Coolest Characters
Ratchet and Clank boasts a fairly rotating cast of characters that they slot out every couple of games. Aside from the titular hero and their buddy cop dynamic, only Captain Qwark has appeared in every other game thus far. The PS2 era games had a series of side characters from earlier entries in the series–Big Al, Skidd McMarxx, Helga–that haven’t been seen since the end of Up Your Arsenal in 2004. With the Future series on PS3, players were introduced to Talwyn Apogee and her robot bodyguards Cronk and Zephyr.
Sly Cooper’s anthropomorphic cast is made up primarily of the Cooper Gang, originally starting with Sly and his two friends Bentley the turtle and Murray the hippo for the first two games. With Sly 3, the gang expanded to include new characters (the Guru, a koala with mystic powers and mechanical genius mouse Penelope) and villains from previous games, such as lizard artist, Dimitri, and explosive expert, The Panda King. And of course, there’s Carmelita Fox, Sly’s love interest who also happens to be a cop. Make no mistake, though: Sly is still the face of the game, a face with a smooth as butter voice.
Jak and Daxter’s elf-filled world puts players in the boots of the long-haired Jak and his yappy friend Daxter, who got morphed into an ottsel (mix between weasel and otter). In the first game, Jak was mute, but the sequels gave him a voice after his body was experimented on with Eco. He talks like how an angsty teenager would, and he’s also got a dumb goatee to go along with it. Also along for the ride is Samos, Jak’s adoptive father of sorts, and Kiera, his sort of girlfriend? That part isn’t entirely clear. The sequels later add in freedom fighters, Torn and Ashelin, plus the monkey-bird, Pecker.
Winner: Sly Cooper
The Cooper cast have a fun dynamic together that makes it great for them to bounce off of, like watching Leverage or any of the Mission Impossible movies. Depending on your outlook, Daxter or Captain Qwark’s shtick can run their course pretty quick. But with Sly’s effortless cool demeanor, Bentley’s adorkable brains, and Murray giving himself a superhero personality called The Murray, it’s fun to just hear these guys talk and work together to pull off heists.
