sections' authoritative position. Along the way, she rescues IRIS reporter Double H, who was kindapped by the DomZ and subjected to torture. Pey'j, however, is abducted by the DomZ and transferred to the Slaughterhouse to be transferred to the Alpha Section's lunar base. After failing to extract Pey'j from the Slaughterhouse in time, Jade learns that Pey'j was, in fact, the secret chief of the IRIS Network.

By now, it is revealed that the Alpha Sections are being possessed and manipulated by the DomZ. Using the Beluga, the ship that Pey'j used to travel to Hillys, Jade and Double H go on a final mission to the DomZ lunar base. After wrapping up her report and gaining the support of the Hillys population, Jade confronts the DomZ High Priest. She finally learns that her human form is merely the latest container to hide a power stolen from the DomZ centuries ago. Using that power, she is able to defeat the DomZ Priest, and rescues those that have been abducted, including Pey'j.

However, in a post-credits scene, Pey'j is revealed to have an active DomZ spore still embedded within his hand, leading to question whether the DomZ have truly been defeated.

Characters

Jade, main protagonist.

The main protagonist of the game is Jade, a young woman, who is seemingly human, with good photography skills and aptitude with a "dai-jo" staff. She has been raised by her Uncle Pey'j, a boar-like creature who was friends with Jade's father and is also an expert mechanic and assists Jade with tending to orphans of the DomZ attacks. They are later joined by Double H, a heavy-built human ex-army IRIS reporter who had learned the truth of Alpha Section and helps Jade with her exploits. It is discovered near the end of the game that Jade is actually the "Shauni", a being who, like the Alpha Sections, is part DomZ (earlier in the game Jade had told the IRIS network to sign her articles under the name "Shauni." It is ironic that the name "Shauni" hid her from the Alpha Sections, as "Jade" hid her from the DomZ). However, unlike the Alpha Sections or the DomZ, Jade is capable of manipulating and restoring life force, even able to resurrect the dead.

High Priest of the DomZ.

The two main antagonists of the game are General Kehck, leader of the Alpha Sections, and the High Priest of the DomZ; the two work together with their respective forces to abduct the beings of Hillys to the moon so that the DomZ can extract their life force.

Series development

The game was developed by Michel Ancel, the creator of Rayman at Ubisoft's Montpellier studios in France. The game was reviewed highly, and was considered noteworthy for its immersiveness, voice acting, and musical score. However, unfortunate timing of the release against other titles led to disappointing sales. The game was intended to be the first part of a trilogy of games, but the game's poor sales placed those plans on hold at the time, although Michel Ancel had stated his desire to produce a sequel to the game.

In November 2007, in an interview by Nintendo Power, Ancel indicated that he was working on a new "secret" project that meant a lot to him, sparking a new wave of rumors about the possibility of Beyond Good & Evil 2. He specifically talked about Jade, noting his hopes that Jade would continue to keep her values and her personality. Ubisoft's CEO, Yves Guillemot, confirmed that Michel Ancel was working on several unannounced projects as of March 2008.

On May 15, 2008 GameSpot confirmed that Beyond Good & Evil 2 has indeed been in pre-production for a year, citing Michel Ancel:

I am working on Beyond Good & Evil 2. We have been in preproduction on the title for a year, and we’re currently doing market research. But for the moment, it’s in the early stages, and Ubisoft still hasn’t agreed to it. [...] We want to be in continuity with the first game, with a big variety of levels, lots of emotion in the gameplay, and characters we care about. This time we are dealing with planet Hillys’ future, and the relationship with animals...

– Michel Ancel

A teaser trailer of Beyond Good & Evil 2 was shown at Ubidays on May 28, 2008.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of Beyond Good & Evil, written by Christophe Heral, was praised by reviewers and is also featured in Video Games Live.

Parts of the soundtrack are also featured in a recent trailer for Far Cry 2.

Reception

Scores
Review scores Publication Score GameSpot 8.3 / 10 GameSpy 4.5 / 5 IGN 9.0 / 10
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score Game Rankings PS2: 87.4% (58 reviews) GCN: 88.1% (44 reviews) Xbox: 88.3% (52 reviews) PC: 83.2% (23 reviews) Metacritic PS2: 86% (45 reviews) GCN: 87% (33 reviews) Xbox: 87% (40 reviews) PC: 83% (26 reviews)

While reviews praised the game, Beyond Good & Evil suffered from poor sales, partially due to competition from other titles such as Ubisoft's own Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, as well as competition from proven sequels.

In 2007, Beyond Good & Evil was named 22^nd best Xbox game and 12^th best Gamecube game of all time in IGN's feature reflecting on the sixth generation of video games. It also came 47th in "The PC Gamer Top 100" from the PC Games magazine PC Gamer,and was ranked as the eighth best game on the Xbox by X-play.

See also

• List of computer and video games with female protagonists

External links

• Beyond Good & Evil Official website
• Irisnetwork.net and Hillyannews.com Official game promotional websites
• Beyond Good & Evil at MobyGames
• Michel Ancel: Beyond Good & Evil interview
• Beyond Good & Evil soundtrack at MusicBrainz
• Official Beyond Good & Evil Soundtrack at MySpace (including free download mirrors)
• Full Soundtrack and Nintendo Released Soundtrack at StormEffect
• Beyond Good & Evil on Wikia Gaming, an external wiki
• Beyond Good & Evil at GameSpot
• Beyond Network