Ten Videogame Villains You Love to Love

Excellent point, Clifton! There's definitely a need to identify with the character in a game. Anyone ever roll a character in Mass Effect, KoToR, or any other RPG with "moral" choices and have to reload because you aren't okay with the consequences of something you did? It's because you don't like the character anymore. You definitely don't want to play as someone you don't like.
So in that spirit, here's a list of ten bad guys you love to be.


10. Kratos: God of War I, II, and Chains of Olympus.
He's not a good guy. He's ruthless. He's badass. He used to be awesome. He's low on the list because I honestly stopped liking him in God of War III. He turned from avenger to asshole. And any chance of redemption was dashed by the end of the game. Still, love those blades.

9. Niko Bellic: Grand Theft Auto IV.
Illegal Alien, murderer, car thief. Nico's list of offenses is as long as the game. But he's a mass murderer with a heart of gold, and you can't help but love the guy as his world of ridiculous characters unravels around him. Much more human than the Tony Montana rip-off Tommy Vercetti.

8. Agent 47: Hitman Series. Cold, efficient, brutal. 47 can snipe your armed guards, dose your bodyman with a silent syringe, then garrote you with filament wire, then go have a cup of tea at the bistro down the street. He's got a kickass arsenal and a hundred tricks. But his enemies are always deserving and his cause just.

7. Bowser: Super Mario Brothers. The Godfather of videogame nemeses, the Koopa King is always a blast to play. He's made the evolution over the years from wicked mastermind to hilarious foil. His antics in "Bowser's Inside Story" were hilarious and entertaining. Plus, dude breathes fire.

6. Starscream: Transformers. Sure, Megatron is the leader of the Decepticons and all around bad dude, but in the 80s series, Starscream's ideas were always better than Megatron's. They always went with Megatron's plans and failed, but if they had listened to Starscream... In the recent "War for Cybertron" Starscream is fast and lethal, and in my opinion much more satisfying to play as then his cannon-wielding boss.

5. Sagat: Street Fighter. He's been around since the beginning. Before Bison, before Bison, before Doctor Manhat... Seth. Sagat's motivation has always been to prove once more that he's better than Ryu. He's huge, scarred, overpowered, and terrifying. I may be awful at playing as Sagat, but his motivation is simple and human. Be the best.

4. Kain: Legacy of Kain series. I played Soul Reaver before Blood Omen, so my first introduction to Kain was as nemesis. He's an ancient vampire lord, time traveler, and divinely chosen guardian of balance of his entire world. Given the choice to die and potentially save his world or live on and damn it to decay and evil, Kain chose to hang around a few thousand more years, just to see what happened. Calculating, manipulative, and genius are only a few of his attributes, and his plan to save his world spanned 10 thousand years and eventually wrapped all the way back around to the beginning. If that's not enough, this guy's a vampire who can drink your blood from ACROSS THE STREET. Badass.

3. Big Boss: Metal Gear series. Naked Snake, Jack, Big Boss. Big Boss had an illustrious career starting with preventing all out nuclear war between the US and Russia in the late 60s. His first mission was to hunt down and neutralize his mentor and the woman he loved. Over the next fifty years he would orchestrate wars, uprisings, terrorism, and even try to kill his own son. Even after his apparent death, he worked behind the scenes to steer the world to its breaking point, playing the role of the country's greatest traitor to eventually expose the truth of the greatest global conspiracy ever seen. His road to hell was paved with the best of intentions, but also the bodies of millions.

2. The Joker. DC Comics. The Clown Prince of Crime has a sick charisma that no fan can resist. He's a raving lunatic, or is he? Genius or Madman or both, the Joker has been on more top villains lists than just about anyone. He's funny, terrifying, alluring and repulsive. And the last few years have seen his most dramatic reinventions yet. The Dark Knight showed us the darkest, most terrifying version ever to grace the screen. Arkham Asylum gave us the sinister voice in the back of our heads, spinning little webs of doubt and at one point, even putting a bullet in our skulls. The Joker challenge maps on PS3 were challenging and suitably vicious, satisfying a longtime desire to don the purple suit ourselves. Then in Lego Batman, he was made of Lego! Automatic win. Being a lego villain means you've REALLY made it. Speaking of...

1. Darth Vader: Star Wars. Whatever you know about my movie predilections, there is no denying that Vader is the ultimate badass. I don't need to use this space to convince you. You already knew who this was going to be. He's awesome in Lego, sure. And yeah, you could play as Anakin in several games over the last few years. But all that was just the appetizer to the opening level of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
Say what you will about the game, you cannot complain about the first level. The man stalks coolly amid the treetop village on Kashyyyk, flinging Wookiees into the distance. The low, ominous drone that resonates in every nerd's head for their entire life fills your speakers as you march, emotionless, to the lair of your quarry. It's 20 minutes of dream come true. We need more games where you get to play as Vader.