The Average Gamer 2.10.2012: Top Female Characters

Posted by Dan Watson on 02.10.2012

From Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Samus of Metroid to Resident Evil's Jill Valentine and more, 411's Dan Watson looks at the top female characters in video games!

Welcome back to the Average Gamer. This week begins a very grim week of no televised pro or collegiate football. Luckily, its Valentine's Day this upcoming week so let's talk about the females we get to play with whenever we want.

In my personal world things are moving pretty well. To start out with, our insurance agency is moving to a bigger location. That should make for more ability to hire people as well as give a more professional image off. Our current office is only about two hundred square foot so it makes it hard to have more than two people in the office. Other than that, things are what they are.

This week in gaming has been pretty packed. I have continued to play and almost "finish" Skyrim. I know there is no official finishing the game, but once I get 100% achievement score, I will consider it finished. Additionally, I have been playing a bit of Dungeon Defenders, Call of Duty: MW3, Gears of War and also working on completing the story in Battlefield 3. I am looking forwards to a few games and going to pick up Curt Shillings (38 Studios really) new game, Reckonings. The game looks pretty cool and anytime an athlete is part of making a game, I feel compelled to purchase it.

Well, I haven't gotten a ton of comments and am unsure how many readers really are out there. I've tried a few times to get some reader feedback but have been unsuccessful. With that said, let's try one last time to have a comments section question.

Now that the Video Game First Quarter Release Season is upon us, what games are you most looking forwards to and what games are the most overhyped coming out?

For me, I am most looking forwards to Twisted Metal, Resident Evil and Silent Hill. The most overhyped over anticipated game, in my opinion is Mass Effect 3. I never really got into the first game, and was too far out of the story for the second, so I don't really see the appeal. Second most overhyped would be vita but that is just because I see a Taco Bell commercial about every six minutes telling me to eat there to get this thing first. With that said, I recommend their new spicy crunch burrito as well as their chili cheese burrito.
Let's get to the girls.

Top Female Characters in Video Games

For the longest, it felt like guys were the only dominate characters in gaming. You didn't really see many female lead characters that were worth playing as. Nowadays, there are plenty of females to choose from and yet the male characters are normally the ones that save the world from disaster while the females just kill off zombies or other similar events. So let's take a few hundred words and appreciate some of the ladies that make gaming fun and different.

Jill Valentine

Go back to Resident Evil, the original. Jill was one of the best female characters at that point and has continued to be. I am going to focus much of my attention on her from the first game as it was truly the best and easily one of my top five favorite games of all time. Remember when Jill killed Tyrant, a giant snake, the mutated plant, and about two hundred zombies and hunters. The voice acting was truly special, but the overall game was great. Jill was a character that I never felt wrong for playing as. I always wanted to be the guy, Chris Redfield in this case, but Jill was just as good if not better at times than Chris. She easily belongs on this list.

Samus/Metroid

While I never fully got into the series, I can say that you have to give credit to a female that keeps that figure and continues to be in a cold metal suit of armor. She easily could have just gone on to be a model somewhere but instead decided to put the looks aside and focus more on saving the universe. I don't know many females that would make that type of decision and still keep the great looks. More so than that, I don't know many females that would be such a great shot and so familiar with using such weapons. As far as I know, this was the original female hero in video games, if I am wrong (and I probably am) please feel free to correct me.



Lara Croft

Ah, probably the most famous female of all the females listed on here. She gained her fame from being a rich heiress that ended up going after artifacts and stopping destruction. She has traveled the world over in her quests and really added some of my favorite gaming moments to the industry. Tomb Raider 2 was one of my favorite Playstation games. I loved the Venice mission in the boat. As I said, she is probably the most recognizable female on the list and probably the most talked about. She was truly the main character and has had almost as many sequels (it is close) to Samus.



The Big Boss
Hmm, this one female sums up everything I have stated for each of the above females. She was pretty decent looking, extremely clever, great with weapons, and above all else stood for what she believed in. This character, I believe, was made to show that video game females don't have to have big eyes and other assets to be in a video game. This was the opposite of the Dead or Alive Girls. She possessed good looks but just overall symbolized good traits in females. If any character should be on this list it is her.

DOA Girls

Who doesn't love some jiggly bouncing pixels? These girls have done it all from fighting to volleyball. These girls are by no means a version of any real female I have ever seen so do not try to compare any females you know to any of these girls. Some of the games are quite fun for a bit though.

Well guys and gals that is it for this week. Thanks for reading. Next week we will take a look at the top male characters in gaming.