A game with a good character creator has a significant edge over other games in its genre. While it's not the only element that makes a good game by a long shot, a great character creator lets players who like customization really get into their characters, allowing them to micromanage even the smallest aspects of their appearance.

Many players will stick with the default game appearance rather than spend hours perfecting the bridge of their character's nose in a character creator, but for some, making a character is half the fun. For them, these five games are some of the best there are.

Saints Row Character Creator is Fun and Full of Freedom

For ridiculous gameplay and absurd storylines, you can't go wrong with the Saints Row series. Better yet, the character creator in the series is known for being one of the most in-depth and customizable, allowing players free reign over sliding and tweaking just about every aspect of their avatar.

Saints Row 2 is usually recognized as the greatest character creator in the series thanks to its incredible freedom. While later entries kept a lot of the customizability, Saints Row 2 allowed for extensive customization of things like body size and weight distribution, meaning characters weren't forced to choose between slim/muscular/obese extremes. Instead, the sliders allow many tweaks to be made that other games often don't include, such as giving people of varying body types independent of their body weight. Also excellent was the fact that features weren't gender-locked—hair, facial hair, makeup, and other options were all available regardless of the character's gender.

EVE Online's Extensive Character Creator Wows, Despite Rarely Seeing Your Creation

EVE Online features a highly customizable character creator, despite players rarely getting to see their avatar in the game. Because it's largely structured around space trading and combat, there's little need for the incredibly detailed customization options, but that doesn't stop players from spending tons of time tweaking every little detail of their character.

Unlike Saint's Row, EVE Online doesn't use sliders. Instead, players can grab body features like noses, hips, and calves to drag them where they want. Options can also be chosen from the menu and tweaked to your liking, meaning people who like to make small adjustments rather than build from the ground up are still liable to enjoy the experience. With a huge degree of customization available thanks to all of the points that can be dragged and dropped into new shapes, this character creator is truly one of the greats.

Dragon's Dogma Features Consequences for Character Creator Choices

While Dragon's Dogma may look like a standard character creator at first glance, there's a significant amount of detail involved. All the standard settings can be edited, but, unlike many games, the features you choose for your character have actual in-game effects.

Rather than just being cosmetic, the height and weight you make your character in Dragon's Dogma change your character's stamina, speed, and carrying capacity. There are benefits to choosing slim and speedy or large and beefy—smaller characters are quicker but can't carry as much, while larger characters are slower but can carry far more. It's a small touch, but one that really makes the character creator stand out as exceptional.

WWE Games Encourage Silliness in Character Creators

The WWE series of wrestling games is expansive, but if there's one thing most of them have in common it's a solid character creator. Playing your favorite wrestlers is always fun, but so is creating your own from scratch, customizing their appearance, costume, and array of moves to your liking.

The WWE series doesn't take itself too seriously—there are plenty of silly options, meaning your in-game wrestling persona can be just as ridiculous as those of the real world. There's an incredible amount of changes to be made, letting you work on your ideal character without any pesky notions like realism. Want to make a hot-pink wrestler? You can do that. Want to take on your favorite wrestlers as Batman? No problem—provided you get a little imaginative.

BioWare Makes the Past Count in Character Creators

BioWare is known for making some of the most popular modern RPGs out there in the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series, and while their character creators are solid in terms of outward appearance, it's the details that really stand out.

In both series, customization doesn't end at your character's physical appearance and attributes. They also feature the ability to choose a character background, which does have in-game results—in Dragon Age: Origins, the character's background leads to a different starting area. In Mass Effect, choosing a different origin impacts certain missions and interactions over the course of the game. Add in a character creator with a fair bit of customizability (despite the truly atrocious hair options) and BioWare's detailed systems allow for a personal level of connection to a character.

What video game character creator is your favorite?