By Quintin Smith on April 8th, 2011 at 10:06 am.
Looking at the above screenshot, you’d think that character was from a fantasy game, no? Perhaps one called “Four Wind Journey” or “Dragonica”, and she’d have a name that suggested independence like Chala or Kara or something. In truth, she’s the sassy sidekick Volition have just revealed for subterranean alien-masher Red Faction Armageddon, she actually is called Kara, and you can watch her debut trailer after the jump.
The man in the trailer out-shining her in every scene? That’s Darius Mason, protagonist of Armageddon and grandson of the Red Faction: Guerrilla protagonists, just fyi.
08/04/2011 at 10:11 Moni says:
Boobs! Nolan North! What more could you possibly want in a game?
Perhaps, Nolan North with boobs… hmm.
08/04/2011 at 10:15 Teddy Leach says:
Needs cleavage tag.
08/04/2011 at 10:46 Spacewalk says:
Needs a “staring eyes” tag on ourselves.
08/04/2011 at 11:13 SuperNashwanPower says:
Aww. They are lovely boobs, but I just want to snuggle.
08/04/2011 at 10:18 WeeMadAndo says:
Seriously. f–k the people who design video game characters.
08/04/2011 at 10:28 Saiko Kila says:
Yeah, they apparently need a proper fuck once in a while.
08/04/2011 at 10:36 Teddy Leach says:
*Snort.*
08/04/2011 at 10:52 FhnuZoag says:
Sigh, why can’t we have female protagonists with sassy male sidekicks?
08/04/2011 at 14:06 SLeigher says:
You should have played mass effect 2 with fem shep and mordin then
08/04/2011 at 10:18 Javier-de-Ass says:
did anyone see the video with the DESCENT style flyer yet? OH MY GOD
08/04/2011 at 10:20 Brumisator says:
TITTIES!
God damnit, the one time They decide to develop a game in-house for PC, the game seems perfectly bland and uninteresting.
08/04/2011 at 15:09 tanith says:
Exactly my thoughts. :\
The standard formula for female video game characters seems to include either a monstrous cleavage or a lack of clothes – or both.
I’m seriously getting sick and tired of this shit.
08/04/2011 at 20:34 Commisar says:
so? If you think female characters in games are unrealistic/silly, either deny yourself some very fun games or make your own
08/04/2011 at 20:35 Serenegoose says:
Actually I’d rather come up with false dichotomies on the internet.
08/04/2011 at 21:08 DJ Phantoon says:
Hell, Bulletstorm didn’t have the female character smuggling canteloupe in her shirt.
I think that can be the standard for ridiculous at this point.
10/04/2011 at 21:12 Sassenach says:
I remember reading this quote on the subject of Bulletstorm, actually. Thought I’d post it back up as it seemed quite relevant:
I do laugh when I imagine the guy’s face just looking sad in a resignedly disappointed sort of way.
08/04/2011 at 10:27 Saiko Kila says:
Still no destructible terrain?
08/04/2011 at 10:38 Swabbleflange says:
*joke about destroying her terrain, etc.*
08/04/2011 at 10:43 Jonathan says:
Wait a second … so it’s not okay to be oppressed by whatever forces you were fighting against in Guerrilla, but it’s totally fine to commit genocide against the native life forms on the planet you’ve basically invaded?
Americans, eh?
08/04/2011 at 10:54 Muzman says:
In fairness, that is basically de rigueur for most fantasy RPGs too : travel to strange place – murder all natives and wildlife along the way – feel rather pleased with yourself – wonder why giant spiders et al have gold rings or whatever.
08/04/2011 at 11:01 Jonathan says:
That’s missing part of my point — this is all “Let’s fight against oppression … ooh, natives to oppress!”
08/04/2011 at 11:33 Muzman says:
S’pose. But this one seems largely devoid of politics so far and pretty much like Gears of War . So unless they’re going the Starship Troopers route it’s a pretty standard bughunt by the looks (although there’s a movement to reclaim Gears as this great unheralded piece of satire. People see what the heck they like).
08/04/2011 at 10:49 Muzman says:
I wonder if the arc welder in these games is ever used for actual welding. Can’t say I ever saw it in RFG.
Also; WHERE IS MY HAMMER OF THOR?!?!
Apparently the game has some hilarious Half Life meets Bulletstorm meets Just Cause Gravity gun thing. But it just doesn’t sound the same.
08/04/2011 at 10:52 SuperNashwanPower says:
The arc welder is there for one reason only – to provide better lighting for … accentuating certain ‘features’.
08/04/2011 at 10:50 Kdansky says:
I *love* cutscenes during which the player character does things that the player would love to do during the game.
Seriously, just make a movie instead. Also, tits.
08/04/2011 at 10:54 JYzer says:
I believe the proper term here is “combat cleavage”.
08/04/2011 at 10:57 SuperNashwanPower says:
Battle boobs
08/04/2011 at 11:02 Muzman says:
Weaponised Wonderbra
08/04/2011 at 11:02 Jonathan says:
It could be worse — “fighting fanny” or “victory vagina”.
Yes, my brain is in the gutter.
08/04/2011 at 11:05 SuperNashwanPower says:
@ johnathan saying both those terms in a really posh, upper class english accent, in my head, made me cackle like something evil out of lord of the rings. Fighting fanehhhhhh???? **monocle pop**
08/04/2011 at 13:27 Dances to Podcasts says:
“Also, tits.” should be the name of the tag for this.
08/04/2011 at 14:06 sinister agent says:
And the subtitle for the game.
08/04/2011 at 10:58 CaspianRoach says:
Wait, so this is a trailer about Kara and it focuses almost entirely on Darius? I don’t understand.
08/04/2011 at 11:17 Serenegoose says:
I was thinking the exact same thing. It’s… it actually feels totally -deliberate-, you know? Like they really have absolutely nothing to say about her character whatsoever, so they’re hoping they can just slot her into a few frames as the wide eyed support and get away with it.
08/04/2011 at 11:26 JYzer says:
What’s not to understand. We’re talking about game developers here, the things they know about feminism are that a) it happened to other people and b) it somehow involved Germaine Greer flashing her flooze.
08/04/2011 at 11:04 Alez says:
TITTIES!! I gonna play this ’cause it’s got woman with pretty parts!
Seriously though, i liked the previous game so i will try this. But this was one bland and lame trailer.
Hope it’s gonna have plenty of buildings to slowly destroy with your hammer. Otherwise there is no point to this game. Plenty of big boobied ladies in other games out there.
08/04/2011 at 11:17 MadTinkerer says:
Wait, wait, wait. I swear they snuck in some sound effects from TRON in that trailer. Sneaky sound engineers!
Not that I wasn’t going to buy the game anyway. :)
08/04/2011 at 11:43 ninjapirate says:
Monstrous cleavages in games? I’m getting tired of them.
08/04/2011 at 12:54 Martha Stuart says:
See this is exactly the kind of stuff i find absolutly hilarious. You and other people bitch about game developers putting huges boobs on female characters, but totally ignore the fact that you are commiting mass acts of genocide and murder while playing the game? So if i understand you correctly, chicks with big boobs (which actually exist FYI) is far more offensive to you then the systematic annilhation or oppression of an entire species?
08/04/2011 at 13:06 CMaster says:
It’s not the size, it’s the exposure.
Seriously-pushed up cleavage is neither appropriate combat attire, nor is it in keeping with the way everybody else in the trailer is dressed.
Also, people are talking about that above.
Although I didn’t see how the trailer implied genocide at all… (Yes, violence to a native species, but hey, oppressing the natives is what makes a country great huh (worked for US, Canada, Mexico…)
08/04/2011 at 15:02 SuperNashwanPower says:
Maybe they can include a Victorian-isation slider in the menu options, where at the bottom end of the scale the girl dresses like the one from X-blades, and at the top end she looks like an extra from Pride and Prejudice. Then we can cater to all exposure tastes. Personally I’m going with X-blades setting. Bottoms. Mmmmmm.
08/04/2011 at 15:31 Xocrates says:
You have no idea how happy I was that in Tomb Raider: Underworld I could give Lara some proper pants by level 2 and a fairly modest jacket by level 3.
Regarding the bitching about sexiness Vs bloody murder: One is a gameplay mechanic, the other is a distraction whose only purpose is to get money from horny teenage boys. This is particularly jarring when the male characters seem to be wearing three layers of clothing.
Give us a game with the goal of staring into a lady cleavage, and then we’ll complain about whatever unnecessary murder they throw in.
08/04/2011 at 16:43 Urthman says:
Martha Stuart, the difference is that it’s believable that real human beings in dangerous situations would kill their enemies. It’s not believable that real women in dangerous situations would wear clothes that are designed for titillation instead of protection and other practical matters.
When’s the last time you saw a female soldier in the real world charge into battle with her midriff bare and her shirt open to show off her cleavage?
08/04/2011 at 20:36 Commisar says:
well them. a little game called Interstellar Marines should be right up your alley, the female characters in that game are realistically covered in body armor, so no titties :)
08/04/2011 at 11:47 BenA says:
Amusing to hear the original Tron “derezzing” sound at 1:12.
08/04/2011 at 11:48 kikito says:
Isn’t she cold?
08/04/2011 at 12:32 Rii says:
How does a name like ‘Kara’ suggest independence?
No, really, I’m interested.
08/04/2011 at 15:12 JackShandy says:
Studies show that humans, when given a smooth wavy line and a sharp jagged one and told to choose a name for each out of a list of two, will pick “kiki” as the name for the jagged line 98% of the time. No joke.
Ka sounds are rebellious and headstrong. They don’t listen to nobodies’ rules.
08/04/2011 at 13:01 Janto says:
It’s the whole K thing, isn’t it, like Keith is supposed to be a very masculine name. Also, Starbuck.
08/04/2011 at 13:59 undead dolphin hacker says:
Keith is probably the gayest male name I’m aware of, so if we’re going with that kind of masculinity, sure.
08/04/2011 at 16:10 Janto says:
But so is Marcus…
08/04/2011 at 13:54 Gwog says:
I snickered at this:
“Looking at the above screenshot, you’d think that character was from a fantasy game, no? Perhaps one called “Four Wind Journey” or “Dragonica”, and she’d have a name that suggested independence like Chala or Kara or something.”
Funny, also true, therefore also kind of sad.
08/04/2011 at 14:03 PopeBob says:
Finally! A game where I can play as the savior of Mars AND kill Martian cyber-Darkspawn. Truly, Volition knows precisely the demands of my demographic.
08/04/2011 at 14:08 sinister agent says:
A not insignificant part of me sincerely hopes that she introduces herself in game with “Hello. My name is Kara, and these are my tits.”
08/04/2011 at 14:09 SLeigher says:
I do love how rps can get 40+ comments for a story and not one of those is really about the game yet i’m still laughing out loud
08/04/2011 at 14:26 Basilicus says:
The trailer makes me want to play the game, not so much because of the boobs but because it looks like they took RF: Guerilla and added such things as colors and cutscenes that aren’t crap.
I’ll still wait for the reviews and the Buy-it-for-$10-after-6-months deals, of course.
08/04/2011 at 14:42 Alistair says:
She’s presumably not a soldier and armour isn’t all that useful against guns. Skimpy clothing makes more sense on future Mars than it does in a sword-swinging environment.
Edit: Although I see she does don armour from the 1m11 mark, with helpful cleavage enhancement.
08/04/2011 at 15:15 JackShandy says:
That was the most hilarious Action Chick moment I’ve ever seen.
“Trust me, I can take care of myself.”
(Darius steps in to kill the guy threatening her)
“But it’s good to have a man who can solve my problems anyway.”
Ooh, but it looks like there’ll be bits where she tends to his wounds and tinkers with technical stuff for him. Thank goodness.
08/04/2011 at 16:38 inertia says:
Oh, for heaven’s sake, game developers, is it really too much to ask that you just make a female sidekick dressed head to toe in bondage gear? Honestly.
08/04/2011 at 17:42 SuperNashwanPower says:
Also can we shape the gimp mouth-ball like a grenade. Thank you.
08/04/2011 at 18:37 Araxiel says:
Feautres a lady? Which lady? You mean “trailer has boobies”
08/04/2011 at 19:48 lazysuperhero says:
Meh…
Haven’t played a Red Faction game since the original.