As my friend and I were pondering the idea of great video game characters the other night, we both failed to come up with many convincing arguments for any persona in the medium that has absorbed countless hours of our lives. Despite the comparable lengths between television and games, the former has created a multitude of compelling figures while the latter is mired in mediocrity and stale archetypes.
With some games reaching over 50 hours of gameplay, there should be ample time to introduce a captivating protagonist or companions and develop them throughout the experience. Most development occurs during cutscenes, yet any ground gained seems to stagnate as soon as the player reemerges into the game world and actual combat starts.
It may be a fundamental flaw in the narrative structure of video games. Few developers can adequately mix gameplay and story in a way that provides plot development while not boring the player with unintuitive action. “Heavy Rain” tried by constantly funneling players down an adventure that tested the limits of player choice but essentially the experience boiled down to a series of quick-time events.
The “Uncharted” series has plenty of endearing characters from Sully and Nathan Drake to Eliza Fisher. Although the writing is second to none with realistic conversations and chemistry rarely seen between an animated ensemble, each of these people are simply a static shell that fails to advance beyond a pigeonholed role such as “witty action hero” or “old companion making wisecracks.”
Peering through the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences awards from the past few years will reveal they seem to have had as much trouble finding worthy recipients of the outstanding character performance award as I have. Past nominees or winners include “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess,” Sheva Alomar from “Resident Evil 5” and Kratos from “God of War.”
To be blunt, Sheva is an asinine character whose sole purpose is to support cooperative play and Kratos is a sympathetic but one-note hellion bent solely on revenge. I’m also of the belief Link can never be a truly compelling character because in every game he’s simply a mute puppet through which the same tale can be rehashed continuously.
Although the prospects seem fairly dismal, there are some pleasant surprises who have emerged in the past few years that demonstrate the potential for characters in an industry with central figures that fail to live up to the standard set by their fellow media compatriots.
Both Bonnie MacFarlane and John Marston from “Red Dead Redemption” represent figures fiercely devoted to their ideals yet willing to change when necessary. Bonnie rescues Marston after he finds himself left for dead by a member of his old gang. Throughout the duration of the game their relationship grows and while the predictable route would be for a romantic pairing, Rockstar handles their relationship with far more tact.
Marston does whatever morally ambiguous task is necessary to save his family and Bonnie remains a stalwart companion whose primary focus is still the survival of her family’s ranch. There’s an understanding between the two that in a different time they may be together, but Marston has an agenda and Bonnie is a strong female character that leads her ranch with authority in a medium where most women are stuck as the damsel in distress.
Interesting and relatable characters are one of the hardest things to create in all of entertainment. In a medium where players are often thinking about the next opportunity to kill something instead of constantly contemplating the fate of their character, this task becomes that much harder. While recent years have provided some hope, the video game industry has a lot of growing up to do. I can only hope the characters it produces are able to do the same.
