One of the most important things for me in a video game isn’t how good it looks, how great the story is, or even if it has multiplayer. It’s the hero. Why? It’s just as important to have an interesting protagonist in a story as it is to have a story that drives the hero in the first place. From Super Mario Bros. all the way to Uncharted, the protagonist I play often has a large impact on how I enjoy the story.
Why is the protagonist of a video game important to my enjoyment? Because he is my (and I hate to use the phrase now) avatar that connects me to the world. And if the game I’m playing isn’t a RPG where I can customize most aspects of my player-character, I damn sure want to be able to manipulate somebody who’s interesting. I never really enjoyed playing games with boring heroes, cookie-cutter copies of that macho guy who has to save the world because he’s the only one who can.
- Conflict between good and evil.
- Every-man who’s going above and beyond.
- Reluctance.
Of course, that describes many video game heroes and many of them can be found in RPGs, but obviously, one such character who can embody these qualities is Nathan Drake from the incredible Uncharted games. Nate doesn’t really stand out as the kind of hero that’s overly heroic like you would get if you look at characters such as Link from Legend of Zelda or Simon Belmont from Castlevania: Simon’s Quest. The kind of hero who’s just on the quest of rescuing the princess/vanquishing the villain. While that’s a steady, no-nonsense and accessible hero, to me, it’s rather boring.
Nathan Drake is actually quite the opposite, motivated by money and treasure, and he has many flaws. Not exactly Galahad, but not quite an evil bastard. The important thing is… he’s interesting. He’s someone you want to know about and are interested in progressing through the story in order to see what happens to him. Nate’s past is filled with turmoil, lost love, and plenty of interesting adventures. He’s not perfect, and that’s what makes him all the more intriguing.
Possibly one of the oldest and most recognizable video game protagonists that isn’t Mario has to be Solid Snake. Why? Rather than be left wondering about Snake’s past, Hideo Kojima was gracious enough to give us a very detailed history on his character. Who he is, what he’s done, and how he got to be where he is. The character has been present in video games for a very long time, during which, we were always given information about Snake. I think his real interest comes from the way Snake embodies the anti-hero archetype, something Nathan Drake doesn’t embody as well. Snake is a character that rarely enjoyed what he did, but he did it anyway because he was good at it. And following him from his early days in FOXHOUND all the way to his retirement from it all, you knew his motivations. A very simple one really, all he wanted was peace.
On the other end of the spectrum is the hero you create and play, I’m talking of course of the player-character of a RPG. In this particular instance, I will talk about the character creation and depth of Commander John Shepard of Mass Effect fame. From the outset of the first game, you get to pick Shepard’s military background, where he’s from, and how he got to be where he is now. Typical RPG fare that dates back to D&D times, but what’s incredibly interesting about this particular hero is how the people will view him through those choices and how you choose to play him. Shepard can be a selfless hero of war or a ruthless, get-it-done-anyway-possible soldier.
What’s more is that you build Shepard’s story as your own. He can be a no-nonsense and violent individual or he can be a silver-tongued expert negotiator. He’s the hero that I want him to be and isn’t that the kind of protagonist that anyone else would want to play as. The one that you create.
I also wanted to touch upon a very unique circumstance in video game protagonists: Gordon Freeman from Half-Life. And yes, I’m very well familiar with the famous non-talking heroes of other FPS games like Doom Guy or any of the Call of Duty protagonists, but Gordon Freeman is a bit different. He starts as a hapless scientist coming in for another day at work involving quantum mechanics (or something) and is dragged into something a lot bigger than he is.
The unique thing about Gordon is the NPCs who surround him end up speaking for him. Rather than just be issued orders, many NPCs will talk to Gordon and often reflect his thoughts and end up connecting to him (you) on a higher emotional level. Sure, it’s just a pretty cover for “go here and defend it” or “take this item to that person”, but it’s rather affective. Gordon Freeman is interesting because he is mysterious, but as the player, I am given enough information to actually care about him and want to know more about him. He embodies the ordinary man in an extraordinary circumstance scenario incredibly well and I’m hard pressed to find another video game protagonist that would reflect that quality so well.
The protagonist of a video game can be just as important as the story, graphics, or gameplay. He doesn’t have to be good-natured, cavalier, or even good-looking, but he does have to be interesting. And actually, the villain of a video game can be just as important as the hero… but that’s for another time.
Who’s your favorite video game protagonist?
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I have a hard time choosing between Gordon Freeman and Commander Shepard as my favorite. Gordon and I have been together a long, long time. But what BioWare did with Shepard in Mass Effect is the future of video game heroes that players can connect with, in my opinion. The ability to choose your dialogue options is there is all RPGs, but Mass Effect was the first to actually give that character a real voice who says the lines the player chooses. It's brilliant and a testament to the dedication of BioWare.
The voice work in Mass Effect was outstanding. Voicing the player's dialogue choice was a great move. I'm pretty partial to Nathan Drake myself. Of all the games I've played, he seems to stand out in my mind. I just started Brutal Legend and am so far loving the humor. I can see Eddie Riggs being a great protagonist too.
iam almost ashame you didnt mention SOLID SNAKE
Not counting the ones mentioned above i would say Torque from “The Suffering”. He didn't even say a word throughout the whole game and yet i wanted to know all about him through the whole story.
Very cool post, Trung!
What about Galen Marek aka Starkiller from the Force Unleashed…or even more short term Ezio from AC 2? Those are my two pics not mentioned in the article
I knew I was missing something…damn. OK, I'll confess to dropping the ball, I'll add a a few words about him and the corresponding theory behind why he's an awesome protagonist.
I actually didn't get to play Force Unleashed unfortunately, my time (and more importantly, my funds) didn't allow me to play many games during the period in which it was released. I wish I could have an informed comment on it, but I do not. However, I did play Assassin's Creed 2, so I can talk a little about Ezio.
I thought Ezio was a very fun individual, but there wasn't much that was memorable to me. The way his story was told was more of note than anything. Seeing Ezio grow up and mature was definitely much more impactful than just seeing this Italian guy kill people and woo women every once in a while. Ezio sort of served as a reason for cool things to happen in the story.
I feel bad for saying this, but while I was playing AC2, I didn't really feel a big connection for Ezio as much as I have with Solid Snake or Commander Shepard or Nathan Drake. That didn't take away from my experience of playing the game, but I wish it added to it.
The conversation wheel in combination with the dialogue made a huge difference on being able to connect with Shepard. Even just being able to see the “gist” of what you're going to say, it could have been something you still weren't expecting and that drove the story through the dialogue in ways that haven't ever been accomplished in a video game yet.