Beyond Good & Evil (video game)



""Expose the conspiracy. Capture the truth.""

In a distant star system, presumably sometime in the future, there is a peaceful mining planet named Hillys. The peace of this planet was shattered not long ago, when mysterious alien monsters called the DomZ invaded this part of the galaxy, striking in surprise attacks, and kidnapping people away to who-knows-where. A military organization called the Alpha Section appears to be keeping the DomZ attacks at bay, but they don't seem to be doing a very good job.

In Beyond Good and Evil (2003), the player assumes the role of Jade, a young woman who lives on Hillys with her adoptive uncle, Pey'j. She makes a living as a freelance photojournalist and runs an orphanage in the lighthouse she lives in. One day, after a DomZ attack, she is contacted by the Iris Network, a subversive underground press organization and resistance group, that seeks to expose the truth about the Alpha Sections and rally the people of Hillys against them. She accepts their offer, reluctantly at first, and infiltrates Alpha Section facilities to take pictures of their suspicious activities.

Designed by Michael Ancel of Rayman fame, the game plays like a Sci Fi twist on The Legend of Zelda. It combines simple yet engaging combat, with vehicle action, puzzle solving, stealth, and photography challenges. The environments are detailed and beautiful, the characters are interesting and well-animated, in a stylized balance of cartoonish and realistic. It was released for IBM PC, XBox, PS2 and Gamecube, but sold few copies on any platform.

The PC version of the game was even packaged free with a certain brand of cheese in Canada in early February, 2009.

Needless to say, the gaming community pretty much went nuts when Ubisoft surprised everyone at their press conference/marketing event in mid-2008 by showing a trailer for Beyond Good And Evil 2. From that point on, the game got stuck in the ninth circle of Development Hell, and seemed to go through endless rumor cycles of being cancelled, not cancelled, moved, and more. As of E3 2010, Word of God has is that the game will be switched over to a development style not unlike that of the recently revealed Rayman Origins, with a small team (and even using a 3-D version of Origin's engine). An HD remake of the first game was just released on XBLA and PSN.

Not related to the book by Friedrich Nietzsche under the same title. At all. (Or, for that matter, the second game in the Xenosaga trilogy.)

""Loyal Hillyans!""
 * Achilles' Heel - The Alpha Sections are vulnerable in their air tanks, and can be taken out if hit from behind. (One will fix another's tank, if there are two of them together.)
 * Pey'j, on the first boss: "In the eye, Jade! That's his Achilles' Heel!"
 * Action Girl
 * Action Mom - Adoptive mother, but it still counts--especially given that Jade's need to provide for her kids is what catapaults her into the story in the first place.
 * Adventure Game - A new twist on the genre, but it fits.
 * Adorkable - Double H: Super soldier, rebel spy... unexpected fangirl bait due to his clumsy-but-earnest nature.
 * Air Vent Passageway
 * Alien Invasion
 * Ambiguously Brown - Poor, poor Jade. The surest way to start Fan Wank regarding this game is to ask this simple question: "So what ethnicity is she anyway?" Depending on who you ask, she's black, Hispanic, Native American, olive-skinned European, Asian, Arab, Caucasian but with a tan, or any mixture of the above. Evidence seems to be that you see her as what you want to see, and some think that she was deliberately created to be ambiguous so more people could identify from her, with In the Future, Humans Will Be One Race as justification.
 * As we learn in the ending,
 * A number of other characters seem to have this going on as well. Double H is very tan, but it's not clear if he's just suntanned or if it's his natural color. And Hahn seems to be obviously a Bald Black Leader Guy, but he's rather pale and also appears somewhat Asian.
 * And Now for Someone Completely Different - Pulled with sidekicks instead of the main character, but it still fits.
 * Amazing Technicolor Population - Yoa. The camera insists she's "Homo Sapiens," but most humans don't have bluish-white skin.
 * Anti Frustration Feature - While dying in most places makes you lose any items you used after the checkpoint, the Looter's Caverns and final boss return items to you after you're sent back to a checkpoint.
 * As Long as It Sounds Foreign - Several of the game's music tracks contain lyrics in nonsensical languages, with a few recognizable phrases sprinkled in. (The exception is "Fun and Mini-Games/Spanish Bar," which is, in fact, in Spanish.)
 * Propaganda!
 * Propaganda, misheard lyrics by Zetragild for a funny take on the lyrics.
 * Funnier yet, while most of the lyrics are nonsense, Micho1994 offers further help in the comments. "I see on 1:23 you didn't come up with anything...allow me. xD It's Bulgarian so I can translate it for you. She says: "We are subjected to the violence of the Alpha sections. Domz has the power. You shouldn't listen to their propaganda. Which puts the people to sleep."
 * Attack Its Weak Point - The Alpha Sections have a brightly colored tank on the back of their armour that incapacitates them if hit with a disk, and sends them flying into the atmosphere if kicked.
 * Badass Creed - The code of Carlson & Peeters, at least in theory. Double H seems to apply liberal amounts of What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome? to his interpretation of it, though...
 * Bald of Awesome - Hahn.
 * Bash Brothers - How Jade and her teammates fight. When she's fighting alongside her sidekick, they can even use a combo "Super Attack" to send enemies flying.
 * Batman Gambit -.
 * Big Book of War - CARLSOOOOOON AAAAND PEEEEETERSSSSSS!
 * Big Friendly Dog - Woof, who is, sitting up, at least as tall as Jade herself.
 * Bilingual Bonus - At least one song in the game isn't all in Foreign Sounding Gibberish--the mini-game/competition song has some lyrics in Spanish, about pretty much what you'd expect a mini-game-song to be about (specifically, racing).
 * Also, bits and pieces of Secundo's dialogue are in Spanish.
 * And Italian. And French.
 * Boisterous Bruiser: Pey'j. His politeness runs from "informal" to "obnoxious", he's very capslock, he likes to hang around in bars, he's full of wise advice, his presence is bigger than his physical size, and . However, he's The Smart Guy rather than The Big Guy. But if he's not The Big Guy, he gets to be The Pig Guy.
 * Book Ends - The game begins and ends with a shot of Jade awakening from a meditative trance, accompanied by variants of the same song.
 * Border Patrol - At the borders of the main map, you'll get the warning "you are now leaving territorial waters". If you continue, you'll get picked up and carried back.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer - Both Pey'j and Double H have abilities beyond what their comical exteriors would suggest.
 * Butt Monkey - Bad things happen to Jade and Pey'j because it moves the story along. Bad things happen to Double H because it's funny. Even a pre-teen goat boy gets away with picking on him...
 * Calling Your Attacks - "Jet Boots Attack!"
 * Camera Sniper - Used in the opening.
 * Canis Latinicus - All the Petting Zoo People have taxonomical names that end in Sapiens but are of different genus; for example, Jade's "uncle", Pey'j, is a "Sus Sapiens" or "Wise Pig."
 * Canned Orders Over Loudspeaker - The leader of the Alpha section on the floating screens in the market.

"Fehn: [overlooking Double H] So, I see you're bringing home canned food now? Jade: I swear, he's not like the others!"
 * Carnivore Confusion - Not only do we have an anthropomorphic cow bartender and a slaughtered cow corpse in a freezer, we also have several jokes about eating Pey'j.
 * Interestingly, several of the cow-bartender's patrons are sharks (one of whom quips about eating families). Seems like it'd be hard to keep the peace.
 * Catgirl - Meï, the Voice with an Internet Connection.
 * Chekhov's Gun - If you check Pey'j's inventory you'll spot an MDisk you can't do anything with.
 * Chekhov's Gunman -
 * City of Canals
 * Clothes Make the Superman - Alpha Sections and the Hillyan Army wear massive Powered Armor.
 * Cloudcuckoolander - Double H, at least when you first meet him. To be fair, it isn't entirely his fault. He gets better, but still retains a few somewhat airheaded traits.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience:
 * Context Sensitive Button - There are two "action" buttons in the game: One for Jade, and one for whoever is following her. The gameplay is heavily based on this.
 * Continuing Is Painful - When continuing after dying Jade will only be at half of her maximum health. This is painful in some Trial and Error Gameplay moderately tricky stealth sections which feature instadeath traps. Some players don't bother healing up from there since another death is probably just around the corner.
 * Curse of the Ancients - Pey'j both plays this one straight and subverts it. On one hand, he's prone to several "Consarnits!" and "Conflabbits!" On the other hand, his favorite epithet appears to be the decidedly less ancient "Sweet Jesus!
 * Cutscenes - In-engine, and very well done.
 * Damn You, Muscle Memory!
 * Controls for taking photographs switched camera control from one joystick to the other in the PS2 port. This is hell when trying to take a photo during combat.
 * And if you're playing on the Game Cube, try going between this game and Star FOX Adventures. (Or better yet, don't--unless you like mad flailing.) Both have staff combat. Both have partner mechanics. Both have similar inventories. Both are Zeldalikes. Both have completely different controls. (Yet not different enough to stop you from getting confused.)
 * controlling the (game) camera is a pain as the X and Y axis cannot be reversed separately and they operate halfway between most games standards. (Most games have tilt left to look left but tilt up to look down, this has left for left and up for up and you can only reverse both at once.)
 * Death Course - In particular, this game loves the Laser Hallway.
 * Defeat Equals Explosion: All the enemies. Exploding on death must be a quirk of the DomZ's physiology.
 * Deflector Shields
 * Detail-Hogging Cover - The "box art" for the HD rerelease really ramps up the detail, to slightly creepy extent. The HD game does look slightly nicer, but the cover suggests an almost complete graphical overhaul.
 * Dialog During Gameplay - Jade and her companions talk very frequently. Sometimes it's to explain things, but sometimes it's just for entertainment.
 * Doomed Protagonist - ... at least until early footage of the sequel showed that seems to have gotten better.
 * Door to Before - See that laser fence? The button to deactivate it is on the other side. You know what to do...
 * The Dragon -  turns out to be this.
 * Easter Egg - If you talk to Yoa at various points in the game, she'll tell you some incredibly helpful things. The problem-she barely speaks a word of English, so what you understand amounts to a vague and unhelpful hint, and you probably won't figure out what she meant until it comes up in the course of the plot. The only indication that she's said anything important is her use of the phrase "batahn-batahn", which context suggests is roughly "tadah".
 * Just a little thing, and it's not exactly hidden, but Pey'j waves if you point the camera at him.
 * The PC version contains a Parody Commercial featuring Ed, the protagonist from Ancel's Tonic Trouble, on the giant screens above the racetrack.
 * One of the creatures you can photograph is the Aedes raymanis a Rayman mosquito.
 * Electric Jellyfish - "Sweet Jesus! Jellies!" Pey'j reacts with zeal to being zapped by one, though that's probably his Boisterous Bruiser side showing through.
 * Electric Torture
 * Empathy Doll Shot - If the  wasn't depressing enough...
 * Enemy Within -  Though it isn't really a split personality, but   Might add a bit of Fridge Horror to the story.
 * Erudite Stoner - The Mammago brothers. Despite being the best mechanics in the land, they're rather, uh, "mellow." Suspiciously mellow. The original concept art for their garage had a marijuana leaf on the door, but they cut that for some unfathomable reason. And while in English the three have the names Hal, Babukar and Issam, in the original French the first one is called Haile.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" - Double H always goes by his codename, despite the fact that he never addresses anyone else by their codenames. There's one cutscene where he gets called "Hub," though.
 * The Evil Army
 * Eye Scream / Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
 * Fartillery - Pey'j's Jet Boots run on, er, "home-made biocarburant" and "pressurized methane." If his battle cries are anything to go by, he does have a penchant for Mexican food...
 * First-Name Basis - When Double H stops referring to Jade as "Miss," things have officially Gotten Serious.
 * First-Person Snapshooter - One of the central mechanics. Justified since Jade is a photographer.
 * Flunky Boss - The starting boss, first "real" boss, and the Final Boss. The enemies they summon range from relatively harmless Electric Jellyfish to
 * Forgot to Pay the Bill: In the opening cutscene, the shield protecting Jade's house from alien invasion gets shut off because the bill wasn't paid.
 * Friend to All Children - All three of the main characters. Jade and Pey'j most obviously, since they do run an Orphanage of Love, but Double H shows his kinder side off in the Photo Montage during the credits.
 * Funny Animal - Many characters are non-human, animal-like humanoids.
 * Bonus: they have plausible taxonomic classifications, like Sus sapiens, which literally means "sentient pig".
 * Game Breaking Bug - On some playthroughs the second triangle key doesn't become accessible, requiring a save state editor in order to continue.
 * Also, sometimes Double H will disappear in the Slaughterhouse and never reappear. Hope you have an earlier save!
 * Gentle Giant - Double H is surprisingly playful when he's not pounding things into the dirt with his hammer.
 * Global Currency Exception - Mammago Garage only accepts (illegal) pearls. There are, however, hints that pearls weren't always illegal currency.
 * Go for the Eye - Many of the DomZ enemies.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars - What's with that scar across Pey'j's eye, huh? Fehn (the literal kid) also has one across his nose.
 * Fehn could have gotten it when the DomZ took away his parents in an attack.
 * Gotta Catch Em All - Your first quest is to take photos of an example of Every single living thing on the planet.
 * And then, to a certain extent, the pearls.
 * Groin Attack - Shoot a projectile at the crotch of a guard and watch them double-up in pain. It's fun!
 * The Guards Must Be Crazy - Even if you mercilessly slaughter their buddies, you can run around a corner and they'll dismiss you as "nothing."
 * Heal Thyself/ Hyperactive Metabolism
 * Heroic BSOD - "Who did you think you are? Did you think you'd actually be able to make a difference? Well, you were wrong. Completely and utterly wrong."
 * Honorary Uncle - Pey'j. He's technically Jade's godfather, but if you dare suggest that they're anything less than real family, you're liable to get pounded.
 * Hot Scoop - Jade is a former page image.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl - Double H is about a head and half taller and three times as wide as Jade. Heck--most non-child male NPCs dwarf her. Of course, her and Pey'j invert this trope--she's a head and a half taller than him, although much skinnier...
 * Human Resources - The DomZ use the Hillyans as a power source.
 * Hyperspace Arsenal - A literal one, the S.A.C. device on Jade's hip stores physical objects as energy patterns for later retrieval.
 * Idle Animation - Jade places her hands on her lower back and thrusts her chest out, stretching. And that's pretty much the only bit of Fan Service you get. Jade's partners have them as well; there are a couple differet ones for each character.
 * Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy - The Alpha Sections soldiers in both chase scenes. Even their leader isn't immune to it!
 * Inconveniently-Placed Conveyor Belt - One Alpha Section compound is full of them. With laser fences that serve no other purpose than to keep you off.
 * Insurmountable Waist High Fence: You can't climb or jump over a box that's waist high. But you can leap over the waist-high laser beams next to it.
 * Interface Screw - The DomZ Priest.
 * Intrepid Reporter
 * In-Universe Game Clock - Days do pass, but they're mostly atmospheric. A few animals for the Collection Sidequest do pop up only at certain times of day, though.
 * Invisible Wall, justified. The field of play is bounded by sentinel spires that shoot oddly harmless bursts of energy to turn Jade back if she attempts to "leave territorial waters." It fits well with the general theme of a government that doesn't trust and can't be trusted.
 * I Owe You My Life
 * Ironic Nickname - "Peepers," the blind man who fronts for IRIS. (Well, ambiguously blind, anyway. He always wears dark glasses, his gaze is unfocused, and he identifies Jade by smell, but he somehow knows when she approaches, doesn't have a cane, and somehow manages to “see” a picture put up on a screen.)
 * It's Quiet... Too Quiet - Double H says "It's too quiet around here. Somebody's watching us,"
 * James Bondage - Both Pey'j and Double H get their time in the, uh, cage.
 * Kent Brockman News - Fehn Digler's news program at the beginning of the game.
 * Final broadcast from "The Hillyan Word", mouthpiece for the Alpha Section.
 * Lantern Jaw of Justice - Double H has one. A briefly visible, Dummied Out early character model for him actually suggests that it used to be bigger, and Hahn had one as well.
 * La Résistance
 * Large Ham - Pey'j (no pun intended) and Double H.
 * Plus the announcer at the races. And General Kehck in his public announcements.
 * Let's Play - By Chip Cheezum and General Ironicus.
 * Life Energy - The DomZ suck you dry of this stuff.
 * Light and Mirrors Puzzle - Near the end of the game.
 * Lighthouse Point - Where the orphans are taken care of. It's a non-creepy variant.
 * Lions and Tigers and Humans, Oh My!
 * Literary Allusion Title - Sort of a Literary Allusion Non-Indicative Name, though. Executive Meddling caused the title; it was originally Between Good and Evil.
 * That said, in its present form the title works as a description of the ideal journalist.
 * The Lonely Piano - The piece "Enfantes Disparus," that plays when
 * A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away
 * - Also, possibly,, but it's unclear.
 * Mama Bear - Just because they're not Jade's biological children doesn't mean you should mess with them. You will get your alien behind handed to you in a plastic bag.
 * Meaningful Echo - Double H has a tendency to rattle off Carlson & Peeters-isms at random, so none of them seem incredibly important, at first.
 * "D! B! U! T! T! Don't break up the team!"
 * Meaningful Name - Jade (the stone) symbolizes immortality and resurrection.
 * Jade's alias "Shauni" is an in-universe example.
 * Mission Briefing
 * Mission Control - The IRIS network, consisting of:
 * Voice with an Internet Connection - Meï
 * Playful Hacker / Techno Wizard - Nino
 * Mr. Exposition / Bald Black Leader Guy - Hahn
 * Mood Whiplash - Silly setting plus serious plot--and Tear Jerker scenes combined with outright slapstick--equals one very confused, but at least entertained--audience.
 * Mook Maker - Several areas include devices that continuously vend robot enemies on demand.
 * My Name Is Not Durwood - "Miss Thyrus!"
 * Mysterious Waif - Yoa. She has no plot significance that we know of--yet--but she's so strange it's hard not to wonder. Plus, she is either a spy or prophetic.
 * Yoa has a strong physical resemblance to Yorda in Ico, and even has speaks an unknown language like Yorda. Possibly a Shout-Out.
 * Narrative Filigree - One of the things the game was initially praised for was for the way its setting actually felt like a world, with little details like advertisements, Jade's friendship with seemingly random NPCs, and all the animals.
 * No Hero Discount - In addition to the normal "making you pay for things even as the world is ending" deal, the game starts off with the energy field that protects you from the aliens failing--because you forgot to pay your power bill.
 * No Indoor Voice - Pey'j. Being on a stealth mission won't stop him from yelling "I'M COMIN', JAAAADDDEEEE!"
 * Non Sequitur Thud - "They...shoes...the..." *whump*
 * No One Gets Left Behind - As dictated by “Carlson and Peeters!”
 * Also leads to a Crowning Moment of Awesome/Heartwarming.
 * Oh Crap - Probably how Jade and Pey'j feel when they realize.
 * Older Sidekick - And two of them, to boot.
 * Ominous Latin Chanting - It's not Latin, but it is ominous and chant-y: The song "Dancing With DomZ." As well as the final boss song, "Sins of the Fathers."
 * One Steve Limit - A rare aversion: Both the orphan Fehn and the reporter Fehn Digler have the same name.
 * Orphanage of Love - Jade's Lighthouse Shelter.
 * Perma-Stubble
 * Petting Zoo People: There are several non-human races that resemble Earth animals
 * Photo Montage - The ending credits.
 * Planetville - Almost the entire story takes place in what is essentially one population center.
 * Possibly justified, as there doesn't appear to be anything but water outside of town and the Governor of the planet lives there herself.
 * Planet Looters - The DomZ.
 * Plot Coupons - The pearls, used to purchase equipment for your vehicles in order to gain access to other areas of the world.
 * Also the photographs during missions and the first few animal photos get you a new zoom for your camera that you'd be pretty helpless without.
 * Plucky Comic Relief - Pey'j is comic relief and he knows it; he supplies plenty of jokes, is the butt of a few, and always keeps his chin up. He's even a bit of a Boisterous Bruiser at times. Double H comes off as comic relief due to his weird mannerisms, though it's suggested that he's actually quite self-aware.
 * Plucky Girl
 * Poirot Speak - Secundo, again. What's weird is that it's never established whether the thing is supposed to be French, Spanish, or Italian. It actually uses idioms from all three languages. (And his grammar is terrible.)
 * Powered Armor - The Alpha Sections wear massive suits of powered armor. The regular Hillyan army does too--while it doesn't look special, it is laser-proof, and it does provide some kind of strength augmentation.
 * Projected Man - Secundo again.
 * Propaganda Machine - These are found everywhere in town, delivering the word of the Alpha Sections and denouncing the IRIS network.
 * Punctuation Shaker - Obviously with Pey'j; more subtly with a minor character named Yoa who speaks in apostrophe-laden babble. The game's original story also featured a Last-Episode New Character named Toy'l.
 * The Quisling - Fehn Digler.
 * Recurring Riff - Two of them. The first, "Redemption," is the game's theme and appears in various places--most notably, as part of the basic lighthouse music and finally in full in the last cutscene. It's the "high point" riff. The second is the music that appears in numerous battle scenes, and even in the Lonely Piano Piece. It's the "low point" riff.
 * Ring Menu: It's a combo of the two types, more of a Type 2.
 * Rodents of Unusual Size - Rattus Giganteus
 * Roof Hopping - The very, very cool rooftop chase scene,
 * Scenery Porn - Lots of it.
 * Screaming Warrior - Double. H. "ATTTAAAAAAAAACK!"
 * And Pey'j. "CHILI CON CARNEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"
 * Shapeshifter Guilt Trip - Pulled in the Final Boss in order to convince Jade to give in.
 * She Is Not My Girlfriend - Gender-flipped, but otherwise played straight:
 * Shapeshifter Guilt Trip - Pulled in the Final Boss in order to convince Jade to give in.
 * She Is Not My Girlfriend - Gender-flipped, but otherwise played straight:

"Jade:"
 * Shorter Means Smarter - Pey'j is about three and a half feet tall. He's also the smartest person on the planet, probably.
 * Shout-Out - There's a pretty obscure reference to the creator's most well known creation, Rayman. There's even a fairly well-hidden reference to Tonic Trouble, an even more obscure game by the same creator. To elaborate, the reference to Rayman is in the Factory dungeon. In a fairly out of the way hidden area, you can find a cow skeleton. If you examine the skeleton, you can find a small bug sticking on to it. The bug is Aedes Raymanis, or Rayman mosquito. Fittingly enough, the mosquito is Bzzit, the first boss from the original Rayman and one of Rayman's friends. The Tonic Trouble reference is the lead character of that game, Ed, advertising K-Starkos, a health item.
 * The official name for the two-legged factory boss appears to be Metal Gear DomZ, if the soundtrack is anything to go by. This is quite fitting considering you fight it after a long stealth section.
 * Smooch of Victory - Subverted.
 * Space Base - The location of the Alpha sections' primary base is on the moon.
 * Space Marine - Double H
 * Space Whale - Megaptera Anaerobia, or "whale that doesn't need oxygen."
 * Spiritual Successor: To Rayman 2. Both feature a pristine, Scenery Porn laden location invaded by machine-like beings, who kidnap many of the protagonist's friends. Since they were made by the same developer, this is hardly surprising.
 * Stealth Based Game - Combat against the Alpha Sections is possible most of the time, but incredibly difficult.
 * By default the only way to defeat Alpha Sections at all is by sneaking up on them. Also in some rooms there is a floating laser cannon that will kill you instantly if you're spotted by your enemies, so you have a lot of reason to be stealthy.
 * Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl - Although not actually a ghost, Yoa has the appearance of such, and apparently the ability to predict the future.
 * Stupid Statement Dance Mix - In an interview, the game's composer, Christophe Heral, said that a significant portion of fan favorite track "Propaganda" was created by remixing portions of a telephone conversation between himself and a Bulgarian woman. In the original version, dialogue from the game production team was included, but got cut. (The Bulgarian phone conversation remix is still there.)
 * Surrogate Soliloquy - Jade, to Woof.
 * The Stinger
 * Take My Hand
 * Tentacle Rope
 * Timed Mission - Saving Double H from the DomZ disease; getting out of the exploding moon base
 * The World Is Just Awesome - After  in the Beluga for the first time, Jade momentarily forgets the solemnity of her mission in order to have a moment of pure Squee:

"Jade:Thanks for everything...My companions."
 * Top-Heavy Guy - Double H
 * True Companions: Just before the meeting the final boss, Jade invokes this near literally with Double H and Pey'j (the Crowning Music of Awesome helps).
 * True Companions: Just before the meeting the final boss, Jade invokes this near literally with Double H and Pey'j (the Crowning Music of Awesome helps).

"Pey'j: You overestimate me, Jade. If you don't give me some of those PA-1's, I'll be a burden to ya."
 * 24-Hour Armor - Double H never goes anywhere without his armor. This is apparently Hand Waved somewhere in the Manual, saying that wearing armor makes him feel manly and empowered.
 * Unexplained Recovery -
 * Use Your Head - Double H
 * He uses a forcefield, technically. Watch him closely and you'll see.
 * Uncancelled - Everyone thought that poor sales of the first title pretty much doomed the game to being a one-shot - up till Ubisoft dropped the trailer for the sequel out of nowhere.
 * Unexpected Gameplay Change - Hovercraft racing time!
 * Video Game Flight - The Beluga lets you take to the skies--though you'll still need the dinky Hovercraft to actually get into places.
 * Voice of the Legion -
 * Weapons Of Choice:
 * Simple Staff - Jade's choice, as a martial arts master.
 * Improvised Weapon - Although Pey'j's wrench is ostensibly intended to be used for fixing machinery and cutting wires, it makes a handy bludgeon.
 * Drop the Hammer - Hammers seem to be the Weapon of Choice in general for both the evil Alpha Sections and and Hillyan army--and, by extension, Double H.
 * Frickin' Laser Beams - The Alphas' hammers can sometimes shoot these.
 * Beam Spam - Jade's "super attack" is somewhere between this and a Macross Missile Massacre.
 * This particular attack could be considered a Game Breaker to some, though it depends.
 * We Need to Get Proof - Jade's a professional photographer, what did you expect?
 * Whack a Monster - The first boss, which bears more than a passing resemblance to the Volvagia fight from The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time.
 * What a Piece of Junk! - Mr. Hovercraft's more resilient than it looks.
 * What Could Have Been - A recently-revealed series of design documents for the game reveal that its early design was much different. It featured such things as the IRIS Network (here called, uh, SPOON) having a flying home base, a second alien race called the Nazh, lost characters such as one Colonel Garis, and others.
 * Original French: Here
 * English Translation: Here
 * What the Hell, Player? - Pey'j and Double H get quite irritated if you hit them. "RESPECT THE HOME TEAM!"
 * While not as extreme an example, if you keep all the health-increasing PA-1's to yourself, your ally will complain.


 * Widget Series / Weird Thing from France: This game is approximately 60% sci-fi action adventure, and 40% what the hell is wrong with the French?
 * Weirder yet, the PC version of the game was packed in free in packages of string cheese in Canada in early 2009. Aimed at French-Canadians?
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Yoa.
 * You Have Failed Me... - When you reach the end of the Factory area, you overhear the Alpha Sections chief telling his DomZ boss that the intruders have been captured. As they both notice Jade, the Alpha offers to take care of her himself, but the DomZ kills him.

The sequel's in-development trailers (2008-2009) provide examples of:

 * Cool Car - The car Jade and Pey'j manage to crash into a tree in the desert. It makes it here only because it's a hovering car.
 * Crossing the Desert
 * Darker and Edgier - Not a whole lot, but the overall style gives this impression.
 * Desert Punk
 * Family-Friendly Firearms - Averted, with the first game's Frickin' Laser Beams being replaced with (or at least accompanied by) actual bullets.
 * Fantasy Counterpart Culture - The city which Jade is being chased through has a mix of Indian and Middle Eastern culture.
 * Jittercam - Used during what is rumored to be actual gameplay, though this is yet to be confirmed.
 * Le Parkour - A trailer features Jade going parkour-tastic in an urban India-esque city, leaping off roofs, the heads of policemen, and some poor guy stuck in a bathroom.
 * Messy Pig - Pey'j does it better than ever.
 * Nobody Poops - Amusingly averted.
 * Real Is Brown
 * She Fu - Jade appears to have gotten better at it.