It’s not every day that a Lara Croft or Sephiroth comes along. Video game characters need to be original and captivating because, more often than not, players will be spending hours upon hours with them. Unfortunately they rarely are more than soulless, badass marines or semi-retarded femme fatales. Last year saw hundreds of releases, but only a handful of truly notable characters that not only added to the gameplay, but looked good doing it.
Sackboy (LittleBigPlanet)
The emotive sackpeople of LittlebigPlanet are the best thing to happen to the PlayStation 3 since the PlayStation 2. The chameleon-like, little sacks can be anyone from Solid Snake to a horrific mutant of your own design. Sackboy also has the uncanny ability to switch genders simply by donning different hairstyles. It’s safer than a full-blown operation, and probably more cost-effective should (s)he ever change his/her mind.
Faith (Mirror’s Edge)
Faith is not your average video game vixen. In fact, she is almost the complete opposite of digital poster girl Lara Croft: She is shaped like an ironing board, lacks what could be considered conventional beauty, and prefers to run away rather than take on danger, guns blazing. On top of that, just the very concept of Runners—an underground network of messengers transporting sensitive materials in an oppressive, anti-Utopian society—is extremely cool. You want to be one of these people, and Faith is by far the slickest of them all.
Crimson Viper (Street Fighter IV)
Street Fighter is home to some of the most well-known and instantly recognizable characters in video game history, many of which have been used as templates for a flood of carbon-copy brawlers. But the franchise is not known for taking many chances, and even though the fourth installment new 3D makeover may fool some, this is still very much classic Street Fighter. That is, except for Crimson Viper; the stylish hottie who plays more like a Tekken vixen. Chun-Li has had a good run, but you’re undoubtedly looking at the cosplay character-of-choice once SFIV hits consoles in February.
Rita (Tales of Vesperia)
An immense part of what makes Tales of Vesperia such an endearing RPG is the likable cast (yes, even the dog). But Rita Mordio stands out, not just because she can clear an entire screen full of enemies with her array of devastating spells, but because she is very well-written and has a clear arc of character development. Personally, we liked her more when she was spiteful and sheltered, but even after softening up a little she still keeps her teammates in check with the occasional fireball.
Elika (Prince of Persia)
Developing competent buddy AI is no simple task. Just ask Haze, or Gears of War, or Army of Two… or Warhawk, which doesn’t even attempt a single-player feature. But Ubisoft wanted to do something original, and do it right with the new Prince of Persia, and so entered Elika, a runaway princess who drives the story forward and keeps the Prince from dying. A lot. Although the writing is garbage and the Prince’s voice acting is even worse, the physical relationship between the two main characters throughout the game is creates an unusual experience. Simply by relying on each other to get from point A to point B, the player bonds with Elika in a way that Sonic and Tales never could.
Also, anyone who can save the world barefoot is just plain bad-ass.
January 30th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Elika is too good for the new Prince!
January 30th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
SAAAAAAACKBOY!
January 30th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
You should have a category for most annoying, I want to sew up Three Dog’s lips so he can’t say “Children” anymore. Ugh, at least you can travel to his fortified bunker and punch his head clean off.
January 30th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Crimson Viper since she looks like Angelina Jolie, heh.
January 31st, 2009 at 7:53 am
Elika looks just like Natalie Portman, and I would drop everything for one moment with Natalie….EVERYTHING. Gorgeous art design based off a gorgeous woman.
January 31st, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Other than sackboy, I notice a common factor of your favorite characters, hmmm, I wonder what and why that is…
January 31st, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Let’s not forget that Faith is a Twin! To a cop! On the other side of the law! And a TWIN!
Excellent choices, all.
January 31st, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Maxinca is right! There is a definite “No Fat Chick!” theme going on here, Haley! =)
I can’t wait to smash faces with C. Viper soon, and now I guess I have to play Tales of Vesperia…
January 31st, 2009 at 8:04 pm
I heart Elika!
January 31st, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Yeah but Zen, Faith’s sister gets kidnapped and you have to spend the whole second half of the game trying to rescue her. I like that Faith wasn’t the standard Victoria’s Secret model who magically knows kung-fu and can breathe fire and crap. She’s an extraordinary person, but not a superhero or anything like that.
And Elika was very cool, but the Prince just ruined that entire game for me. Sooo annoying!
January 31st, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Right! BONUS!
February 1st, 2009 at 4:52 pm
I have a friend name Elika, I wonder if she knows she’s a video game character now. Her mother heard the name on One Life to Live or something.
February 1st, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Faith and Sackboy top my list too. As for the influx of female characters on the list, I think it is great. I love that Faith and Elika are not your standard video game heroines.
February 1st, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Also, expext Elika cosplay in 2009.
February 6th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Will you be doing it Virtualgirl? Your last couple of cosplays have been great, I think you could do her justice. And your friend in the FLCL cosplay could be C. Viper, prolly.
February 6th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Nice closing line! You made me want to run out and play Mirror’s Edge.
February 10th, 2009 at 2:00 am
Decent crop this year, although Sackboy does stand out to me in the sense that 10 years from now, he’s probably the only one that will be remembered.
Cool to see a fair amount of new females characters now, especially considering most of them aren’t a pair of boobs running around that happen to have a body as well. Let’s hope Heavy Rain delivers character development that can actually hold a candle to other mediums, because that for me is the next evolution in video games. Half-Life 2 started something, let’s see other devs run with it.