The Devolution of Character Designs

Have you noticed this too? It's not just me, then. Every action hero-- well, a large proportion of them, anyway, tend to look like Vin Diesel. They all have shaved heads, frowns and featureless mugs. They're cookie-cutter, archetypal action heroes - and they all look like each other.

[TheLastGuardian2010]

Yes lets just ignore the plethora of examples that don't resemble Vin Diesel! :1

John Marston from RDR

http://media.moddb.com/imag...

Snow from Final Fantasy XIII

http://www.finalfantasy.net...

Pigsy from Enslaved

http://www.finalfantasy.net...

Gabriel from Castlevania: Lord of Shadows

http://realotakugamer.com/w...

Alice from Alice: Madness Returns

http://pinoytutorial.com/te...

Chell from Portal 2

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l...

Cole Phelps from L.A Noire

http://images.fastcompany.c...

Garcia Hotspur from Shadows of the Damned

http://images.wikia.com/sud...

Ethan Mars from Heavy Rain

http://terminalgamer.com/wp...

Murphy Pendelton from Silent Hill: Downpour

http://images.wikia.com/sil...

Vito Scalleta from Mafia 2

http://mafia-daily.net/wp-c...

Kane and Lynch from Kane & Lynch:

http://cache.gawker.com/ass...

Adam Jensen from Deus Ex: Human Revolution

http://www.blisteredthumbs....

Nathan Drake from Uncharted:

http://images.wikia.com/unc...

The sad part is that I can find more characters that DON'T LOOK like Vin Diesel, than I can that do (the bald, tough guy look). IGN just plays to many Space Marine games me thinks :/

[Hayabusa 117]

Funnily enough,some of those examples you gave look simular to each other...

[ViserysTargaryen]

Naw, not all of this gen's main characters are thugs, there are plenty of spikey haired girlie boys from Japanese games to balance things out. In the end its a sign of the times really, back in the 90s most video characters have that Arnold look to them, now it's Sam Worthington. No biggie.

[Hayabusa 117]

I reckon Sam Worthington has got so many roles recently because he is the real-life equivilant of this video game character design.

[godsinhisheaven]

Game characters are generally good looking guys/gals, from a esthetic point of view, designers don't have much room for creativity when designing characters.

[Paragon]

I do agree with the article, game characters and their personalities are getting pretty bland and stale in the latest games. Some games the devs handle it real well, but it gets old after a while when personalities in games are overused, especially character design also.

[tunaks1]

Totally agree.

[jbl316]

I agree with this article. Not just with the look but they all have bland personalities too!