Top 6 Adventure Game Heroes

In case I haven't made it abundantly clear, I love villains.  They always seem to be the more interesting characters in movies, books, games, you name it.  But they wouldn't be much without a hero to challenge them.  The hero characters of the gaming world are a difficult bunch to write for.  Unlike movies, you'll be following game characters around from anywhere between seven and sixty hours.  If they're too dull, the game becomes dull.  If they're too emo, you'll turn the volume off just to escape their whining.

Every once in a while, a protagonist comes along that is not only interesting but sometimes even more delightful than the villain and it's important to give props to them.  These are my personal favourite heroes of adventure gaming.  And since we're talking about characters you play as, this will be the first Top 6 list without a Myst title!  Woah! (although I am my most favourite hero)  Warning: some spoilers will follow.




6.  Alexander (King's Quest 6- Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow)- Unlike King's Quest 5, where you watch King Graham bumble his way through his own kingdom with an irritating sidekick, King's Quest 6 had a much more resourceful and likeable hero in Alexander, Graham's son.  While on a quest to seek his lady love, Alexander becomes shipwrecked in a mysterious country and must rely on his wits and charm to deal with the topsy turvy world of the Green Isles.  In the classic hero tradition he's noble and pure of heart, but is also sharp and doesn't rely purely on luck to get himself through situations.  He is at the bottom of the list though, and this mostly has to do with his lady love.  After only meeting the girl once in the last game, he takes a ship out into unknown waters because he's SURE that she's the one for him.  Sure, he finds her, rescues and marries her in the great fairy tale tradition...but was she really worth all that effort?  Then again...he freaking faces off with death.  Awesome.

5. Kate Walker (Syberia)- This woman deserves a gold medal for patience. All she had to do was to get some legal documents for the sale of a decrepit old factory in Europe. Then the owner up and dies, revealing that there's a long lost brother who legally still owns all of the family estates. What follows is a mad quest through a rainforest covered train station, a Russian mine run by a mad communist and drunk cosmonaut and a practically abandoned resort with a down and out opera diva. Oh, and all of these are covered with automatons and insane machinary that needs to be figured out. All to find an old but slightly mad genius obsessed with mammoths. Phew. And that's the FIRST game. It would all be very hard to take in were it not for Kate's wry attitude and patient approach. She grows and changes as a person, and although it's hit over our hits with a big symbolism stick, it's rewarding nonetheless to see that journey.  Spoiler video ahead!

4.  Gabriel Knight (Gabriel Knight 1, 2, 3)- One thing you're going to notice with this list pretty quickly is that I loves me some sarcasm.  And it doesn't get much more sarcastic than Gabriel Knight, who oozes smarm out of every pore.  And we love him for it.  He's the sarcastic ladies man with a heart of gold who simply charms his way into crime scenes and secret cults.  I should probably have been more annoyed at the insults thrown at almost every character he encounters, but anything said in a southern accent becomes more entertaining.  To add to all of that, he's a cunning detective who knows how to get what he wants.  Basically, he's the southern Castle.  Love him.


3.  Manny Calavera (Grim Fandango)- He's a badass travel agent for the dead, what's not to love?  I've already touched on the character of Manny in my review of Grim Fandango.  He's a load of fun to listen to and is the perfect commentary to the crazy world of the dead.  Instead of letting his bad luck get him down he takes everything in stride, turning a down and out diner into a casino worthy of Vegas and a junky old boat into a successful trade vessel.  More importantly though, he's the first one on this list to probably change the most visibly.  Along with the great and epic journey across the world, you also watch Manny change from a frustrated and somewhat selfish soul to a passionate and caring indivdual willing to put himself in danger for others.  Of course, he does all of this without losing any of his suave and sarcastic nature.  And we love him for it.

2.  Guybrush Threepwood (Monkey Island)- My introduction to Guybrush came with Monkey Island 3, and I was hooked within the first 3 minutes due in no short part to our main hero.  It's very, very hard not to love the wannabe pirate with an irrantional fear of all things porcelain.  The world of Monkey Island is as zany and non-sensical as it gets, but with Guybrush to lead the way it's barely ever frustrating.  The best way to describe Guybrush is a sidekick who bumbled his way into a hero's role.  He remains charming and hilarous throughout, and it's not hard to see why governer Elaine remains smitten through his muck-ups.

1.  April Ryan (The Longest Journey)- So while there's no Myst game on this list, I couldn't make it without a Longest Journey reference.  It was hard choosing between Guybrush and April, the sassy art student turned Shifter in the Longest Journey, but I ended up going purely on my own memory and I have to say April did make more of a lasting impression.  Starting off as an unsure eighteen year old art student, her world is turned upside down when she learns that not only is there a parallel world to our own where magic resides, but that she is a Shifter between these worlds and is now responsible for saving both of them from complete destruction.  It's a lot to take in, and April has to make some incredible discoveries within herself in order to handle it all.  Through it all though, she retains her sense of humour and wit and makes travelling through the magical land of Arcadia even more delightful than it would have been already.  Likewise, I found myself enjoying the more sci-fi Stark (Earth) than I normally would in a game thanks to April's commentary.  She wins over almost everyone she meets, and it's not hard to see why.  In the end, she comes out stronger and wiser and you can't help but feel that you've made the same journey she has.  That's exactly what a hero should do.

  Honourable mentions:  Victoria MacPherson (Still Life), Raz (Psychonauts), Chel (Portal- I didn't really involve anything first person shooterish, but Portal verges on adventure slightly...but then Chel doesn't really speak either), Nigel (The Lost Crown), Zoe (Dreamfall), Craig Wilmore (The X-files)

These are games I've played of course.  Let me know what your favourite heroes are!