| Jade | |
|---|---|
Jade as she appears in Beyond Good & Evil. |
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| Series | Beyond Good & Evil |
| First game | Beyond Good & Evil |
| Created by | Michel Ancel |
| Voiced by | Jodie Forrest (English) Emma De Caunes (French) |
Jade is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the action-adventure video game Beyond Good & Evil. She is a photo journalist, and was created by Ubisoft developer Michel Ancel, who had the intention of creating a character who resembled a real person rather than a "sexy action woman." In Beyond Good & Evil, she and her ally Pey'j, a half-boar half-human, work together to both rescue the orphans they were taking care of and expose the government's corruption.
Since appearing in Beyond Good & Evil, Jade has been met with very positive reception; she was included on several top lists of female video game characters. She has been compared to other characters in fiction, including Alyx Vance from Half-Life 2, Kendra Midori from the Avatar video game, and others. Beyond Good & Evil public relations manager Tyrone Miller cited actress Shannyn Sossamon as a good choice for a hypothetical Beyond Good & Evil film due to the similar way in which they both talk and act.
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Jade was created by Beyond Good & Evil developer Michel Ancel. Ancel's wife, Alexandra, a character artist for the game, played an important role in her creation; Beyond Good & Evil public relations manager Tyrone Miller stated that a rumour existed that she was the inspiration for Jade. Ancel intended on creating a character that resembled a real person rather than a "sexy action woman." Miller describes the focus on Jade is on her role, situation, and meaning of her actions in the game. The design of Jade evolved through the game's development, both visually and psychologically.[1] IGN editor Kaiser Hwang describes the change as going from a innocent girl with a tomboyish charm to a tougher, more weathered girl with multiple green-coloured articles of clothing.[2] Miller also describes her as a "girl next door" that people can identify with.[1] While Jade has been cited as a black character,[3] Miller states that she has no established ethnicity since the game takes place on another planet.
She is portrayed by Jodie Forrest in English and Emma De Caunes in French. When asked who he felt should portray Jade in a hypothetical Beyond Good & Evil film, Miller chose Shannyn Sossamon, stating that she looks and walks similarly to Jade.[1] In a recent interview by Nintendo Power, Ancel states that he hopes that Jade keeps her values and personality in Beyond Good & Evil 2.[4] She is portrayed by Jodie Forrest in the English version and Emma De Caunes in the French version.[5][6] In an interview with Play, Ancel described Jade as having "a soul like a real person" rather than simply a puppet for the players to control. He noted the character's design was adapted during production, and attributed her personality as a result of the melding of the game's dialogue, voice acting, and visuals "coming together".[7]
In Beyond Good and Evil, Jade lives in an island lighthouse with the boar-like Pey'j, caring for children orphaned by attacks on the planet by the DomZ, an aggressive alien race. While a skilled jōdō martial artist, she is also a freelance journalist. When she runs out of money to power the orphanage's shield generator, Jade takes a photography job cataloging all the animals on Hillys. She is then recruited by the IRIS Network, an anti-government group trying to expose a collaboration between the DomZ and Alpha Section, an elite military group supposedly created to fight the DomZ. With her martial arts knowledge, she is able to infiltrate different government facilities and obtain evidence of human trafficking. After confronting the DomZ High Priest on Hillys' moon, she learns that she is known to the DomZ as "Shauni", and was bequeathed with a spiritual power stolen from them centuries ago, using it to defeat the Priest and save the Hillyan populace.
A Jade-like figure appears in a Beyond Good and Evil 2 teaser trailer as traveling with Pey'j.[8] The same figure is also shown in a leaked development video from Ubisoft, escaping from a city.[9]
In addition, Jade's costume appears in the 2008 video game Prince of Persia for the character Elika.[10]
Since her appearance in Beyond Good & Evil, Jade has been met with positive reception, particularly for being attractive yet also tasteful. Fox News editor Lou Kesten cited Jade as an example of a heroine who isn't just eye candy for adolescent boys.[11] The IGN PlayStation team listed her as one of the top 10 gaming heroines, describing her as "not your typical game character" as well as inquisitive, smart, brave, and fully clothed.[12] IGN editor David Adams praised her ability to register pity or horror with the subtlest of changes in expression.[13] GamesRadar listed her as one of the seventh most tasteful game heroines, stating that while she has a mastery of several disciplines that would take many years to accomplish, she comes off as a normal person, leaning more towards competence than eye candy.[14] They also listed her as one of the top 20 most overlooked video game babes, stating that her "artsy-fartsy" nature and lack of upskirt potential is why she is so overlooked. They also describe her as being inoffensive and her outfit "nigh on asexual."[15] Play featured her in their first annual "Girls of Gaming" issue, praising her as the "ultimate thinking man's (and woman's) heroine".[7] In an article from GameDaily, they listed her as one of the top 25 hottest game babes, citing her as both tough and fashionable.[16] She was also listed as one of the "10 babes who should meet your mom," describing her as devoted.[17] In another article, they listed her on their "Babes of the Week: Brunettes" article, stating that she has a heart of gold.[18] UGO.com listed her as the 46th hottest game babe, calling her righteous.[19] San Francisco Chronicle editor Peter Hartlaub listed her as one of the top 9 greatest video game heroines, describing her as tomboyish and a regular girl caught in the middle of a conflict.[20]
Jade has been compared to other characters in video games. GamePro editor cited Jade as an example of the right way to do female video game characters, along with other female protagonists such as Portal's Chell, Half-Life 2's Alyx Vance, and Silent Hill 3's Heather Mason.[21] Kotaku editor Stephen Totillo compared Kendra Midori, protagonist of the Avatar video game, to Jade, describing the former as a "nature-loving scientist lady" while describing the latter as a "nature-loving photographer," stating that Jade would feel at home in the world of Avatar.[22] In an article discussing racial ambiguity in video games, Wired.com editor Chris Kohler uses Jade as an example of someone whose race is ambiguous, also bringing up a reader's blog post listing Jade in his list of black characters. This caused a "mini-controversy" on the NeoGAF forums, which Kohler takes statements from to show the confusion. Kohler feels that the developers made Jade to be racially ambiguous, intending to allow players to see themselves in Jade.[3]