In amongst the masses of games unveiled at the 2019 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) this week, one has a feature that'll instantly appeal to a lot of New Zealanders - a Māori character named Makutu.

Bleeding Edge is a 4v4 team brawler that combines third-person action combat with online team multiplayer and was announced at the E3 2019 Xbox briefing.

Rahni Tucker, the game's creative director, is an Australian who says she has a lot of Kiwi friends and just had to have one in her game.

Makutu is a smiley bloke with comically oversized shoulders and arms that dwarf his head and legs.

"He's got a small voice because he used to be a little guy. He was like a little guy in a family of really big people," Tucker tells Newshub.

"And he was like, 'Mum I want to be a big rugby player', but she was like 'you're can't be, you're too small'. Then he got access to tech and he thought, right, that's it, I'm going to be huge!"

The 'tech' she speaks of is radical body augmentation that every character has in the game, which is set four or five decades in the future.

Makutu, who is listed as coming from Wellington in his character bio, appears to have had a large, metal, electronic ball replace his lower torso along with having massive cybernetic arms affixed.

But his most appealing trait may be his voice.

"Choice pick," he beams when chosen in the character select screen. While attacking his enemies, he joyfully taunts them with phrases like "special delivery", "better pack your bags, bro" and "balls to the walls".

Makutu has a super move called 'KATAMAORI', which sees him roll into a ball and barrel through enemies. Another of his abilities is 'Slap Em Good', which is described as: "Each combo input can be held for extended slaps and special punches".

I get the feeling that that punishment will be a lot of fun for his Kiwi fans to dish out - oh and yes, there is an Aussie character for Makutu to scrap with.