One of our most popular TenSpots was dedicated to the ten best computer-game heroes - the rough-and-tumble male protagonists who set themselves apart from the pack, the guys with the greatest special powers or exceptional flair, or the ones with the most distinctive personalities. Now it's time to turn our attention to the opposite sex: In no particular order, we'll present to you the ten best female game characters of all time.
We decided against restricting the scope of this TenSpot to computer-game heroines in particular. Often, supporting female characters can be just as significant or memorable as female leads. In fact, some of the best female characters aren't heroines at all. And some of them aren't even human. However, all the ladies we talked about, fought over, and finally chose share many of the same admirable qualities. We selected them for their personalities, their strength, their passion, their intelligence, their resourcefulness, their dedication, and their wit, to name a few. And a little mean streak didn't hurt, either.
This TenSpot also made us confront a problem with computer games. While we think you'll agree that our ten finalists are all outstanding characters, it was discouraging for us to look at the overall representation of women in games. Many of the female characters that came up in our voting had no real redeeming qualities; many of them were essentially props on a virtual stage. But on a positive note, a few upcoming games such as Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2 and Oni have really strong female protagonists. Do these developments indicate an evolution? It's too early to tell, but we can certainly hope so.
Now, here are - in no particular order - the ten best female characters.
A good woman gone bad
