EA has been in the business for decades and they started small. In the mid-2000s, they started to become a bigger deal beyond all of theMadden NFLgames which admittedly have been the company’s bread and butter along with other sports titles. There’s no big hero to cling to in those sports games though even though they have experimented with story modes.
Sports aside, let’s look at EA game heroes over the years from other genres. Who are the noble, action-ready, and funny characters worth noting? Are there any likable scoundrels too on the scale of Han Solo fromStar Wars? Let’s jump in, spoiler-free, to find out who has stayed in our collective minds, rent-free.
8DeathSpank
The Main Hero Of A Short-Lived But Funny Series
DeathSpank is the titular character of his own short-lived series,DeathSpank. He was a fabled hero who came out of retirement to save the world once again from a villain who used the power of a magical piece of underwear to wreak havoc.
Based on that description, it should be easy to tell that this series was a comedy and it was genuinely funny. The gameplaymirrored that ofDiablowith plenty of top-down hacking and slashing action and loot. There were three games in total, all of which were smaller indie games published under the EA umbrella.
When it comes toJames Bondgames, most seem to rememberGoldenEye 007as the best. It was a classic for the N64 especially when it came to its multiplayer mode. One game that often gets forgotten isJames Bond 007: Everything or Nothingwhich was an original game that used the likeness and voices of the movies like Pierce Brosnan returning as Bond.
Another heavy hitter in the game is Willem Dafoe who played the villain. The story and scenario are just as good as any of Brosnan’s Bond movies and it’s a shame more people can’t play and see how charming he can be as Bond in this game.
It Takes Twohas two protagonists, Cody and May, and they are both equally valuable to the story. The two of them are discussing divorce and their daughter, Rose, makes a wish thus turning them into dolls. Together, Cody and May had to go through a series of trials to work through their marital issues and to also get back into their original forms.
It Takes Twois played entirely in co-op, so it’s like a trial for players to learn and cooperate with each other just like Cody and May have to change in the game. It’s a journey for sure, and everyone involved can learn a thing or two about how to be more tolerant and attentive in their everyday lives.
Grayson is the main character ofBulletstormwhich did get an enhanced remasterbut there was never a sequel. It’s one of the wildest shooters anyone could ever play and Grayson is unhinged as a protagonist. It was like a modernDuke Nukemwith all of the humor and ridiculous gameplay mechanics from Grayson’s one-liners to kicking people into cactuses.
It never got old thanks to the vast amount of ways players could kill enemies. Grayson also kept things light with his over-the-top attitude that everyone else in the game seemed to grow tired of, but that was part of the bit as a meta-commentary on the genre.
Eddie is the hero ofBrutal Legend, another brilliant game that only got one chance to shine in the sun. Played by Jack Black, Eddie was a roadie who dreamed of bigger things. His dreams were finally awakened when he was transported into a fantasy world filled with the sound of metal. It was like an 80s album cover come to life which was the point.
While he looked gruff on the outside, Eddie was a solid protagonist who solved issues through the power of rock and Jack Black was the perfect actor to cast in this role since the two are so much alike.
Isaac is the main character of theDead Spacefranchise. Like Master Chief in theHaloseries, Isaac is known more for his iconic engineer suit than the man underneath it all. Part of that might be because he never spoke in the original game. In the two sequels, he does and it was retconned in the 2023 remake to make Isaac talk too.
The remake didn’t add a lot of personality to his character but sometimes a hero doesn’t need a lot of charisma to stick out. Look at Samus fromMetroidor the aforementioned Master Chief as other prime examples. Isaac’s badass actions as a top-notch engineer and Necromorph exterminator are more than enough to make him cool.
Cal began as a wimpy character in the firstStar Wars Jedigame. He was young, inexperienced, and wanted to prove himself in a lot of reckless ways. For some players, it was hard to vibe with a Jedi like Cal although he was nowhere near as annoying and incomprehensible as Anakin in the prequel movies.
This all changed for Cal in the sequel,Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. He underwent training, got his act together, and was a more noble Jedi than before with plenty of charisma to boot making him an easy pick for this list.
EA, between itself and its partnered companies like BioWare, will never be able to top a character like Commander Shepard from theMass Effectseries. That original trilogy changed how players looked at RPGs. Some are still playing it today, going through different routes, and customizing their version of Shepard in new ways.
From dialogue choices to their gender, theMass Effecttrilogy is like a gift that keeps on giving more than a decade later. Part of why Shepard is so beloved is because players can choose a lot of options on how to play their character. Shepard, for many, is a reflection for players set in a fantastical space opera, fulfilling a wish that many will never know.
