Jade (Beyond Good & Evil)

Jade was created by game developer Michel Ancel. His wife Alexandra was the designer of many characters in the game and played an important role in the creation of the heroine, as Tyron Miller, Beyond Good & Evil public relations manager, said that there were rumors that she was the inspiration for Jade.

Ansel created the heroine, which was supposed to be like a real person, and not a “sexy action woman”. Miller notes that the emphasis is on the very role of Jade, on the situation and the meaning of her actions in the game, and describes her as a “girl next door” with whom people can identify themselves. ^[one]

Jade's design developed throughout the development phase of the game, both in terms of its appearance and psychology ^[1] . And although Jade was often portrayed by a black woman in most sketches ^[2] , Miller claims that she does not have an established ethnicity, since the game takes place on another planet, planet Earth is not mentioned in the plot, and the plot does not unfold in the Milky Way. IGN editor Keise Hwan describes the change in Jade’s design as a transition from an innocent tough girl with a tomboy charm to a weathered girl with several green garments. ^[3]

In the English version, Jade was voiced by Jody Forrest, in the French - Emma de Con .

When Miller was asked who, in his opinion, should play Jade in a hypothetical film for the game, he chose actress Shannin Sossamon , stating that she looks and moves like Jade ^[1] . In an interview with Nintendo Power , Ansel said he hoped Jade would retain her value and personality in Beyond Good & Evil 2 . In an interview with Play magazine, Ansel described Jade as a heroine with a “soul like a real person”, and not just a puppet for players to control. He noted that the character’s image changed during the production process, and attributed her personality to the dialogs of the game, sound and visual effects of “rapprochement”. ^[four]

Beyond Good & Evil

In the game, Jade is a 20-year-old girl from the planet Hillia. She lives on a small island with a lighthouse, where she and Uncle Pey'J, a boar-like humanoid, organized a shelter for single children whose parents were abducted by DoomTs, aliens regularly attacking Chillia. Jade joins the underground insurgent organization IRIS, which seeks to prove that the Alpha corps, which supposedly protects the planet from invaders, is in fact secretly collaborating with DoomTs. The girl obtains evidence that the corps steals people for aliens. While traveling to the moon to free the captives, the supreme ruler of DoomTs reveals to the heroine that she is actually Shawnee, the embodiment of the spiritual power of DoomTs, which IRIS stole and hid on Hillia. Jade uses new forces and defeats DoomTs, saving the civilian population from danger.

Other

In the game Prince of Persia (2008), Jade's skin is an alternative for the main character Elika . ^[five]

Ever since joining Beyond Good & Evil, Jade has received many positive reviews. Fox News editor Lou Questin cites Jade as an example of a heroine who is not only a delight for the eyes of teenage boys. ^[6] The IGN website listed her as one of the top 10 computer game heroines, describing her as “not your typical game character in the game,” and claiming to be curious, smart, daring, and fully dressed. ^[7] IGN editor David Adams praised her ability to celebrate pity or horror, with subtle changes in expression. ^[8] GamesRadar put Jade in seventh place on the list of tasteful heroines. ^[9] The same site also listed her as one of the top 20 most underrated babies of computer games, describing her as harmless, with her "almost asexual" outfit. ^{[10] The} Play magazine’s UK division placed her in her first annual edition of Girls from the Games, praising her as the “ultimate thinking male (and female) heroine.” ^[4] GameDaily included her in the list of 25 hot gaming babes, describing her as cool and fashionable. ^[11] They also included her in the list of “10 crumbs your mom should like”, describing her as a “devotee”. ^[12] In another article, reporters on this site listed her on the Kids of the Week: Brunettes list, stating that she had a heart of gold. ^[13] UGO.com put her in 46th place on the list of 50 sexual beauties from the games, calling her a righteous one. ^[14] San Francisco Chronicle editor Peter Hartlab included her on the list of 9 best computer game heroines, describing her as a tomboy and an ordinary girl caught in the middle of a conflict. ^[15] Jade is on the list of the greatest female characters in the history of computer games according to Tom's Games ( The 50-Greatest Female Characters in the History of Video Games ) ^[16] .

GamePro magazine cited Jade as an example of how to make female characters in games, along with other heroines - Portal Chell , Half-Life 2 Alix Vance and Silent Hill 3 Heather Mason. ^[17] Kotaku blog editor Stephen Totillo compared her to Kendra Midori, the heroine of James Cameron's Avatar: The Game , declaring that Jade would feel at home in the Avatar world. ^[18] In a Wired article on racial ambiguities in computer games, Chris Kohler uses Jade as an example of a character whose race is ambiguous, as well as pointing out blog posts that related Jade to black characters and the subsequent behind this "mini-dispute" on the NeoGAF forum. Kohler believes that the developers made Jade racially ambiguous, intending to allow players to see themselves in it. ^[2] Journalists from the Australian newspaper The Age put her in 2008 at 46th place on the list of 50 best characters in Xbox games of all time, stating that “She does not need to shred her flesh to attract attention, like other characters in the ranking. All she needs is her brains and camera. ” ^[19] In the ranking of “10 hottest moms” from Complex.com, Jade took 5th place, her children are the children who remained orphans after the attacks of DoomTs. ^[20]

The engine of the game Beyond Good & Evil - Jade engine , is named after this heroine. Later it was used in many Ubisoft games, in particular in all games of the modern Prince of Persia series.

• beyondgoodevil.com - official jade website