Beyond Good & Evil

Beyond Good and Evil
Published by	Ubi Soft
Developed by	Ubisoft Montpellier Ubisoft Milan (Porting Xbox/PC)
Directed by	{{{directed by}}}
Produced by	{{{produced by}}}
Designed by	Michel Ancel, Sebastien Morin
Programmed by	{{{programmed by}}}
Art by	{{{art by}}}
Written by	{{{written by}}}
Soundtrack by	Christophe Héral
Release date	11th November, 2003
Genre	Action-adventure
Gameplay mode	Single player
Languages	{{{languages}}}
Platforms	Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Windows, Sony PlayStation 3 (via PlayStation Network), Microsoft Xbox 360 (via Xbox Live Arcade)
Ratings	7+ (PEGI), T (ESRB)
Distribution media	DVD-ROM, GameCube Optical Disc, digital download
Game engine	Jade

Beyond Good and Evil is an action-adventure video game published and developed by Ubi Soft in 2003. The game was designed by French games developer Michel Ancel, who also created the Rayman series. Beyond Good and Evil was developed concurrently with Rayman 3. Ancel opted out of the latter game's development to work on Beyond Good and Evil. After spending several years on the Rayman games, he wished to move on to something different. The game was released to critical praise, but it was a commercial failure. A sequel is currently in development under the name Beyond Good and Evil 2.

The game's soundtrack was composed by Christophe Héral, who also scored Rayman Origins.

Plot

Expose the Conspiracy. Capture the Truth.

For centuries, the planet Hyllis has been locked in conflict with a race of relentless alien invaders. Wary of her government's promises to repel the aliens for good, a rebellious action reporter named Jade sets out to capture the truth behind the prolonged war.

Armed with her camera, dai-jo staff, and fierce determination, Jade soon finds herself inside the jaws of a horrific conspiracy, and face to face with an evil she cannot possibly fathom.

In a world where deception is the deadliest weapon of all, will Jade's discoveries be enough to free her people?

—Story, Beyond Good and Evil website

Beyond Good and Evil takes place in the year 2435, on a once-idyllic mining planet named Hillys. The game's world is inhabited by a society composed of humans and anthropomorphic animals who co-exist peacefully. The architecture seen in the game is of a rustic European style, but more technologically advanced elements such as credit cards, email, hovercrafts and spaceships and are also featured.

The game's main protagonist is a young photojournalist named Jade (voiced by Jodie Forrest, who also provided the vocalisations for Tily, Razorwife and Globette in Rayman M and Rayman Rush). She lives in a lighthouse orphanage with her adoptive uncle – an anthropomorphic pig named Pey'j (voiced by David Gasman, the actor who has voiced Rayman since 1999). Like Rayman, Jade's origins are mysterious, and she is eventually revealed as a ‘chosen one’ with unique abilities. By the opening of the game, Hillys is beset my a monstrous alien force known as the DomZ, which comprise the majority of the enemies encountered throughout the game. Parallels can be drawn between the DomZ and the space-faring Robo-Pirates in Rayman 2. A dictatorial military group known as the Alpha Sections exercise an authoritarian regime over the Hyllian people under the guise of protecting them from the DomZ. Early on in the game, Jade is contacted by the IRIS Network, an underground organisation intent on uncovering the conspiracy between the DomZ and the Alpha Sections and liberating the people from their rule.

Gameplay

A mosquito from the Rayman series makes a cameo appearance

While primary a third-person action-adventure game, Beyond Good and Evil features elements of various other video game genres, including stealth, puzzle-solving and racing. Jade combats enemies with a Daï-jo staff, but also gains the ability to fire disc projectiles later in the game. A substantial number of the game's missions involve photography; Jade is often required to take photographs revealing the Alpha Sections' true nature, but optional side-quests involve photographing wildlife for rewards. At one point in the game, the player can come across a mosquito from the Rayman series, which is identified as ‘Aedes Raymanis’ (‘Fly from Rayman’). The world of Hyllis is presented as a single continuous environment broken only by load zones; there are no distinct levels, and the player must travel manually from place to place, as in Rayman Revolution. Jade's primary mode of transport is a hovercraft, which can be used to travel the watery streets of the main city and the surrounding seaside area.

See also

• Rayman in popular culture
• More information on the Beyond Good and Evil Wiki