As gamers there is the general consensus that games being made into film can only lead to disappointment. There are a slew of bad game / movie tie-ins that always leave the average gamer with a bad taste in their mouth. That said, we’re going to set aside this preconceived notion and look at a group of cool female games characters and pontificate over who should play them if they ever got a cinematic outing.

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Games Character: Alyx Vance
As played by: Jessica Alba, Denyce Lawton
It’s actually difficult to try and cast the role of female games character Alyx Vance given her Afro-Asian looks. Sadly there really aren’t that many actresses that would fit, so we’ve gone for the obvious choice of Jessica Alba since there’s something similar about her and Vance, a sort of smart, yet sexy girl next door thing, probably best gleaned in the TV series Dark Angel. Our other choice Denyce Lawton is Afro-Asian (unlike Alba who actually has Mexican ancestry), though she’s not as well known.

Games Character: Carla Valenti
As played by: Eva Mendes, Monica Belluci
Carla Valenti was the cool female cop in the game Indigo Prophecy (aka Fahrenheit). Despite the obvious Italian sounding name we’ve veered towards the good looks of Cuban-American actress Eva Mendes as our first choice. Second choice would go to a young Monica Belluci, thus sticking with the Italian heritage. Both these actresses could easily pull off the role of cool female games character Carla, no problem.

Games Character: Alexandra Roivas
As played by: Sarah Michelle Gellar or Kristen Bell
It’s not difficult to picture Kirsten Bell of Veronica Mars fame in the role of the smart and intrepid female games character Alexandra Roivas of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. The cute blonde with a nose for trouble could easily pull off the role of one of the Gamecubes best survival horror heroines. That said, taking a peek at a shot of Alexandra and you instantly see the similarity between her and Sarah Michelle Gellar, it’s a tough call.

Games Character: Cortana
As played by: Stacy Haiduk
Sticking with the long haired Cortana and not the tomboyish model, we immediately thought of Stacy Haiduk, with those steely eyes and gaze. Haiduk is probably most famous for her roles in Seaquest DSV and Kindred the Embraced, but has had many TV roles over the years. As far as the role of the Master Chief’s AI pal in the Halo games, Stacy Haiduk wins hands down, it's all in the eyes.

Games Character: April Ryan
As played by: Fairuza Balk
April Ryan is one a few cool female gaming characters in the game Dreamfall and its sequel. She’s a character with a lot of depth and a lead female protagonist in a PC title, which let’s face it, doesn’t happen often. We’ve chosen Fairuza Balk to play April because it just seemed a perfect fit, as the images will hopefully attest to.

Games Character: Jade
As played by: Natalie Portman or Natalie Imbruglia
This was one of the hardest to cast. There’s just something about Jade that screams cute as opposed to all out sexy, in a way she’s probably most closely related to fellow female games character Alyx Vance. Natalie Portman seemed obvious, though we did consider Natalie Imbruglia from her 'Torn' days, since she sported a cute short hair style, still, the other Nat won out. Jade is one of the coolest female games characters, if she got her own movie we’d all jump for joy.

Games Character: Jennifer Tate
As played by: Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci could probably play an abundance of female games characters given her overall look. We’d first imagined her as American McGees Alice character, however this film is actually in production and the part went to Sarah michelle Gellar (go figure). Jennifer Tate from the Playstation title Primal was voiced by Hudson Leick (most famous as Callisto in the Xena TV Series), however the look of Jennifer lends herself more to someone with Ricci’s unusual moody persona.

Games Character: Princess Farah
As played by: Shilpa Shetty
With her stunning good looks Shilpa Shetty would be perfect to play Princess Farah of the Prince of Persia universe. Although Shilpa Shetty was fairly unknown, she sprung to the attention of UK audiences when she appeared in the UK series Celebrity Big Brother. A few months later her name was once again in the news due to Richard Gere kissing her and causing riots in certain Indian cities. Shilpa Shetty is best known as a Bollywood film actress.

Games Character: Cate Archer
As played by: Liz Hurley
Okay let’s get it out of the way first, she can’t act, we know that, but as this is a fantasy casting article, we’ll pretend she can. That said Liz Hurley really wasn’t ‘that’ bad in her role as Vanessa Kensington in the Austin Powers movie, so perhaps the camp hippy setting of the No One Lives Forever game may work well. As female games characters go Cate Archer is pretty damn cool, it’s a shame her transition to console wasn’t a bit more massive than it actually was.

Games Character: Samus Aran
As played by: Scarlett Johansson
It may seem an odd choice, but she has the looks, the curves and the flowing blonde locks (she also suits it short). Since Scarlett is actually making a new film where she plays a lone female gladiator, the role of Samus Aran is hardly a huge leap. The only thing ruining this is the fact that Samus is a rather leggy 6’3” tall, for this reason we’d need to look further afield. One suggestion may be Kristanna Loken, though her portrayal of another gaming heroine, BloodRayne, was so bad we can’t bring ourselves to suggest such a thing. Kristen Johnston would be another choice.

Games Character: Elise Riggs
As played by: Christina Cox
Ahh Elise, what is it about Elise Riggs in the SSX series that’s just so damn cool. We didn’t overly struggle when coming to the conclusion that Canadian actress Christina Cox would be perfect for the role of Canadian SSX star Elise. There’s an obvious likeness between them and Christina Cox is kick ass and could no doubt pull off the sassy Elise no problem.

Games Character: Hana Tsu Vachel
As played by: Gina Gershon
Hana Tsu Vachel is one of the few games characters to be identified as lesbian. Her relationship with partner Rain Qin appears in PS1 title Fear Effect II: Retro Helix (though for titillation purposes for the most part). We’ve gone for the rather obvious image of Corky from the film Bound, as played by Gina Gershon. Both are dark haired beauties with an eye for the ladies.