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!