Andy’s Top Three: Videogame Heroes

Ah, the eponymous videogame hero. Ranging from the silent-but-violent Gordon Freeman, to all-emotion-of-a-pile-of-bricks Nomad to the wise-cracking intergalactic alien stamper Duke Nukem, they’re the characters who’s incorporeal forms gamers take over for a short time. And depending on the game, they can leave quite an impression on you.

Here’s my top three. And for the purposes of the article, I’m only including characters who have a personality, be it decided by the developers, or by the actions of the gamer him or herself (sorry Gordon…)

Cloud Strife

Number 3: Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy 7)

Best fantasy game ever? Probably. Most confused game character ever? Definitely.

Put simply, Cloud has lost it. At the start of the game, the amnesic, clone, massive sword-wielding spiky-haired one is a mercenary for hire, and by the end he’s saving the world in a massive crater filled with raw energy and the most terrifying baddy my 13-year-old mind had ever faced. Along the way he discovered his mysterious past, unlocked a number of beasties (which promptly destroyed half the planet), went into a coma, was turned into a puppet, and even indulged in…cross dressing.

Cloud Strife. Messed up, but still awesome. Even if he does look like a small stack of interlinked boxes… (the Advent Children Cloud was a wimp.)

Here’s a clip of Cloud in action, taking on his nemesis, Sephiroth.

Abe, looking confused.

Number 2: Abe (Abe’s Oddysee)

What can you say about Abe.

Even with his mouth sewn shut, the plucky little Mudokon freed his entire race, shut down countless factories owned by the evil Glukkons, got powered up by ghosts and possessed anything and everything that stepped within 30 meters of him, be it gun-toting Sligs or besuited boss-Glukkons.

Of course, it never hurt that once in possession of said unfortunate, you could then go on a killing rampage, or just walk the creature into the nearest meat grinder…

Abe, I salute you…

Possession is 9/10ths of the law…

  

 

Snake, as he was in Metal Gear Solid

Number 1: Snake (Metal Gear Solid series)

“Snake? Snake? SNAKE!”

If you’ve heard that before, then you know the joy of playing the world’s longest-running mech-opera’s lead character- ‘Snake’, the deadliest man on two legs.

Armed with his trusty sidearm and the deepest pockets ever given to a gaming character (seriously, how does he fit Fortune’s railgun in there?!), Snake can take on anything thrown at him, including Metal Gears Rex, Ray, Arsenal, Raxa and thousands upon thousands of Gekko, Tengu, Genome soldiers, mercenaries and boss characters, all without pausing for breath.

Then he will happily spout metaphysical conversation about the nature of love, existence and battle, before blowing a tank to shreds with nothing more than six grenades and his throwing arm (in the words of Otacon, “You’re…badass!”)

Everyone’s favourite clone warrior, and the last descendant of the line of Big Boss, Snake, I salute you, even if you can quite literally smoke yourself to death (cigarettes ftw.)

Also, if you haven’t already bought and played MGS4, do so now, it wraps the whole EastEnder’s-style storyline up perfectly, as well as being awesome.

Here’s a little tribute to the beardy, banadana-wearing one, which features footage from most of the modern MGS games: