'Faith' Saves The Day (ONLINE GAME)

'Faith' Saves The Day
'Faith' Saves The Day
Mary Jane Irwin, 11.10.08, 6:00 PM ET

In Pictures: Top 10 Games Starring Female Characters

Burlingame, Calif. -

After quickly disarming and incapacitating your pursuers, you clamber up some stairs and burst out onto a sun-drenched rooftop. Running full-tilt to the lip of the roof, you leap, roll to your feet and vault over air ducts before sliding to safety beneath a descending steel gate a few buildings away. Speedily threading your way through such obstacles is essential for survival as a lone runner against an entire police force that's trying to prevent you from discovering the truth behind a political assassination.

Welcome to "Mirror's Edge," Electronic Arts' (nasdaq: ERTS - news - people ) new parkour-inspired action game landing in stores Tuesday. What's unique about the game--beyond its use of the first-person vantage point, which is usually reserved for shooters--is that the main character is a woman.

The games industry has long catered to the core 18- to 34-year-old male demographic, so game developers often choose burly space marines instead of petite heroines as protagonists. But as the general audience of games expands--thanks to devices like the Nintendo (other-otc: NTDOY.PK - news - people ) Wii--it calls into question why female heroines are so under-represented in games.

In Pictures: Top 10 Games Starring Female Characters

According to the Entertainment Software Association, 40% of all game players are female, and nearly 30% of all console game players are women. But only 3% of games appearing on the current crop of Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ), Nintendo and Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) consoles star female characters, according to the research firm Electronic Entertainment Design and Research. Men fill the lead role in 46% of titles created for the latest consoles. The remaining games feature either customizable characters (normally found in role-playing games) or don't feature a lead character (such as the puzzle game "Tetris").

The industry is not necessarily opposed to putting females in games--some of gaming's most iconic leads are women. Bounty hunter Samus Aran made waves when it was revealed at the end of the first "Metroid" game that the person behind the suit was female. Lara Croft, the female adventurer modeled after Indiana Jones, has been raiding tombs since the late '90s. And there are a host of other games like Ubisoft's "Beyond Good & Evil" and Sony's "Heavenly Sword" that star strong female characters. Still, these heroines are vastly out-numbered by their male counterparts and, historically, developers have exploited female characters for their sex appeal.

That's why EA's decision to put the sleek and athletic Faith in the leading role of "Mirror's Edge" is so unique. "I find it's wearing a bit thin and [is] kind of childish," Owen O'Brien, the game's senior producer, says about the typical portrayal of gals in games. "I wanted to create an action hero who happened to be female--but could just as easily have been male--who wasn't trading on the fact that she was a sexual being. I was trying to create a character that was aspirational but attainable...[without] gravity-defying breasts."

Besides, says O' Brien, Faith fits perfectly into the role of a hunted runner far better than a man ever would. If she were male, he says, players would have immediately entered shooter mode--hunting for bigger guns and better armor--instead of relying on Faith's speed and agility to disarm or dodge opponents.

In the action genre that "Mirror's Edge" falls into, only 3% of titles released during this console cycle starred females. Men helm 51% of action games. Male characters also drive 73% of shooters while women star in a mere 1% of the games. The only genre where women have the upper hand is in Sims-like games where they star in 14% of the games versus 5% featuring men.

See chart for a full genre breakout

The only market where women are represented with the same frequency as men is in the casual games space. "The [casual] industry has leaned toward female characters," says Jessica Rogers, marketing director of Nickelodeon's Kids and Family Games Group. "It has a lot to do with the audience being predominately women."

With respect to the industry at large, O'Brien has a "gut feeling" that it's moving toward equal representation. "There are more girls playing games, but there's still a long way to go," he says.

Sarah Hoeksma, group marketing director at "Tomb Raider" publisher Eidos, says the ratio of female to male leads in gaming overall is already increasing. "A number of top publishers are now releasing games with leading female characters in games designed for gamers rather than the casual market," Hoeksma said in an e-mail. "If consumers show there is a demand for these characters, then the industry will continue to invest in the development of more female leads."

10. Rumble Roses XX

"Rumble Roses" is unapologetic in touting this wrestling game's "visual 'enhancements'"--it renders scantily clad women entangled in suplexes. If the female wrestlers--dressed up as cowgirls, schoolgirls and nurses--weren't scintillating in their barely there apparel, they also fight with bared breasts.

9. Petz: Horsez 2

The "Petz" franchise, alongside the "Imagine" line, is one of Ubisoft's core revenue generators in its Games for Everyone initiative, which generated some 25% of the companies revenues in 2007. The "Petz" games give players a virtual animal to dutifully play, train and groom. Horses, of course, appeal primarily to wee lasses, so it's of little surprise that "Horsez" stars a young female rider who gets to raise and breed steeds and participate in competitions.

8. Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey

Disney Princess is a $4 billion brand. All one needs to do is name drop Jasmine or Ariel and the toy will sell like hot cakes. "Enchanted Journey" is no different. Playing as a young girl, gamers must help four magical kingdoms--governed by the likes of Jasmine and Snow White--return to order after a witch stole attributes like color or time from the worlds. It's not deep, but Disney Princess is just right for the brand's 3- through 5-year

7: Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2

Team Ninja, the developers behind the "Dead or Alive" franchise, is well known for its catalog of busty vixens willing to fight to the death in mixed martial arts bouts. "Xtreme 2" is the follow up to spin-off "Xtreme Beach Volleyball"--basically a game about collecting various revealing sets of swim wear. The sequel beefs up its activity line up to include tug of war and jet ski racing. Don't forget the fan favorite "hip wrestling" where the girls face "back-to-back and cheek-to-cheek" as they attempt to bump each other off a platform and into a pool with their hips.

6. Okami Loosely based on a Japanese myth, players take control of the goddess Amaterasu in a quest to restore peace and beauty to a demon-infested land. Throughout her journey, a wolf, the corporal manifestation of the sun goddess, is called upon to both help out citizens and fight monsters. "Okami" was critically acclaimed for its art style and innovative use of calligraphy--armed with a "Celestial Brush," players could wipe out enemies with a single stroke.

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5. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary

Lara Croft is one of videogaming's most iconic women; she was even awarded the title of most successful heroine by the Guinness World Record in 2006. Modeled as a female Indiana Jones, Lara--unsurprisingly--raids tombs in search of archaeological artifacts. The "Anniversary" edition is an ode to the original 1996 classic in celebration of the brand's 10th birthday.

4. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend

Lara was always meant to be a strong female lead character, but as she aged her original developer decided she needed "sexing up." For 2006's "Legend," a new development team took the reigns and rebuilt Lara and her world from the ground up in the hopes of reinvigorating the franchise. In the process--and in an attempt to appeal to more female gamers--Lara's look shifted from buoyantly bosomed to an athletic build.

3. Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour

Catering to the young female audience on the Wii (and the PlayStation 2), "Spotlight World Tour" lets gamers dance along with Hannah Montana as she performs musical numbers from the Disney television show at venues across the globe in a rhythm game mash-up.

2. Heavenly Sword

Nariko, a female warrior wielding a life-sapping sword, must defeat an invading army intent on capturing and harnessing the sword's deadly power. There is also a complicated backstory about how Nariko was supposed to be born the great male heir who would save her clan.

1. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Bounty hunter Samus Aran, the star of Nintendo's "Metroid" franchise, is one of the first female protagonists to appear in videogames. When "Metroid" debuted on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986, Samsus was depicted simply as a cybernetic-suited hero. It was only at the end of the game that players learned the person behind the helmet was a female. "Metroid Prime 3" is the third installment in Nintendo's popular first-person adventure reinvention of the