10 Most Influential Video Gaming Characters Of All Time

2. Lara Croft

When it comes to social impact and establishing video gaming as a mainstream medium of entertainment, very few could argue Lara Croft€™s place at the table. In the mid 90€™s gaming characters were 95% male, with females being reserved for objectification, assistance or simply to play the damsel in distress. Developers knew their target market, young males, and pandered to this by providing male protagonists, after all, who would want to control a woman? Lara Croft was the answer to every argument regarding a female lead. She is wealthy, sexy, adventurous and dangerous. Even in her polygon form she was so different from the cartoon gaming characters that had graced screen prior to her much-trumpeted arrival. The fact her early games were also engrossing, genuinely challenging and innovative played a huge part, but it was her own image that really made the Tomb Raider franchise a success. The fact that the young boys of the early 90€™s who had been playing as Dizzy and Sonic were now in their teens, reaching puberty and noticing women made the timing of Lara€™s emergence even more impeccable. While the games themselves have been mixed throughout the years - ranging from genuinely classy to the money-making generic - however commercially Lara has been a huge success. Not only did the virtual Croft feature on the front cover of famous magazines such as The Face and Loaded, the real females that portrayed her also found success. Perhaps the most famous of all of these was Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, whose portrayal of the character elevated her own status as well as turned the franchise into a popular (if critically-derided) film series. Moving into the modern era, Croft is still a major player in 2014, with the latest Tomb Raider title receiving praise from critics and gamers, and whilst her image may have evolved slightly, the character will always be seen a huge star of video gaming. Did You Know? Nell McAndrew was fired by Eidos from portraying Lara Croft after she posed nude for Playboy.