The Look (9/10) - Maya is prepared for trouble. She has the thick armor and protection needed to battle through the treacherous lands outside the settlement. Her clothes aren't tight but fit in an appropriate manner. Fielding blue hair and an oddly styled futuristic outfit, she is a little cyber-punkish in design crossed in with a bit of a japanime influence. In cutscenes and when she is shown talking, she does appear to look a bit doll-ish, however, all of the characters looked a bit like dolls in the 3D cuts.

Attitude (10/10) - There is nothing more refreshing to me than seeing a character who values traditionally masculine and feminine traits. Maya does this. She breaks the stereotypes by being the hunter and leader while also having no fears of showing compassion and sympathy. She is not at all concerned that her sympathy may make her look too emotional or weak to lead. She has her battle to fight and she is going to do what is right at all costs.

Intelligence (9/10) - Maya isn't afraid to ask questions (even though half of the game IS asking people questions for clues), and she doesn't come across as ignorant when she asks them either. When she asks questions, she doesn't come across as clueless but rather seeks information to help her in her journey (unlike some people I know who would rather drive around lost for an hour that stop at a gas station for directions). I'd say that's pretty intelligent don't you think? :)

Stance (7/10) - In this 2D game, her posture and walk seemed fairly natural. There was no innovative techniques applied to her movements though, nothing that really stood out.

Voice (7/10) - Her voice matches her character, although it didn't sink well to her facial animations. It was still a nice feature to see people talking, even if they didn't quite get it right. Had the facial animations looked a little more expressive (rather than that somewhat doll-like plastic look), I might have bought into it a bit more though. I felt like the lack of expressions in the face took away from her words.

Scripts (7/10) - Her inquisitive nature gave credit to her character, and overall her scripts were pretty good. In fact, the storyline itself was awesome (So when do I get to see Septerra Core the movie eh?). I would have liked to see a little more character development for Maya. You learn a little about her past, but had they developed her a bit further, it would have given the player a greater attachment to Maya. I guess I am comparing this a bit to Final Fantasy VII's characters, whose personalities are constantly developing and changing throughout the game. (Just look at how many fans are out there for characters like Aeris, Tifa, and Rinoa).

Marketing Effort (8/10) - They totally used Maya to sell this game. From magazine ads to the box cover, she stole the spotlight. She is the leading star and the marketing campaigned let you know it. The one thing that struck me about the ads was that they almost look like they are selling an action game. A woman with a gun on a box usually comes across as some sort of fighting-based game, when in fact half of the game wasn't really fighting but solving problems. Sure you can read the box or look at screenshots and reviews to realize that it's not mainly a fighting game, but on the shelf it may be overlooked by some people who aren't interested in a purely fighter style game. Putting more emphasis on the action slant and less on the adventure/RPG could potentially have turned off some window shoppers.

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