Jane Shepard. Ellen Ripley. Samus Aran. What do these characters have in common? They’re all strong, heroic women who’ve had epic space adventures and look absolutely badass with guns. Here’s another thing – none of them were originally written as female. Mass Effect’s default protagonist is Commander John Shepard, Sigourney Weaver was the last member cast in Alien and during Metroid’s development a member of staff randomly commented “hey, wouldn’t it be cool if the person under the suit was a woman?”
Yes, it was indeed cool!
For someone old enough to remember the gaming dark ages where wimminfolk were basically kidnap-fodder, playing Mass Effect as FemShep is a dream come true. She does everything HimShep does (with the odd exception – boinking Ashley for instance) and the brilliant Jennifer Hale gives her one hell of a performance. What’s really fascinating is the level of input the player has over Shepard. We choose her looks, her background and her decisions, which won’t just define her story arc but change the whole galaxy. Entire races may live or die depending on her actions, so yeah – mind how you go!
With that kind of pressure, it’s nice for Shepard to have that “special someone”; someone who’s a shoulder to cry on, a reason to keep fighting and (of course) someone to have a pre-apocalyptic quickie with in the Normandy bunks. Don’t act like you don’t love it! The series offers several potential love interests, each with their own story that can play out in completely different ways. Maybe you’ll be true to one character, fighting alongside them till the bitter end *fistbumps Liara*. Maybe you’ll have a joyful reunion with your lover in the second game only to break their heart in the third (IF they survive that long!) Maybe you’ll be awkwardly propositioned at a bad moment and have to go clear your head by driving around in the Mako killing Thresher Maws. As I said, it’s all about choice, which is why these “Paramour” sub-quests are a huge talking point among Mass Effect fans.
Whether you pursued it or not, Bioware had to lay the groundwork for every scenario – that’s a lot of plot, script and dialogue you normally wouldn’t even get to see. As choosing one sweetheart means forsaking the others (trust me – you can’t have two at once!) there’s every chance I’ve missed out on the video game romance of the century. Thankfully it’s a game made for multiple playthroughs so I’m going back to visit those other eligible folks. Will they sweep me off my feet or are they better off consigned to The Friend Zone? Time will tell. Plus I’ve got new classes to try out, achievements to get and Paragon/Renegade options to explore. Why am I doing this? Because I enjoy seeing how my favourite games were put together. That and I just wanted an excuse to play Mass Effect again!
I’m quite curious to see how the relationships written for FemShep compare with those available to both genders. Going back to my first point with Shepard, Ripley and Aran: their creators didn’t set out to write great female characters, just great characters. They may have evolved in different directions since then (for better or worse) but each character was conceptualised with gender roles as an afterthought. Can the same be said for great video game romances? Only one way to find out…
The FemShep Experiment
If the Normandy’s a-rockin then don’t come a-knockin’!
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