Witness Her: Ana Amari
This is the first entry in a series that will salute well-done female characters in gaming. It’s my personal philosophy that we should focus on what’s been done right — to hold up examples of things we should strive for — rather than simply highlight negatives. I’ll include both my personal impressions of the character (as a lady gamer) and some objective analysis. Okay? Okay. Hit it.
Today We Salute: Ana Amari (Overwatch)
In spite of the faux-controversy over Tracer’s butt before launch, Overwatch is actually a huge treasure trove of amazing female characters. They make up roughly half the roster, they all have wildly different global backgrounds, there’s a good mix between villains and heroes, and they all highlight unique facets of female strength.
All the Overwatch ladies may eventually have their moment to shine in my circle of honor, but we’re going to start things off with Ana.
Why did I choose her? Because she’s a Battle Grandma.
Overview
It is extremely rare that you get to play as an elderly character — especially in the action-packed FPS genre. Given our obsession with feminine vanity, its rarer still to play as an elderly woman. That’s a tragedy. Personally, I think a squad-based Golden Girls shooter would be fucking amazing.
Ana Amari was obviously influenced by the much-beloved badass old ladies from Mad Max: Fury Road. Some of her unlockable costumes and voice lines (“Witness me!”) demonstrate this. And that’s great. Those gun-toting battle grandmas were wonderful.
Compared to the other snipers in Overwatch, she also plays like an older person. Her age isn’t just for show. Where the other snipers have quick evasive moves, Ana is slow and can’t readily escape when cornered.
Ana has to rely on her gadgets to remain competitive. When confronted with an enemy, she can hit them with a sleeping dart — rendering them unconscious for several seconds. That’s enough time to escape or finish off a wounded opponent. She also has a grenade with various functions depending on where it’s released. It can restore the health of any allies within its detonation range, including herself, and boost their healing rate. Conversely, it can be used to damage enemies and prevent them from restoring their health for a fixed time.
Ana’s gameplay is strictly about outwitting and surprising her opponents.Not relying on brute force or youthful agility.
Background and Portrayal
Blizzard’s official background for Ana treats her like an experienced professional who has earned all the respect she is entitled to. She’s not treated like “the designated chick.”
Ana served with the Egyptian defense forces in the early days of the Omnic Crisis — a classic robot revolt against humanity. Egypt, like most individual nations, struggled against their local renegade robot hordes. Overwatch was founded to coordinate the world’s best soldiers, ignoring international borders and agent nationalities for the sake of efficiency. Already regarded as one of the world’s top sharpshooters due to her service in Egypt, Ana was one of the first people recruited into Overwatch.
The younger characters don’t view Ana as a feeble old woman. She is a mentor and an inspiration.
This view has always been shared by the game’s fans, too. Ana wasn’t a release character. She was added to the roster in one of the first big game updates. The fans had long been anticipating her addition to the game because she was frequently referenced in dialogue and lore, and they almost started salivating when Blizzard started dropping actual hints about her inclusion. When she was finally added into the game, you would occasionally end up on a 6-Ana team because everyone was so eager to test her out.
Now that she’s been in the roster for a while, Ana has cemented herself as everyone’s Team Grandma (while Reinhardt serves as Team Grandpa).
Maternal Instincts Done Right
Ana is also the mother of Pharah, one of the game’s Offense characters. This adds yet another layer to her personality. She is a cool professional, but she also has a loving maternal side. The maternal aspect of female characters can be awful if done poorly — (don’t) see Metroid: Other M — but Blizzard pulls it off without compromising Ana’s badassery. Being a badass and being a loving mother aren’t mutually exclusive, and that shines in her characterization.
In fact, it was Pharah’s personality that tipped everyone off to how amazing Ana must have been. Pharah is a tough-as-nails professional, and logic dictated that her mother must have had a major hand in shaping her personality. They have very similar temperaments, though Ana carries the weight of a lifetime of combat and tough choices.
Further Representation
Overwatch has a highly diverse roster. In the style of Street Fighter, they all represent different countries or cultural groups.
Ana is an Egyptian who speaks fluent Arabic — something reflected in her voice lines throughout the game. In addition to having some user-controlled Arabic voice lines, Ana will occasionally speak in Arabic when you activate her basic voice commands (saying hello, etc.).
In an era where Arabic characters are usually portrayed as villains due to current events, especially in machismo-based shooters, it’s always good to see writers include them as lauded heroes. Good on you for mixing things up a bit, Blizzard. As with all forms of representation in the media, variety is the spice of life.
Final Rating: 4/4 Golden Girls
While the characters of Overwatch don’t have the meaty backgrounds of story-based games, the developers really make the most of limited material. Ana is easily one of their more fascinating characters, and as a lady gamer I find it really refreshing to play as a veteran Battle Grandma.
— by Selena