Okay guys, question time!
Is it possible for a character to be a big, burly, snarling slab of a man yet still be a compelling video game character? I just got out of a discussion with someone who was adamant that it was impossible, and when presented with a reasonable counterargument merely said "one game doesn't really count when there's tons of others that don't work." (Direct quote.)
I have a few solid characters that are evidence to the contrary although beware, here there be spoilers:
A) From Starcraft and Starcraft 2, we have main protagonist Jim Raynor. He's a gigantic man with fists that in cutscenes appear to be bigger than my own head, has a stereotypical tough-guy attitude complete with southern drawl. His mission? To seek freedom from his oppressors in the government via revolution, while also seeking to protect the people of the galaxy from outside threats like the Zerg. But there's really something deeper going on there. He has one of the most compelling romance stories in gaming, which also has one of the most tragic conclusions. He's ruthless, angry, hot-headed and argumentative, and the game doesn't try to pretend like that's not a bad thing or that it makes him charming. The fact that he's actually not that great of a guy, and knows it, is part of what makes him interesting.
B) From God of War, we have Kratos. (I'm not going to describe him since everyone and their mother already knows what he looks like." You might not think that Kratos is a compelling character (and once you hit the second game he's not since at that point he's just running around being an obnoxious, whiny b*****d), but in the first game, his story in the first game is a modern example of a traditional Greek tragedy. He's a big-name captain in the Spartan military, who is ultimately seduced by power and tricked into killing his own family and branded with their ashes and blood for the rest of his life. As part of his revenge, he is then tricked into killing the god Ares, causing massive amounts of havoc and destruction in his wake. At the end of the game, upon both reaching his goal and realizing what he's done, he's filled with remorse and no longer has a purpose. He throws himself off the highest cliff he can find to end it all.
I could list other big, stereotypical manly-men who are actually interesting and compelling characters (Tychus from Starcraft 2 comes to mind, and I would say Master Chief but the games tell you NOTHING about him and the only reason I know his backstory is compelling is because I've read some of the novels), but I think you get the idea.
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