Beyond Good & Evil (2003)

Ubisoft's masterpiece is forever relevant.

Premise

Beyond Good & Evil is a 3D adventure that was developed by Ubisoft Milan and released in 2003. It was directed by Michel Ancel. The following will contain spoilers.

In 2435, a colony planet Hillys of System 4 is under a constant threat of alien monsters called DomZ periodically kidnapping residents (including both humans and antropomorphs) and feeding off their life energy. They are regularly fended off by a mercenary group called the Alpha Sections, who now de-facto make up Hillys's military.

Jade is a 20-year-old photographer who runs an orphanage at the island lighthouse, alongside her adoptive uncle Pey'j, a boar-man. One day, a DomZ meteor lands on their island, and the children almost get taken. Jade destroys the monsters just before the Alpha Sections arrive, who take all the credit.

The lighthouse is running low on electricity bills, so Jade applies to fill up the bestiary for the Science Center. After that, the world gets opened, and Jade can participate in various minigames, like racing or sneaking into storage rooms owned by the Alpha Sections.

She also receives a message from Mr. De Castellac's envoy, who offers her a large pay if she does an unspecified job at the Black Isle's mines. Upon going there, she is further instructed to take a photo of a DomZ creature in the deepest parts of the mine, who she ends up having to fight. The messenger reveals himself to be Hahn, a member of a rebellion/journalist group IRIS Network, whose goal is to expose the Alpha Sections for withholding the information about the DomZ. Jade goes to their secret hideout at the Akuda Bar and joins under the pseudonym of "Shauni".

Members of the IRIS Network exposition that the governor is concerned that no hospital has received any victims of the DomZ attacks, suggesting that the Alpha Sections are the true kidnappers and likely ship off the victims to the moon Selene. Jade is next tasked to investigate the Nutripils Factory, where their agent "Double H" has gone missing.

Jade and Pey'j break into the old factory and see it overrun with DomZ. Jade finds amnesiac Double H trapped in a DomZ torture device and releases him. Pey'j gives Jade a mysterious message on a disc, and shortly gets abducted by the Alpha Sections. Jade and Double H reach the facility where people, along with Pey'j, are shipped in boxes to the abandoned slaughterhouse, where they are next sent to DomZ commanders on Selene.

Pey'j has left a memo for Jade about taking her to Hillys on her late parents' request, before the war has reached there, and that he left a code for the spaceship he's been working on. Meanwhile, the IRIS Network has spread Jade's reports, causing an uprising among the population and the Alpha Sections losing their popularity.

At the slaughterhouse, Jade fails to save Pey'j in time before he is sent to the moon, but later IRIS Network receives a transmission from their missing leader, who turns out to be Pey'j all along. As the IRIS Network gets full public support, the Alpha Sections attack the lighthouse and take the children. Jade and Double H take Pey'j's spaceship to go to Selene.

Pey'j is found dead from torture. Jade then fights the Alpha Sections commander, getting him killed, and uses the moon's antenna to broadcast worldwide the Alpha Sections colluding with DomZ red-handed in exchange for prolonged lifespan. Jade confronts DomZ's High Priest, who reveals that Jade contains his stolen powers and he needs them back, but she kills him. Jade awakens to her DomZ powers, revives Pey'j, and releases all the victims.

Gameplay

The game follows two main modes. One where Jade walks around a place, beats enemies with a staff, and talks with NPCs. And the other where she is driving the Hovercraft across the ocean.

The adventure sections are fairly immersive. The lighthouse is fully explorable and is filled with detail. It really gives the sense of being lived in. Walking in the city similarly makes it feel architecturally interesting and the NPCs will have new things to say as the plot progresses. Dungeons mix up sneaking around the patrols, collecting evidence, and beating everything up.

The plot locations show some inspiration from Zelda dungeons. Jade and her company investigate a secluded area and are interrupted by waves of enemies or roadblocks, so they have to side-track to another area that contains some kind of puzzle or a key item. Repeat until the end.

Jade's main weapon is a Daï-jo staff, with which she hits enemies in a three-hit combo. She has some interesting movement flexibility as she aims at the nearest enemy instead of where the player model is facing, as long as the target is not behind her. The staff has a charged AoE attack, which I don't think was explained narratively. She also has a roll jump, which works as both as an evasive maneuver and as a way to get over gaps.

Jade's camera uses the first-person mode. For taking pictures of animals, it makes sense. Once you unlock ranged attacks, which somehow uses the same camera, it becomes quite annoying, as it's very situational, doesn't allow you to run, and restricts your visibility.

Jade's S.A.C bag acts as the inventory and has a degree of game immersion, as she's shown to operate it explicitly. It has some sort of "atomic compression" functionality, but the game doesn't elaborate on it. The companions also have a limited inventory even if they aren't shown to have a S.A.C, and Jade can inexplicably pass items between them from the pause menu as long as they're in the same room.

Jade's S.A.C also contains a holographic AI called Secundo, who is very snarky, acts as a kind of announcer in the menus, and isn't really relevant until the final dungeon where who he is is left to speculation.

The only companions are Pey'j and Double H, who generally follow you, attack enemies automatically, and try to cover your flank. They are strong enough to handle a monster if left on their own, but compared to Jade they are extremely slow. And they also occasionally take damage and consume healing items if you've given them any. If they can't heal, it's the same as if you getting killed. Both can also take simple commands as some puzzles require splitting up. Pay'j has a unique ability of a rocket slam, which interacts with some mechanisms and lifts enemies into the air, which at worst briefly stunlocks them and at best allows Jade to easily dispose of them. Double H's armor lets him pass through laser doors or ram into adversaries.

I really like the keyboard, text inputs use some kind of spiraling rotary phone design to select letters, it's kind of unique. And you'll see a lot of it as many areas require 4-letter passwords that are randomized in each playthrough.

The Hovercraft acts like a sort of overworld traversal since the areas are much smaller on the outside, but there is water combat as well. Hovercraft has a blaster gun that can be upgraded with homing missiles. The game will nudge you to visit Mammago's Garage after each plot section, as the next area will require a new ability to get in. I like the detail that if you shoot a civilian vehicle, the police will fine you with marginal amount of currency.

Aside of the plot, the game limits your progression by having you collect Pearls, which can be found practically everywhere, from exploring an optional area, to winning a mini-game, to just for the achievements. There are a few extras, so you don't have to collect everything, but you'll need to do some side activities if you want that Hovercraft progress. Like in Zelda, there are also health upgrades that similarly either super expensive or are hidden.

Themes and presentation

The game isn't being subtle that it's going for the rights of freelance journalism and distrust of authorities. The Alpha Sections have bribed the state media to present themselves as heroic defenders, when it truth they engage in genocide against own population and have seized control from the government. The truth is only uncovered by Jade risking her life to go to the locations of interest and snapping photos there. As the story progresses, the Alpha Sections accuses the IRIS Network of terrorism and spreading misinformation, though the citizens no longer take them seriously. You can also argue the game asrgues if you can trust political groups with your safety.

Jade shows some motherly traits, but otherwise her being a female protagonist isn't expressed, which for 2003 is kind of refreshing. She is very excitable by victories, needs a long breather when fails, shows empathy in conversations, and is no-nonsense ruthless to opponents. She prioritizes publicizing the truth, but is otherwise not very opinionated, allowing the players to project on her.

The game is filled with a large variety of furries, who the narrative treats all as just one race despite the biological differences, which I'll take as extra props for the inclusivity.

All the orphans have unique personalities and hints of backstories. It's a shame they are pretty much used twice as plot devices. The IRIS Network members also each have own history, which is kind of up for your imagination.

Pey'j act as Jade's uncle and really shows it. He's a kind of a grumpy old man who'd like to tend to his hobbies, but is always with Jade whenever she needs anything. He doesn't always take things seriously and keeps a share of secrets, so conversations of him provide some comedy.

Double H (whose real name may be Hubert) is a former Hillyan solider who has been sitting under a DomZ probe for so long his brain is almost fried up. He often quotes a military guidebook that covers the code of honor and offensive strategies, that makes him sound a bit childish compared to the seriousness of the situation. That is until he gets better, after which he clearly shows signs of PTSD and an increased appreciation for life.

The DomZ are stylized to be very obviously evil. The main enemies have skeletal design that mixes green crystal and ghost aesthetics, which makes them super creepy and an antithesis to life. They also have an ability to cover mechanical parts in a black tissue and control them, further emphasizing a connection, despite the game not really going for a nature-preservation theme. They also appear to have own language system, but its content is not explained to the player. I'll never agree that the Pterolimax is a DomZ because it looks nothing like them.

The art direction is quite stunning if you pay attention to it, and the graphics hold well for 2003. The grass areas have fireflies, the water areas sometimes have fishes jump out, and factory areas are covered in slime. It has received not just one HD remaster in 2011, but a second one in 2024. The models never really needed updates, but they add some QoL features and the latter adds a sequel hook to BG&E2 despite how everyone knows it will never come out.

The music is composed by Christophe Héral, who does a great job of capturing the sense of tranquil or tension depending on the situation. Some tracks mix up styles with Caribbean Hispanic and French vocals. I'll have to make an obligatory mention of a track that uses sampling from Héral's Bulgarian friend discussing state surveillance while the rappers scream "Propaganda", which is as in the face as you can get.

Final thoughts

You can tell why do I find the story's message important. We live in the time where the state, influencers, or bigtech not only can control the narrative, but control the very platforms that spread information. It's very difficult to find sources when your feed is curated to show only the provocative and unsourced slop content. The game is rather very optimistic in how easily the population trusts the underground magazine saying that everything they know is fake, but we all need to keep an open mind and be skeptical.

While two remasters are appreciated, unfortunately, this is an IP handled by Ubisoft, who are known for either being very anti-consumer or getting themselves into a scandal every now and then. As much as I'd like a sequel they've promised since 2008, we still only have a trailer and one gameplay showcase in 2018, after which a complete radio silence despite the another entirely new team assuring they're still working on it. We deserve further exploration into Jade's past and the themes of freedom, but call me doubtful that this company can do it the justice it deserves.

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