Dead Pixels has 41 chronicles

1. The Greatest Villains of the Decade
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Dec 02 2009

   Dead Pixels
   11-30-2009
   By Ryan M. Eft
   
   The forces of evil have been aided in their dark pursuits by Zach Ellsbury, Brandon Pennington, and Matt Brand.
   WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COLUMN IS HEAVY ON SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
   
   Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Let’s face it, folks: no adventure is complete without a really good bad guy (or girl). They give the hero a reason to keep fighting and a face to hate, but sometimes they can be pretty deep in their own right. We hate ‘em, we love ‘em, and secretly we kinda wanna be them. Let’s give a big hiss to the greatest villains of the decade!
   
   Kuja (Final Fantasy IX)
   He drew some fan ire for being a tad effeminate, but that can’t detract from his dastardly accomplishments. By pitting the power players in the world of Final Fantasy IX against each other, he threw an entire continent into chaos and took out four major countries. He then proceeded to destroy an entire planet followed by, briefly, wiping out all of reality. There were some intriguing reasons behind why he was such a son-of-a-bitch, but ultimately he was the kind of scene-chewing, monologue-spewing, amoral jerk the FF series hadn’t seen since the SNES days.
   
   Andrew Ryan (Bioshock)
   Andrew Ryan is the kind of villain we really need more of in games. He isn’t a villain for the pure maniacal pleasure of being one; he doesn’t even know he’s the bad guy. He thinks he is in the right and believes what he says, which makes him, somehow, even more detestable. He believes that talented people should be allowed to do whatever they want with their talent, and all sense of morals be damned. Needless to say, the whole idea didn’t turn out too well.
   
   Ares (God of War)
   In Ancient Greece, gods weren’t held very accountable for their actions. That might explain why Ares thought he could get away with manipulating Kratos into killing his own family, and attacking Athens. True, he did other heinous things, but is forcing someone to murder their own family not enough?
   
   Fawful (Mario and Luigi series)
   I HAVE FURY!!! He didn’t kill anyone or burn down any towns, but he was damned hilarious, and sometimes that’s worth all the evil deeds in the universe. Besides, how many other villains can claim they’ve caused their enemies to get swallowed by a giant dinosaur (or whatever Bowser is)?
   
   GLaDOS (Portal)
   Ask David Bowman: when the artificial intelligence gets too intelligent, its usually bad news. GLaDOS seems to be your friend at first, but when you’re led to wonder about the myth or reality of having dessert, you start to question “her” motives. Even if the cake had not, in fact, been a lie, trying to kill you was pretty darn rude in and of itself. GLaDOS was both one of the best villains of the decade and the funniest; now that’s an accomplishment.
   
   The Ancients (Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem)
   There really isn’t too much that is morally wrong in the view of these ancient, evil gods. They want to wipe humanity away and reclaim the earth; boring, right? Lots of bad guys want to do that. But these kids are sadistic about it. Through the various agents and monsters who serve them, they murder anyone who stands in their way, influence the course of world events, corrupt innocent people with dark magic, and just to show they can be constructive with all their mayhem, construct a tower made out of human flesh. Yummy.
   
   Vamp (Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty)
   Vamp gained a lust for blood after being forced to drink that of his dead family, while buried under a church and impaled by a crucifix. If he wasn’t such a sick son-of-a-bitch, he’d be pretty bad-ass. Unfortunately, knifing a woman in the back out of pure spite isn’t very heroic.
   
   Sin (Final Fantasy X)
   Its bad enough knowing you’re up against an invincible entity that is entirely impersonal and wants nothing more than to cause the world pain and misery. But finding out that entity is inhabited by the soul of your own father has gotta suck. Your ultimate confrontation with Jecht is one of the most emotional moments in a game full of them, and lent a personal note to the proceedings. But it was the moral and religious implications of Sin that elevated it above the ranks of usual fantasy game villains, and made it into such a horrifying opponent.
   
   Saren (Mass Effect)
   Hidden motivations aside, there’s really no justification for Saren’s actions. Whereas a lot of bad guys engage in the old, reliable “killing everyone who gets in my way”, Saren much prefers “killing everyone, period”. You can call him complicated, but whatever his reasons are, he is still maybe the biggest mass murderer in gaming.
   
   That Guy with the Chainsaw (Resident Evil 4)
   Sure, you were pretty much always escaping traps or fighting off zombies. But you weren’t really in trouble until this guy showed up. Having donned a fashionable burlap sack as a hat and equipped himself with the elegant, subtle chainsaw, this guy was out to mince meat and Leon was his most highly recommended dish. Seeing yourself chainsawed into Purina Zombie Chow was grisly, and this enemy was so popular that fans specifically demanded his reappearance in the sequel.

   
   

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Dead Pixels has 1 comment on this chronicle.

1. MaTrIx
   Posted On Dec 06 2009

   I hated chainsaw dude...WITH A PASSION!!!!!!