Having looked at different titles of action/adventure/Sci-Fi shooters during the past 18 months, I've come to one conclusion;
The market is being hijacked by Brownhaired Beefcakes!
It feels like they've gotten a renewed hold of the computer game market and, with the exception of the "helmeted mute heroes" (HALO/Crysis/Dead Space etc), these generics are soon in total control. Even poor Turok, former representative of native american long-haired dino killing pride since 1954, has been reduced to a crewcut, slack-jawed bodybuilder with a comlink.
The budding growth of cool women in games (Mirror's Edge/Heavenly Sword/Half-Life Episode 1-2) is promising but still in its infancy, and while ethnic or otherwise unique heroes (Gordon Freeman - nerd, Duke Nukem - blond+raybans, Niko Bellic - bosnian, Hitman 47 - cueball) pop up now and then, they are few and far between.
Sure, muscly men have always been the predominant main characters in action games, but never before have major franchises and game companies across the board collectively put out a group of games (in the same 18 month period, mind you) that has near clone-like protagonists. This sudden walnut-beefication didn't really occur to me until I saw screenshots from the new "Far Cry 2". I like Cryteam-games, but seeing a bland buzzcut ex-military/ex-underwear model flamethrowering africans by the dozens, it rang a new kind of alarm bell in my head.
Let me explain my angle. If "Far Cry 2" would have a hero with a shred of distinctiveness or personality, it would be simple to view the slaughter in the game as his personal cause (like Max Payne or Gordon Freeman), but when he's made out like some republican wet-dream version of the ultimate american hunk (grown up in nuclear family, lost virginity at 14 in backseat of '68 Camaro, football scholarship, handpicked for Army Rangers at 18, three tours in Fakenameistan, awarded the Congressional Medal by President Seagal), when they put that guy at the head of things, it feels almost like another attempt to win the War on Terror, through wishful thinking.
Oh, and looking at the group picture again, it's a bit worrisome when the only guy who knows how to shave among these assholes is the Sith. What message does this send to our impressionable youth? :.)
Posted by Ventriloquists Got Shot (Member # 239) on :
YOU CAN BE A GIRL IN MASS EFFECT
ARGUMENT NULLED
Also, those Gears of War dipshits are skinheaded BHBCs as well.
Sam Fisher in Double Agent has the whole "Five O'Clock shadow on his head" thing as well.
It is like everyone is that DBag from Prison Break.
Now you've got me thinking.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Wasn't the guy in "Force Unleashed" modeled on (& voiced by) the guy who played Crashdown in BSG?
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
There exists a fictional person with the name Crashdown?
Ventrilognus: I was at first going to add the panzerclad fatass from G.of.W to the wanted-list but then I noticed he wears a beanie to hide his hair (in my heart I know it's most brown), and I was afraid someone was going to call me on it. "Nullificata hoc beanie".
quote:It is like everyone is that DBag from Prison Break. Now you've got me thinking.
A seed planted is a penny in the piggybank! I wish I was educated enough to be able to harumph like Dr Ball.
Early "Gears of War" viral marketing and advertisement showed a BHBC guy in orange armor without beanie, saying hello to a cyborg-dobermann and then shooting it. But I can't find any traces of that character or advert on the net anymore, it's like Microsoft has erased that timeline altogether.
The soldier says "here boy" and then starts screaming and jumping and shooting at the burned-out walls and ceiling, it was quite memorable.
[ December 01, 2008, 08:24 AM: Message edited by: Nim ]
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
quote:Originally posted by Nim: There exists a fictional person with the name Crashdown?
It's his callsign. Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
And I was gonna start a video game thread...
Yeah I've noticed a lot of meatheads in game lately. I think it's due to the increase in popularity of actions games, 1st person shooters to be exact. What can I say except that game makers have gotten lazy, story-wise. Hell I remember SEGA was doing a Vectorman remake with the character being the robotic version of a Roll Fizzlebeef type. And shame on you Nim for not mentioning Samus Aran!
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Um, that's not a new character, I was talking about recent development of gaming girls. Not that I think Samus Aran is much of a representative for the cause, I don't see much in her that girls (or humans, for that matter) could indentify with, at the level she's operating.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Still the ability to role into a ball, pretty interesting.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Oh no, don't get me wrong, Samus is sensational, though I haven't played many Metroids outside the first one, to be honest.
But still, to clarify my earlier point;
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
That Timeshift guy looks like Bruce Campbell jaked on heavy 'roids.
The only Turok character I've ever seen is a native-american hunter that kills cyborg dinosaurs for some reason. Maybe they dug up his ansestors or something.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Turok, yes. He has now been de-haired, upgraded with a ten-pound jaw, a boxer's nose and hands that are larger than his head.
Update: New suspects found, brought together by a streak of irony (explained below).
Funny story, I was actually going to post only that Killzone-boy here (the title I was thinking of earlier, whose name had escaped me) and when I finally found it on Gamespot, "Resistance: Fall Of Manmeat" was in the "If you like that (Killzone) you might also like this" suggestion sidebar. And when I then clicked on "Resistance", these other titles ("Cold Winter", "Syphon Filter" and "Uncharted") popped in after it, not wanting to be left out. I'm starting to get paranoid, I'm seeing these things everywhere now. It's just a matter of times before one of these things get a home-cooking show.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Good grief. I couldn't identify any of these in a line-up of them all. What happened to original characters like Duke Nukem and Lara Croft? Or even Commander Keen!?
Posted by Vanguard (Member # 1780) on :
I don't think using sequels to games as a comparison is fair. I mean, it's like saying "Dammit, all these James T Kirks look like Bill Shatner!" (Well, aside from one.. who looks like a Hollywood manboi clone).
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Yeah, at least Duke never pretended to be anything other than an over muscled meat-head.
I tend not to play out and out action games so I honestly haven't noticed this trend but it's not surprising. A bit odd really, you'd think in this day and age there'd at least be a more diverse ethnic variety. Actually on that basis alone Alyx Vance is way ahead of the pack, considering she's of mixed heritage. I suppose you might count Jade from BG&E in that category too as her ethnicity seams to be intentionally ambiguous. Zoë Castillo and April Ryan from the TLG games should get an honourable mention too.
Getting back to the meat-heads, I think it's just a matter of brown haired white guys being a "safe" neutral look and probably shows there lead character was the last thing on the developers' minds when they made these games. Not surprising considering they're mostly of the run-and-gun variety.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Agreed, and besides the identification issue, it doesn't affect gameplay the slightest, assuming the game in question can hold its own. In the case of "Far Cry 2" and "Crysis", though, making the main character a bland, rank-and-file US soldier/generic american mercenary instead of an individual with his own story (like Niko Bellic of GTA4) makes him a representative, one who blows up and torches everything in front of him. :.)
Here's a character in an upcoming title that at least stands out a bit, even if he's not exactly a role model. Even if they are reusing half of the old environments for Dark Athena (but with added features and graphics), it will be nice to see some development in the franchise, since it seems to be dead in the water on the movie-side (and perhaps for the best). Oh, and Michelle Forbes will do the voice for the merc captain! She gets a double-gig for 2009, I believe she'll be voicing "Judith" for the third and final Half-Life 2 expansion as well.
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
Nim - you mean he stands out because he's Vin Diesel?
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Well I was thinking more about the shaved head and swimming glasses. :.) But yeah, you could say Riddick stands out because the guy playing him actually exists, compared to all these other jokers. He's ugly as a dump truck but he knows how to "seek out your sweet spot, just to the left of the spine, fourth lumbar down." Mmm-mmm...
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote:Originally posted by Reverend: back to the meat-heads, I think it's just a matter of brown haired white guys being a "safe" neutral look and probably shows there lead character was the last thing on the developers' minds when they made these games. Not surprising considering they're mostly of the run-and-gun variety.
It's blantantly discriminatory against us brown haored white guys- everyone now expects us to run-n-gun wherever we go: I'm more than that streotype man! Sometines I like to go for long walks along the beach and gun. I'm sensitive that way.
I think that anything except for the "generic white military look" would draw the ire from whatever ethnic group is represented- the solution is to be able to customize your character...or at least choose from several body types (kinda like the Star Wars games).
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
quote:Originally posted by Nim: But yeah, you could say Riddick stands out because the guy playing him actually exists, compared to all these other jokers.
Did you already forget that I told you the "Force Unleashed" guy was modeled on & voiced by Samuel Witwer? So not all of them are fictional.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
BJ:
quote:Did you already forget that I told you the "Force Unleashed" guy was modeled on & voiced by Samuel Witwer?
Um, you said "that guy who played Crashdown in BSG", it wasn't something I followed up on, but point taken, he exists. Looking at Witwer's track record now, though, I recognize several shows or movies I've seen that he was supposedly in, but I wouldn't be able to recall him to save my life. Which was partly my point. He's actually the perfect example of the neutral, symmetric, spot-free brown-haired hunk. Vin Diesel may suck in different ways but he knows his strengths (giving deliberating badass voiceovers and doing Hercules-stunts) and he's easily-identifiable, both in voice and face, which makes for a good game character. :.)
Speaking of character modeling, I thought this was funny when I first found it, I've mentioned Alyx Vance twice earlier in this thread, a major character in the HL2-games. Well after I finished HL2: Episode One I went out and googled for fun, and here's Merle Dandridge. I thought it was a bit cute, and I was so sure she was a pure construct.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Actually on that basis alone Alyx Vance is way ahead of the pack, considering she's of mixed heritage. I suppose you might count Jade from BG&E in that category too as her ethnicity seams to be intentionally ambiguous. Zoë Castillo and April Ryan from the TLG games should get an honourable mention too."
While you're at it, there's the character from Portal, as well.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Wasn't she modelled on the same woman as Alyx, at least in part? Not sure if she counts though since, like Gordon Freeman she's a non-character the player just inhabits.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
I've never seen a picture of the player character in Portal, anyone know of any?
Wow, "The Longest Journey", that's ten years ago. I remember playing the demo with April Ryan on that sailing ship, and I got threatened with being thrown overboard if I didn't stop trying to make the captain sing a sea shanty.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Google images is usually a good place to start.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
That character model doesn't seem to be like Alyx Vance, except for clothing sizes. This girl looks fierce and desperate, like she's had a bad year in "Cube". Cool that they went with prison clothing, makeshift "sunday" hairstyle and no makeup. It's like Andrei Tarkovsky's dream protagonist. And she's a little red under the eyes, from lack of sun and sleep, maybe? She's a gamer! *rimshot*
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Nice grab, Mars! I found out the leg-braces are devices put in place so she won't take fall damage ever and won't need to eat heart-shaped health treats every 20 steps.
Since my last post here, I steambought Portal and played through it, enjojing it a lotly. Wonderful humor by the crazy AI. At first I thought the game was over after I'd beaten the last official level and escaped the horrible flame floor. Took me a while to see the above frame from which to spring to the attic. End fight was wonderful, I first came close to beating the AI mainframe a bit too quickly, so I reloaded the level and ran through slower so I could have time to hear all the reasoning-dialogue it churned out as I pulled bit after bit out of it.
But the real reason for my new post here has to do with the thread subject. Just now I stumbled upon a "Zero Punctuation" game review I hadn't seen before, dealing with the game "Mass Effect"... http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/18-Mass-Effect The whole review is nice, but check what he mentions at 0:33.
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
