A shout out to Killzone's female character “Shadow Marshal” Luger, for being more than just eye candy
While some may argue that Killzone is slightly sexist, seeing how the game has only a handful of female characters in the entire series, it would be unfair to make that statement as in each game, the female character always plays an integral role.
We here at Bettor.com would like to take a moment to acknowledge and recognize the contribution of these wonderful and lethal characters and give them the time they deserve in the spotlight.
“Shadow Marshal” Luger
Apart from having one of the coolest names any person, male or female, could have in both the gaming or the real world, Luger actually lives up to her name for being just as bad-a*s as her name would suggest.
Luger has so far only appeared in the first Killzone game, where she was an assassin and would give Sam Fisher a run for his money. While one could stop there and have the reader imagining a female assassin dressed in all black camouflage with night vision goggles, a silenced-pistol, which is just as powerful as a sniper rifle, in her hands, it is important to note that she was more than just eye-candy, she was lethal.
Her weapon of choice was stealth and she saved the protagonist, Jans Templar, on more than occasion. What made her unique was her cold indifference, where others would see another human being; Luger would see the world in black and white: targets and obstacles in the way of targets.
Apart from that, her “playing hard to get” approach and on-and-off relationship with Templar, coupled with the history between the two characters, made the banter in the game quite enjoyable.
What makes her unique in the Killzone series is that she is the only playable female character to date. Players were able to access areas in the game, if they opted to play as the ice cold assassin, other characters could not. Sneaking through ventilation tunnels to find hidden areas in the game, or to take out a patrol or sentry without alerting anyone were her specialties.
In fact, she was the only one out of the four playable characters in the first game that had something different to offer gamers in terms of gameplay mechanics: Stealth.
Though the friendly AI in the first Killzone game was nothing out of the ordinary, Luger’s one shot kills were the most helpful. Something Rico with his Heavy Machine Gun should be taking notes on, seeing how he is by far the most hated character in the entire series (and he’s one of the good guys!).
Luger, in more ways than one, showed that female characters in video games could be much more than damsels in distress or eye candy, unlike a certain Nintendo franchise with a vertically challenged Italian plumber with a moustache.
In more ways than one, Luger broke a couple of barriers that were developing in the video game industry. Yes, there are many games with female protagonists with Bayonetta, Wet and Tomb Raider, who lets be honest, a majority of the gamers would focus on for their choice, or lack, of clothing, Luger showed that emphasizing on the female anatomy is not the only way to go with female characters in video games.
Luger’s contribution to the gaming world may not be one of the most well known, but one could call her an unsung hero in the gaming world for showing that women can be just as bad-a*s as their male counterparts, without them having to be eye candy.
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