My Top Ten: Protagonists
Protagonists are there to guide you through and draw you in. Who's your favourite?Published 13/11/2009 at 14:00 by colossalblue
Sure, you’re the one with the controller in your hand. It’s you pulling off the headshots but it’s not actually you is it? Here’s my top ten leading characters…
- Cole McGrath from inFamous – just enough broody savagery to make him interesting, even with that awful dialogue they sprinkled the inFamous world with. Cole did a good job of being believably confused about what was going on but having a confidence and danger to him that made the character more than just a one dimensional hero. The ending was a tad predictable but Cole worked really well to build the game to that point and make it feel realistic.
- Tomas “Sev” Sevchenko from Killzone – Total badass soldier who could carry loads of equipment. Sure, it slowed him down a bit and made him sluggish but he was always ready with a handy headshot when your adversaries finally stopped with the “Beirut Salute” over the top of crates and actually showed him something to hit. He’s on this list for having a little bit more character to him than the average space-marine shooter.
- Cloud from Final Fantasy VII – He led the most revered RPG in gaming’s history so he must have done something right. Personally I think it’s the hair that everyone loves. They must have some awesome stylists among the ranks of Avalanche.
- Mario from everything Nintendo publishes – He’s in everything and yet the world never seems to tire of the pudgy little Italian plumber. You’d think with all that tennis, track and field and now winter sports that he takes part in he’d lose a few pounds. Must be all the mushrooms he eats.
- Willy from Manic Miner & Jet Set Willy – A simple working man given a task that seems impossible (and actually is impossible). Willy is someone we can all identify with. Except the women. And the jobless. Oh, and people who’ve never been faced with an impossible task. Jet Set Willy was brilliant though, wasn’t it?
- Gordon Freeman from Half Life – Silent, smart and good with a crowbar. What more could you want from a leading character? Sure, I’d rather his vision was perfect and he’d had a little bit of combat training but hey, who am I to argue? Gordon gets the job done and draws you into the role he plays at the same time.
- Link from The Legend of Zelda – Enduring and well loved little hooded scamp. Actually Link has gone through many iterations but they’ve all been loved by his fans. Another example of a largely voiceless character getting oodles of love from his public.
- The Wind from Flower – You should know by now that I try to mention Flower as often as possible (but still not as often as Jet Set Willy and Road Rash). Without an identifiable character this game did an exceptional job of telling a story and provoking emotion and that’s surely the main job of a protagonist? I wasn’t even sure what to name here, it was a choice between the wind or “one of those spinny petals”
- Soap MacTavish from Modern Warfare – Because it’s written into the laws of video game coverage than every single thing printed on the internet this week must include a reference to Modern Warfare.
- Player 1 from Road Rash – Player 1 (sometimes credited as “Player One” or “1up”) has been in many games, possibly nearly as many as Mario. But Road Rash is where I remember him (or her, if you’re that imaginative) most fondly. It also meets my contractual obligation to fixate on Road Rash as much as possible. Next week I’ll try to mention Sensible World of Soccer too.
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
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Person678 | 13/11/2009 14:03
BOOM! Headshot!
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Tidus, FFX. I loved the feeling of discovering the world in tandem with the character, you really could connect with the guy. He made a change from the usual FF protagonist too.
JamboGT | 13/11/2009 14:12
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Dear god no! Tidus is the most annoying character if Final Fantasy. Apart from maybe Cait Sith…
Kevling | 13/11/2009 15:11
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No… annoying bratty teenager Squall was far worse in FF8…
hazelam | 13/11/2009 16:08
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yeah, emo game characters are bloody annoying.
guinan | 13/11/2009 16:26
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Squall Leonhart is effectively the worse of all char of the FFs !! I would prefer play as Seifer.
Gordon Freeman and a crowbar … oooo sweet memories …
Person678 | 13/11/2009 21:28
BOOM! Headshot!
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Your all mad. I loved Tidus. Great character development.
hazelam | 14/11/2009 09:09
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i thought tidus was a great character myself, was a refreshing change to see a happy character, made his ending all the more poignant, if it was an emo character that had that ending you’d be glad to see the back of him, but with tidus it was actually pretty sad.
C_S15 | 13/11/2009 14:04
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Soap Mactavish doesn’t have a moustache =P
Thats Captain Price. Soap has a mohawk.
colossalblue | 13/11/2009 14:06
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oops, I rewrote that bit and obviously left half the previous stuff in. Will edit now… eek!
C_S15 | 13/11/2009 14:14
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I won’t tell if you won’t
teflon | 13/11/2009 14:38
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You should’ve stuck with Captain Price over MacTavish. For one thing, one of his family has been in every major conflict so far, they all sport that super awesome beard, and you do actually get to play as him in the Chernobyl missions, thus making him eligible him for this list.
Though MacTavish does get props for being outrageously Scottish. Disappointingly he’s not a kilt wearer, but I can see why they avoided that, what with the ice cliff scaling thing. It’d be hilarious to see him running around in arctic conditions in just a kilt and a string vest, taking out a company of Russians.
colossalblue | 13/11/2009 15:31
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in all honesty, it was Captain Price originally (hence the balls up leaving his ‘tache in there) but I changed it to Soap Mactavish because I like seeing and hearing his name. No other reason than it amuses me to say it.
Soap Mac-Tav-ish
Soild_Nat | 13/11/2009 14:14
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No Nathan Drake in there?
Got to agree with Cole from InFamous though, having just got the platinum for that game i have to agree he was well acted.
skibadee | 13/11/2009 23:42
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coles the man
Tuffcub | 13/11/2009 14:20
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Infamous is Cole MacGrath. Think you might of been having thoughts about Nathan Hale at the same time.
colossalblue | 13/11/2009 15:32
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So it was, I was in a rush and I think that was halfway to being Nathan Drake actually…
Mind on other things, fixed now
Tuffcub | 13/11/2009 15:35
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I often think of Nathan Drake whilst doing other things. My husband hates it when i do that.
TctclMvPhase | 13/11/2009 14:32
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Interesting how theyre all male…
mynameisblair | 13/11/2009 14:35
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No, Captain Price has the worlds greatest moustache!
mynameisblair | 13/11/2009 14:36
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f5′d and its gone.
Stealthy.
colossalblue | 13/11/2009 15:33
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what’s gone?
<.<
gclarkey | 13/11/2009 14:36
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Solid Snake???
a inferior race | 14/11/2009 03:37
I'm special
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I thought he would be better than Cole.
online4ntagonist | 13/11/2009 15:14
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Vault dweller, no doubt
rht992 | 13/11/2009 15:46
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indeed but the vault dwellers descendent was cooler. I mean he/she could do anything they wanted . . . even become a pornstar with the name “dick mountain joy”
online4ntagonist | 13/11/2009 19:39
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Vault 77, burn that goddamn jumpsuit!
Loved Fallout 1!
xdarkmagician | 13/11/2009 15:19
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Samus from Metroid for doing a stiptease at the end of the game and showing you your badass guy was all women.
rht992 | 13/11/2009 15:44
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Niko Bellec, snake and jak and daxter would be up there for me and my characters from fallout 1 and oblivion just because they are basically invincible and any other character i’ve made in a RPG.
Great list apart from Sev. i can’t stand anyone in that game
OH! And My king’s from my games in Total War!
hazelam | 13/11/2009 16:07
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no women made the grade then?
colossalblue | 13/11/2009 17:06
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odd that isn’t it? I liked Lara Croft as a protagonist, she just didn’t spring to mind when I was writing the list.
I’m also playing Dragon Age as a male elf but my favourite party members are both women, a rogue and a mage. There’s a shocking lack of decent women in video games actually. Expecially in the main roles. Lara Croft, Rubi from Wet… I’m stumped! Aside from fighting games and group RPGs it’s quite scarce. Even the strong lead characters are overly sexualised.
What women would you include?
BetaGhast | 13/11/2009 21:14
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Jill Valentine (RE1/3). Terra (FF6). Alicia Melchiott (Valkyria Chronicles). Elena Fisher (Uncharted 1&2). Just to name a few.
BetaGhast | 13/11/2009 21:19
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Oh, and Marina Wulfstan. She may be a Valkyria Chronicles side character but she deserves her own game! She’s so AWESOME :3
SonOfAPeeg | 14/11/2009 17:31
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Bastila from KOTOR. She starts off as coming across like a prissy little madam but it becomes clearer and clearer that’s she’s just socially maladroit. And she kicks ass without being all snide about it. I hate snide. I played Bionic Commando for all of about five minutes – when the stubbly rent-a-hero shouted “Sucks to be you!” at a baddie after taking him out I had such a shudder of revulsion that I immediately ejected the piece of shit and sent it back to Tesco Rental.
Nariko from Heavenly Sword. God, the acting in that game was brilliant – especially the evil king.
Penelo, because she’s a sweetie.
Annnnnnnd…the greatest of them all, can’t wait to see her again, Jade from Beyond Good and Evil. Never bettered.
hazelam | 14/11/2009 09:06
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maybe you should write a top ten of female protagonists not based on how much cleavage they show.
, any other that has has two movies, comic books and got on the cover of non gaming magazines, other than playboy.
some i can think of.
lara, yeah she’s overly sexualised, but apart from that she has been the most successful female game character ever, apart from maybe ms pacman
and most of her games have been pretty damn good as well.
i would also include a couple of women from the final fantasy games, they weren’t lead characters but you did get to play them.
aeris, and yuna.
aeris has become one of gaming’s most popular female characters and you couldn’t say she was over sexualised, outside of fanart that is.
and yuna is one of my personal favourites, she may not come across as one of the strong women but she does seem more rounded than many other characters, spoiler coming here if you haven’t played ffx, and she does show courage going through with this pilgrimage when she knows the end result will be her death, but she is scared, and she shows it on occasion, a more realistic reaction than most game heroes who go into deadly situations with an “i’ll be fine” attitude.
they sexed her up a bit for the slightly dissapointing sequel but that doesn’t change her journey from the first game.
claire redfield would be another character, she’s been the lead in a couple of resi games and she didn’t even need to wear the usual japanese female game characters costume of a couple of square of material held together with string.
she wore what many women wear jeans and a tshirt.
and she fought umbrella almost single handedly at least twice.
and she’ll soon join lara in starring in two movies.
can’t think of any others just now.
but i think maybe the female character shouldn’t just be judged on what they wear, yeah most seem allergic to clothes but that’s just to appeal to guys, think about the character, what they’re doing, why they’re doing it and whether the character is embraced by the gamers.
lara has become a gaming icon, and aeris is a fan favourite character all round the world.
hazelam | 14/11/2009 09:10
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sorry for the wallotext
TctclMvPhase | 14/11/2009 14:59
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Faith.
ME made it difficult to connect with her because of the abstract cut scene style but she had such a great design. I hope they continue her story at some point because even in the short story of ME, you get a good sense of the character. She was realistic and, as you put it, not allergic to clothing.
BIGAL-1992 | 13/11/2009 16:25
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Issac Clarke from dead space for me. One Engineer againest two ships and an entire colony full of Necromorphs. He must have been one yough man to deal with that.
BadBoyBoogie | 13/11/2009 16:32
Let There Be Rock
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I’m glad Player 1 got a mention…he’s often overlooked!!
Quinlank | 13/11/2009 22:58
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I’d vote for Cloud being banned from lists like this in future purely due to the fact every portrayal of him in everything from Advent Children onwards has been pretty terrible and somewhat at odds with the characterisation established in FFVII.
spooner_22 | 14/11/2009 09:15
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The wind has to be my fave from that list…even more than Mario!
Where’s Sonic anyways?