Jade's photos are proof of what is taking place, and it's only by bravely performing acts of journalism (sneaking and stealthing where a fight will lead to disaster) that she is able to defeat her enemies. It is a game about the power not of guns or magic, but of information. It is the propaganda machine of the enemy that finally leads to its downfall, and the scene is set for a wider adventure and further-reaching philosophy. Would you expect anything less of a game with such a loaded title?
There is no evidence to suggest that Beyond Good & Evil's story was an explicit commentary on the way that the Iraq war was manipulated by both the American and British government, but the lessons can nevertheless by read from the actions of Jade and her friends. Like the most elegantly constructed novels, Beyond Good & Evil suggests something about life without being so clumsy as to spell it out for us. It's a tool for learning - an action-packed lesson about life, if we choose to see it as such. Such games are worth playing as much as family entertainment as they are exercises in the margin of our own experiences. Sure, it's not exactly a philosophy lecture, but its gentle storytelling is nevertheless imbued with implication.
The tragedy of all this is that Beyond Good & Evil sold rather poorly. It was immediately drowned out at the time of its release by a string of high-profile titles across console and PC platforms. Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell were particularly overbearing at the time and were, unfortunately, both Ubisoft titles.
This is a game that should never have been overlooked by the game-hungry public, and I myself feel a twitch of guilt at the very mention of its name - a feeling that I didn't make enough of this provocative and entertaining game at the time I reviewed it. "Quite clever," I said of the game I was to talk about for another three years ...
So I'll consider this my penance to a game ill-served and ask you to point this browser at Amazon and demand a copy be couriered to your door. You'll be doing us both a favor and, perhaps, if that long tail of extended sales is long enough, Ubisoft will be able to continue the planned Beyond Good & Evil series. I think we owe Jade that second chance, and I, for one, want to see what she does next.
Jim Rossignol is a writer and editor based in the South West of England. He writes about videogames, fiction and science.
