Over the decades, video game heroes have come and gone. The debate over who is your favourite hero of all time could quite easily run and run so instead of looking at the very best heroes, checking out some of the most memorable ones from recent times is quite possibly the way forward. So I did.
Here are 5 of my most memorable video game heroes!
5) Artyom – Metro
The world of Metro 2033 and Last Light is a harsh and hostile, post-apocalyptic wasteland in which humanity has been forced to leave the surface and take up residence in the underground train tunnels. It would take a strong and courageous man to survive in this environment, let alone brave the surface world, combating the horrific mutated creatures that now inhabit the land.
Artyom is that person. He is not afraid to try to achieve the impossible, whether this is destroying the Dark Ones in the first game, or saving them in the second. Whilst other men are too wrapped up in their war against other humans, Artyom stands almost alone in recognising the real threats and will put himself through hell to bypass or defeat them. His love interest Anna acknowledges this by saying he was “the bravest of us all, because he was never afraid to embrace the things he never understood”. He is a true hero, in a world where rules no longer apply.
4) Captain Price – Call of Duty
We first meet Captain John Price in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, arguably the best game in the series, before all hell breaks loose and the world is sent to the brink of mutually assured destruction. Captain Price is at the forefront of it all, conducting covert operations to rescue informants, capturing or assassinating wanted terrorists and preventing nuclear missiles from killing millions of people. All in a day’s work for this SAS badass.
15 years prior to the first Modern Warfare game, Price was just a Lieutenant under the command of Captain MacMillan and was tasked by the British government to assassinate Imran Zakhaev in Pripyat, Ukraine. What follows is the best Call of Duty level ever created in which you must use your ghillie suits to remain completely hidden, only taking out necessary targets with your suppressed sniper rifles as you progress to the target location. This mission cemented my respect for Captain Price and is the video game equivalent to a work of art, it’s that perfect.
Price is at both the start and end of the Modern Warfare series. He not only begins it but he also ends it as well and this is well deserved given just how much he has been through.
3) Ezio Auditore – Assassin’s Creed
Whilst Ezio is not the first assassin we are introduced to in the series, that honour goes to Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad, he is definitely the most notable protagonist out of all the games. He is without doubt the one that we, the players, form the deepest connection with. We watch him grow from a naive young lad, to a learned master assassin and subsequently a wise, grizzled grand master over the course of three games; ACII, Brotherhood and Revelations.
With his family slain, Ezio is forced to step into his father’s shoes to become the greatest assassin since Altaïr himself and we’re there to help him every step of the way. Utterly fearless, charismatic, and skilled in combat and subterfuge, he rebuilds the order of the assassins to combat the growing threat of the Templars, thwarting them at every turn. Without him the world would have fallen to darkness and his groundwork helped future assassin’s achieve their goals.
2) Commander Shepard – Mass Effect
Commander Shepard is perhaps the best overall leader that has ever been seen in the video game world. Shepard single-handedly leads three different teams to hell and back over the three games of the series, culminating in the outstanding achievement of bringing the entire galaxy together to fight the Reapers in the climactic Battle of Earth. These feats would break lesser men or women but Shepard always finds a way to win through, even against near impossible odds.
Shepard isn’t just a great leader but is also a true friend to his comrades in arms, always willing to go the extra mile to ensure their loyalty and friendship. Not to mention this can also lead to a budding romance between the commander and one of his crew.
Ultimately, Shepard saves humanity and the rest of the galaxy from total annihilation, and if this doesn’t deserve to be remembered, then I struggle to know what does.
1) Master Chief – Halo
What can we say about the Master Chief that hasn’t already been said a thousand times? The human super soldier is practically the only reason humanity survived the Covenant onslaught and the far more terrifying dangers of the Flood. He is the ultimate soldier, unmatched in battle against even the most senior elites or brutes, assisted at every turn by his faithful companion Cortana.
The symbiosis between these two has saved the galaxy several times from the Halo rings and the Flood. She is the brains and he is the brawn. Without him, Cortana would have never been able to shut down the rings to stop galactic destruction and would have remained trapped on the Flood infested High Charity at the end of Halo 2.
Anyone who calls themselves an Xbox fan knows the Chief’s name and will remember his previous deeds whilst fighting new enemies in the recent and upcoming releases for the Halo franchise. He is perhaps the greatest hero the world has ever known and we are all excited to see how his upcoming adventures turn out as he fights against his former companion.
No matter what happens, John-117 will always have a place in our memories and our hearts.
Which other heroes deserve to be honoured and remembered? Let us know in the comments below!
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