30 Days of Video Games. Day 2. My Favourite Character
I wonder why it is, that only a few of the many great Video Game characters stay with us and the rest simply fade into obscurity. Some we simply remember because they don’t let you forget, bombarding us with title after title and game after game; Mario and Sonic being prime examples / Culprits. Others we remember because we made those characters with a little bit of our own personality; Commander Shepherd in Mass Effect could be designed to fit the game you wanted to play. But are these guys and gals, hedgehogs and plumbers, worthy of remembrance? Are they individual enough to give you that spark that makes you think; WOW! I must own every game they have and collect religiously any merchandise they come out with?
To have that special something, setting them apart from the rest, of a very saturated pack, these would be icons have to make you sit up and take notice first. Whether they be real and gritty, with personality issues up to the eye-balls like Dante; the half-demon protagonist from Devil May Cry, or a less in your face approach, where their deeds, great accomplishments and amazing feats speak volumes; A la Alec Mason of Red Faction Guerrilla; the man that almost single-handedly won back Mars for the mining colonists! What this man lacked in personality he made up for in heroic deeds time and time again; either way there has to be something there to make you identify with them.
Maybe it is down to pure charisma; someone who has enough wit to have a glib remark for every sentence that falls out of their adversary’s mouth, or has enough cool to say something that makes you think “Why I can’t come up with stuff like that?” For me it has to be ‘all or nothing,’ a character that has it all and does not compromise on a single thing: Personality, character flaws and the ability to slap the snot out of anyone who crosses them…
My Top 4 Gaming Characters
4: Nathan Drake, the main protagonist in one of my favourite game series; Uncharted on Playstation 3. The game plays well, with an immersive representation of the world from war torn urban landscapes to ruined Tibetan temples and everything in-between. You can also guarantee in each of these visually spectacular environments you will encounter more goons than at an annual ‘EDL’ convention!
Nathan Drake, in my opinion, is the Male equivalent of Lara Croft , with a personality….“A male Lara Croft?!… personality?!” I hear you cry. Obviously there are two main reasons my fellow geeks may disagree with my view but based solely on the context of this article, you have to understand. Lara was the first true video game pin up, granted; an accolade I could not bestow upon Drake without a major change in my life style (each to their own of course) but she does genuinely lack the personality of a human being; something they mirrored extremely well in the films, when they cast Angelina Jolie; all Smile, no substance. Drake however seems to suffer from a personality overdose, which in a video game character is great. He has something witty to say about everything and even when he has been shot or is sitting in a train that is precariously hanging off the side of a cliff, he still finds the time to make a quirky quip. Luckily for you and I, “the gamer,” he is also pretty handy in a fight; the game being full of challenging gun fights and increasingly more difficult enemies and puzzles.
Drake is a very likeable character and is genuinely fun to play as; problem is he seems to suffer from a disease that seems to only affects witty, attractive archaeologists; The Tomb Raider complex. This hideous disease gives its host a touch of kleptomania and a propensity for wanton vandalism of some of histories oldest and most fragile ancient ruins. In the process of recovering many priceless heirlooms they manage to destroy everything else around them and make away with but a small fragment of the vast tapestry that is history, that don’t seem to care too much about… time team has a lot to answer for!
3: Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series. Snake for me is one the greats in the video game Hall of Fame and was first introduced to us in 1998 by Hideo Kojima of Konami Studios. Back then Snake didn’t look that great, with his featureless square of a head, but that didn’t matter because you knew this was a guy not be messed with as he fought his way through an endless sea Storm Troopers, with Pac Man ghosts on their heads.
Previously an agent of the Foxhound group and a clone of the infamous Big Boss, Snake was designed to be the perfect soldier. A gun and espionage expert he was trained to be lethally efficient; traits vital to a game where (unlike many other games) a shot to the face pretty much marks your end.. suffice to say playing metal gear solid takes nerves of steal and the patience of a saint. Sneaking through a room with 4 guards whilst trying not be spotted is very tense and really gets the blood pumping.
Game play aside, you cant but not like Snake, with his huge personality flaws ( brought to life by the magnificent David Hayter) and self-destructive nature and the more the series progresses the more you learn why he is the way he is; A Psychiatrists dream who’s “issues” and consequential aging stem from the betrayal of the people closest to him, which culminates in some genuinely heart wrenching moments in Sons of the Patriots.
2 . Raziel from the Soul Reaver series will not make a lot sense to people as nowadays no one knows who he is! So I will enlighten you. Raziel was first introduced to us in ‘Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver” (1999) by Eidos. At beginning of the game you know very little about this shadowy creature, except that he was once a vampire and that he can shift between the physical and spectral plane but as the game and the series continues, you start to glean more about his long story and why he is now only a shadow of his former self. We learn that when Raziel was a vampire he was Kain’s (lord of the Vampires) most trusted lieutenant, and was the most powerful vampire besides Kain himself; Always being the first to evolve powers in the wake of Kain’s evolutions, he took to those gifts quickly; some would say quicker than Kain himself. Alas, because of Kain’s lust for power, the evolution of the Vampire race was his honour alone and anyone taking that away from him he would see destroyed in the most horrific way. Raziel’s fate was sealed when he was the first of the vampire race to evolve wings. Kain was incensed and and such was his rage that he tore the wings from Raziel’s back, ripped off his jaw and broke his fangs. After all the un-imaginable tortures he could bring to bear on Raziel, he threw him into the Netherworld to be tortured by the Old God for all eternity. (ouch!)
This is of course not the end of our heros story, but just the start. After being cast down he was gifted the Soul Reaver by the Old God and set free once more, to put an end to Kain’s reign of tyranny; It is here the Game Starts and we fist meet Raziel.
In my humble opinion you have to play Soul Reaver to really see why Raziel is an amazing character. There is such depth to his story and playing as him is a genuinely fun experience. However, I feel he has been let down by Eidos as their focuses have moved elsewhere. Without a single next generation outing, Raziel has been left to collect dust on many gamers shelves and that is a terrible shame.
Finally we are down to my number one gaming character…
Rikimaru of Tenchu Stealth Assassins fame on PS1. As you will know from my previous instalment of this blog (Day 1), I was bottom of the ladder when it came to gaming. Being relegated to casual glimpses of video games, or the occasional run around on Goldeneye, my gaming life was a drought compared to verdant springs of repertoire today. Thankfully my brother-in-law had mercy on me and handed me the controller of his PS1; saying “knock myself out,” I was more than happy to oblige (not knocking myself out). I soon realised the game I was playing was probably not for my age, when I killed my first ‘baddie’ by sneaking up behind him and cutting his throat! The more I played the more diverse my kills got. For those few hours I became a merciless hunter of the dishonourable and let me tell you, they didn’t stand a chance.
It was only much later that I found out my lethal killer’s name. Whilst working in Gamestation someone traded in a copy of Tenchu. (why would you do such a thing!) My school girl like glee at the sight of it may have unnerved the guy ever so slightly but I didn’t care! The first thing I did as I got home from work was play it; food was not a concern and neither were my parents. (That being said kids, when playing games always respect your parents and eat a healthy balance diet. HA! Take that Video Games are bad for children campaigners!) It was then that Rikimaru took his rightful place as my favourite video game character of all time.
A man of honour and the forebear of the assassin game, Rikimaru was a skilled ninja of the Azuma clan and a faithful servant of Lord Gohda. The missions throughout the game are given to you by Gohda, whether it be ‘assassinating the evil merchant’ or ‘delivering the secret message’. The game itself is simplistic with the main challenge being the decisions to go around better equipped and armour enemies, to get to your target or just wade in and attack (Assassins creed anyone? )
Rikimaru’s in game story may not be in depth but the cut-scenes help fill in the gaps. You get an idea of what kind of man he is and I truly grew to like him, more than all others. His final scene in the game is one that I still remember fondly but with sadness. You have rescued Princess Kiku from the clutches of the evil Lord Mei-oh, deep in the caves of a mountain. As Rikimaru flees with fellow ninja Ayame, the trio are caught in a rock slide in caverns and without hesitation Rikimaru throws himself under one of the boulders, holding it up so the Kiku and Ayame can escape. The game ends with Rikimaru’s fate a mystery, but Ayame leaves a tribute to him atop a snowy peak, driving his sword, Izayoi into the ground as a lasting memory of his sacrifice. It is still to this day one of the most moving cut-scenes I have seen, it may not be anything to some people but it stuck with me and to me that is what it is important about a truly epic video game character, those moments that stick with you.
There are lots of memorable characters out there now: Mastercheif, Jon Fenix, Commander shepherd, to name but 3; each with their own isms, memorable moments and fist biting scenes, but for me Rikimaru is the epitome of what a true hero is / should be; his sacrifice has confirmed his position in my gaming psyche forever and is rightfully seated at the top of my All time greatest Game Characters.
Article by Ben Mason