Over the past week or so I have been demoing one game (Star Wars: The Force Unleashed) and reading various information on a game which I won’t be able to touch for at least another six months (InFamous). Something I noticed relatively quickly was the similarities between the two main characters: Cole and Starkiller. Are they simply long lost brothers or do they just need a tad more inspiration for their character artwork?
The first (and most obvious) physical trait the 2 share is their hairstyles. Both have a close shaven hair cut. There are some other physical similarities, but they are not quite as strong a link as the shaven heads. They also both have gloves around their hands (either with the fingertips cut or not cut), wear long sleeved shirts, pants covering their entire legs, and (of course) shoes. Outside of a few rips here and there on Starkiller’s rags and the fingertips of Cole’s gloves, neither of them show any skin besides their heads. Cole looks to be a little older and more experienced than Starkiller, but certainly still looks as though he could be of relation. Both have little to no eyebrows and really no discerning facial features that would make them stand out in a crowd. I have a strong feeling if you were to interchange either character between their two games that no player would be the wiser. Just age Starkiller about 10 years or so and you have two very similar looking individuals.
Outside of their physical appearances, the stars of each game also have the same ability to wield electricity/lightning. While Cole’s ability seems to be quite a bit more advanced than Starkller’s, there is no doubt you wouldn’t want to be around either in a metal scrap heap. Starkiller kind of just shoots lightning at people from his hands or just infuses it into his lightsaber. Not a whole lot else going on with that. Cole, however, can not just shoot electricity as a projectile, but can also use it to bind people to the ground, revive people as a walking defibrillator, and other glorious powers which have yet to be revealed (although the rumor which is most exciting is the ability to travel the Cole’ home city via the power lines.) Both characters also seem to be fairly agile as Cole is a parkour type fellow (although developers Sucker Punch say not to confuse his ability to climb buildings as a parkour-like ability) and Starkiller can pretty much run and jump all over the place without ever seeming winded (plus he’s a freaking Sith lord.) Either way, both have the ability to be overall badasses and take out whomever may be in their way.
Finally, both characters (from what I have seen) seem to carry large chips on their shoulders. Cole is pissed off that his entire hometown thinks he caused a devastating explosion. Starkiller is probably pissed that Darth Vader is making him his bitch. So both stories probably center around the character with a chance to redeem himself. While InFamous will probably be more open ended as to if you want to do so or not, The Force Unleashed seems like a much more linear storyline will be in place.
So, is Cole a long lost son of a Jedi Knight or is this simply a lot of coincidence? At the end of the day, it obviously is just a LOT of coincidence, but these observations do prove that it is possible in some alternate reality that Cole and Starkiller are related. It would be cool to see a game pitting them against each other and see who would win at the end of the day. Although it might be confusing as to which character was which if we took the lighsaber out of the equation… I urge you to take a look at the screenshots of the games and let me know what YOU see. Do you see any similarities or am I all alone in this conspiracy theory?
As always, thanks for reading.
