Video game development is a costly, time-consuming process. It can take countless hours to develop a game from the ground up, so to speak. These days, some of the biggest games cost millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of pounds to create. A key part of this process is the creation of a game’s characters. While the gameplay, features, and storyline are important, the characters are key because they are what the player connects with, and they help make games more engaging and realistic.
It’s safe to say that a lot of care goes into making video game characters as believable as possible. Nowadays, graphics are extremely advanced, and creators can make characters look extremely lifelike with incredible attention to detail. Some video game characters are entirely original. Others are actually based on real-life people. Here are 7 whose prototypes use living people as inspiration.
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The Illusive Man from Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect is a sci-fi media franchise about an alternate universe where the Milky Way has been colonized by humans and several alien species. It started off as a series of video games; there have been four released to date, with a fifth in development at an unknown date. The Illusive Man is a character in the second game. He’s the pro-humanity Cerberus organization leader, and his design was apparently based on the actor Martin Sheen. Even the character’s voice was said to have been based on the way Sheen talks.
Commander Shepard from Mass Effect
The protagonist of the Mass Effect series, like many other video game characters, can be customized. The character can be a man or a woman, and should you make the commander a man, he will be voiced by Mark Vanderloo. Mark is a rather well-known Dutch model who you may have seen on billboards promoting Hugo Boss. He’s also done work for Calvin Klein and Armani. The Commander Shepard character, when chosen to be male, is designed to resemble the model.
Lucy Stillman from Assassin’s Creed
Lucy Stillman is a character who appears in the first three Assassin’s Creed games. She’s voice by the actress Kristen Bell, whose credits include
• The Good Place
• Veronica Mars
• The Frozen series, in which she voices Princess Anna.
The Assassin’s Creed series consists of twelve main games and numerous spin-offs. The series combines sci-fi with historical fiction and is about the ongoing conflict between the Assassins and the enemy Templars, who want peace through control and order as opposed to freedom. The games feature open-world gameplay and both historical and present-day settings.
Crying Wolf from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Crying Wolf is one of the more interesting characters to appear in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. She’s known for expressing extreme remorse in battle and crying heavily due to post-traumatic stress disorder. The design of the character is based on Mieko Rye, a successful and popular model. However, Mieko doesn’t provide the character’s voice; instead, that’s done by Debra Wilson Skelton, who’s best known for being the longest-serving member on the show Mad TV.
Sheva Alomar from Resident Evil 5
The character Sheva Alomar plays a key role in Resident Evil 5, helping to investigate a bio-terrorist threat in a fictional region in Africa. She’s voiced by the actress Karen Dyer, who works in film, TV, and motion-capture acting. Karen’s professional working name is Eva La Dare. She’s best known for appearing in the 2006 film Idlewild. Sheva Alomar’s design is believed to have been based on Karen’s own looks and appearance. Resident Evil 5 is the biggest-selling installment in the Resident Evil series. Released back in 2009, it was the first Resident Evil game to feature cooperative gameplay and is more of an action game than previous installments.
Alyx Vance from Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 has you play as Gordon Freeman, who joins a movement aiming to free Earth from the control of the Combine, a sinister alien empire. The game was released in 2004, six years after the original Half-Life, with a third installment not coming out until 2020. It’s a first-person shooter that includes a number of puzzles and an element of storytelling. When it came out, it was lauded by critics and has even been named as one of the best video games of all time. The character of Alex Vance plays an important role in the game and is skilled in many areas. Her likeness is based on the actress Jamil Mullen, while she’s voiced by Merle Dandridge.
Zoey from Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead is a first-person shooter that focuses on an outbreak of zombies on the East Coast of America and has four gameplay modes:
- single-player,
- four-player co-op,
- four-player survival,
- eight-player game with two teams of four taking each other on.
The character of Zoey is one of the four Survivors you can play as. She’s voiced by Jen Taylor, though her physical appearance is based on that of Sonja Kinski, an American model who was born in Switzerland.
Play These Great Video Games
The video games we’ve covered in this list include some very well-respected ones. If you like the sound of any of them, be sure to check them out and see if they’re suitable for you.
The next time you play video games, you may just come across a character who looks like a celebrity or some other well-known person.