We all love playing as the hero in our favourite games, we are more than happy to come in to save the day, get the girl and stop the bad guy, but what about that bad guy? The villains in games get a hell of a hard time and without them there would be no game so I thought Iād list my top ten villains in gaming.
Iām going to throw out a few ground rules here, firstly, I am only picking villains from games that I have played and I am limiting myself to one villain per franchise otherwise this entire damn list would be made up of Resident Evil bad guys.
No. 10
Kane (Command and Conquer series)
Kane was the first proper villain I saw in a game. This guy not only founded a cult to create his army but he has a tendency to kill almost anyone that has been in the same room as him for more than five minutes. Most military careers take years to grow to maturity but after one boardroom meeting at the Brotherhood of Nod thereās not really anyone left. Good Luck Commander.
No. 9
Liquid Snake (Metal Gear Solid series)
Liquid Snake was pretty badass, he hijacked a military base with an army that included weird special ops style dudes that always imparted a touching monologue as they died. Ahem, moving on. Liquid Snake was preparedĀ to launch Nukes for a ransom, thatās not too bad but even after you kill him he appears in subsequentĀ games to possessĀ Revolver Ocelot from his transplanted arm. That takes a special kind of dedication.
No. 8
The Illusive Man (Mass Effect 2&3)
The Illusive man is introducedĀ in Mass Effect 2 and to start with he seems like an okay kind of guy, sure heās a bit heavy handedĀ but overall he has humanities best interests at heart. What a crock that turned out to be. We find out over the Mass Effect Saga that he has been workingĀ for the Reapers the entire time, this asshole kills Anderson and the worst part of the wholeĀ thing is that he shows the kids of today that if you smoke, you look cool (as long as there isĀ a sun behind you). Shame on you Illusive Man!
No. 7
Handsome Jack (Borderlands 2)
I think that Handsome Jack might just be the most likeable and charismatic villain that the gaming industry has to offer. No matter how many times he tries to kill you, betray and trick you, you canāt help but love this talkative sociopath. Although mutating Bloodwingā¦ Not cool Jack
No. 6
Vladimir Makarov (CoD: Modern Warfare series)
Makarov is the main protagonist from the Modern Warfare games, he is a truly chilling and focused individualĀ that has the stone cold eyes of a killer. It was Makarov that detonated a Nuke killing 30,000 troops that lead the world to war. He also sparked considerableĀ outrage on controversy in the mission āNo Russianā by gunning down civilians in a busy airport.
No. 5
Vaas Montenegro (Far Cry 3)
VaasĀ Montenegro is a terrifying villain not because he has some sorcerousĀ power or has inhuman strength but because he is, in my opinion, one of the most believable, unpredictable and unstable characters in recent years. VaasĀ is a pirate and a slaver, he can go from seeming perfectly calm one second to a homicidal rage in the next and he gives one hell of a monologue. Vaas is a scary man.
No. 4
Prophet of Truth (Halo series)
The Prophets rule the Covenant, they are their commanders, their religious leaders and guides, none more so than the Prophet of Truth. First introduced as a character in Halo 2 we can see this Zealot manipulate those around him, he started the war between The Covenant and Humanity costing billions of lives with an end goal of activating Halo and ascending to godhoodĀ himself. On sheer body count alone this guy deserves to beĀ on this list.
No. 3
Albert Wesker (Resident Evil Series)
Albert Wesker is one of the main antagonists from many of the Resident Evil games. Originally part of the S.T.A.R.S. team that are sentĀ to investigate the spooky mansion from the first game it eventually comes to light that he has been working for Umbrella the wholeĀ time. Wesker has been killedĀ a bunch of times but keeps coming back and coming back stronger than before, heās like thrush. The last time we saw Wesker he was had mutated in the tentacle style of resident Evil 5 monsters and was being swallowedĀ by a volcano. I donāt for one second think heās dead.
No. 2
Diablo (Diablo series)
What else is there to say about my number two, heās the freaking devil! As one of the Prime Evils Diablo has engineered more bloodshed than anyone in the world of Sanctuary and has such complex and long running schemes that when they finally come to fruition everyone thought it was over years before. Diablo is cunning, ruthless and fiercely intelligentā¦.. Oh, and is the freaking devil!
No. 1
Origami Killer (Heavy Rain)
Stealing my number one spot from Diablo is the Origami Killer from Heavy Rain. The reason the Origami Killer comes in at number one is the sheer sadistic nature of him. All of the other villains on the list have had some kind of motive, granted mostly itās ātake over the worldā but itās still there. The Origami Killer focuses on the life of one child and sets a horrific sequence of events into motion. The sadistically slow death that the killer has planned is disturbing in the extreme and thatās why this is number 1.