Mass Effect 3 hits store shelves on March 6, reuniting human-interaction-starved gamers nationwide with some of the most engrossing and well-written sci-fi characters in video games.
Rather than including a cast of typical, boring cookie-cutter space hero types, the Mass Effect series has centered on Commander Shepard battling the Reapers alongside some of the galaxy's worst, including murderers, assassins, vixens, psychopaths, and this one girl with way too many tattoos.
From the fast-talking Salarian scientist/opera singer Mordin to the charmingly deranged Wrex, the Mass Effect series is filled with a cast of interesting, fully-realized flawed personalities to whom gamers grow attached.
With all that said, we're left wondering: Which legends of sci-fi lore would be the most fun to team up with? What star-studded team would we want, in a world not bound by copyright laws, and that little thing called logic? Here are our five "wish list" squadmates:
5. Riddick (Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick)Ruthless killer and survivalist Richard B. Riddick would fit in perfectly with Shepard's ragtag group of violent misfits. Cunning, with a penchant for seeing in the dark and stealthy executions, Riddick is the kind of guy you want on your side, but never want to turn your back to.
While he's always looking out for number one, Riddick has also been shown to cooperate with others, as long as it is to his benefit. And I'd say definitely say he has something to gain from stopping the Reapers from wiping out all organic life in the galaxy.
4. Starbuck (Battlestar Galactica)
Kara Thrace, a.k.a. Starbuck, is a great view into seeing a younger, less experienced Commander Shepard. She is young and determined, full of fire and audacity; confident in her abilities both in the pilot's seat and in a bar fight.
She also has a backstory that parallels the Mass Effect's Quarians, with her home world being taken over, and race decimated, by machines of their own creation.
3. Rick Deckard (Blade Runner)While you may be asking why we chose this iconic Harrison Ford role over the instantly recognizable Solo option, it's Deckard's internal struggle that makes him a better, and more interesting, fit for the Mass Effect series.
Deckard is a blade runner, an elite member of the futuristic LAPD tasked with hunting down illegal, sentient androids, or replicants. As film goes on, the lines between humanity and replicants blur, with Deckard acting with increasingly machine-like brutality, while the survival plight of the replicants becomes more relatable to the audience.
Additionally, depending on the film version being watched, Deckard is heavily hinted towards being a replicant himself, adding to the man vs. machine internal struggle. Mass Effect's core struggle boils down to organic life vs. sentient machines, allowing Deckard to play a unique role in the fiction.
2. Ellen Ripley (Aliens film series)You don't really get to do this sort of list without mentioning Ellen Ripley.
She was one of the first females in sci-fi to take center stage, not pampered up space princess or damsel in distress. Rather, she's a tough talking fighter, ready to get bloody with her enemies in a brutal fashion that often exceeds that of her male counter-parts.
She's hard-nosed badass, all-too-familiar with taking on an ancient evil.
1. Captain Jack Harkness (Doctor Who, Torchwood)Captain Jack is a rare breed in the world of science fiction entertainment.
On the surface, he's just another square-jawed, good-looking immortal time traveller who seems to be constantly hitting on women. And men. And machine. And aliens of confusing and indiscernible gender, such as a sentient gas cloud.
Jack Harkness is one of the few openly non-heterosexual sci-fi leads in the industry today. What makes him unique is the manner in which he eludes stereotype. He has a thirst for adventure and danger, as well as a penchant for violence, sex, and bad one-liners, traits usually reserved for heroes with more - traditional - romantic pursuits.
Putting this kind of chemistry onboard the Normandy with a male Shepard? You can only imagine the scandalous headlines on Fox News and far-right, Christian websites.
Death to American Family Values from above!
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