Playing as soldiers, martial arts experts and space marines is one thing, but can you think of any titles that let you partake in a basketball tourney as an ex-president, or battle blobs of jelly as a totem pole? If the answer is ‘no’, then we don’t blame you. This all-star list of weird playable characters in video games is bound to make you think to yourself: ‘what were the thinking?!’
Bag Lady | Syphon Filter 2
The Syphon Filter trilogy for the PlayStation was pretty big during its heyday. Government agents Gabe Logan and Lian Xing are tasked with tracking down an international bio-terrorist, only to find themselves caught in a much deeper conspiracy. The first game bagged itself solid reviews for its addictive stealth-action gameplay and clever AI for its time.
The sequel was released in the new millennium. It packed in split-screen multiplayer with a large selection of playable characters to choose from. For unexplained reasons, one of them is a Bag Lady. It’s quite a sight, watching a homeless woman going postal with a pump-action shotgun or M16. She even appeared in the third game, too!
And to think, there are some very sad and uninformed people out there who complain about video games not being representative enough… clearly these sensitive types aren’t playing enough retro games, eh, readers?
Drag Queen | Twisted Metal 4
Twisted Metal 2 was one hell of a vehicular deathmatch game, and it’s still considered to be one of the top entries in the series. It never was a pretty-looking game, but its colourful cast of racers, expansive arsenal and darkly humorous cut-scenes helped really bowled over a lot of gamers since its release.
On the other hand, the sequels – which were tackled by 989 Studios – felt vastly different, tonally. For one thing, in the fourth
