The Top 7 Most Badass Game Characters Of This Generation

You want badass? Well these characters are chock-full of badassery. Via: GamesRadar

7. Cole MacGrath (inFamous)

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Bike-messenger-turned-superhero/villain Cole MacGrath has an origin story that feels right at home with any of the traditional pantheon of classic caped crusaders: A delivery mission goes awry when his package turns out to be a massive, electronic bomb, and when it detonates, millions are killed. He survived the blast, albeit changed into a superhuman with the ability to fire lightning blasts from his hands, surf on power lines, and talk in a gruff, grizzled voice.

Oh, wait, that voice thing only happened in the sequel. Either way, Cole’s level of badassery is related mostly in his skills in kickassery. By the end of the second game the guy is packing some massive voltage, throwing whirlwinds of energy at foes and even gaining the ability to control other elements. Not bad for a guy who had previously spent most of his time trying not to drive his bike into opening car doors.

6. Isaac Clarke (Dead Space)

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Isaac Clarke has lived through hell. He stared insanity in the eyes and peered down the throat of dementia. And what did he do about it? He seared insanity’s eyes with a flamethrower and leapt into dementia’s throat, blasting himself out with jetpack boots before cutting off the mad beast’s limbs with a plasma cutter. And then he stomped on its head, because that’s just how he rolls.

It’s not Isaac’s proficiency in battle that makes him so badass, though--it's his ability to deal with insane circumstances without succumbing to madness that makes him so special. Maybe it’s because of love, maybe it’s because his name is an amalgamation of some of the best science fiction writers who ever lived (Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke), or maybe it’s because he’s actually already so insane that this stuff doesn’t phase him. Either way, Isaac Clarke is a badass, and this generation is better for his presence.

5. Damon Baird (Gears of War)

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There’s a reason Baird is going to be the star of the next Gears of War game instead of Dom, Cole, or Marcus: He’s more interesting than any of them. Sure, Dom has a wife he’s fighting for, Marcus is voiced by Bender, and Cole played football or whatever, but they’d all be locust meat if it wasn’t for Baird’s awesome mind.

While the other Gears are sawing through Locusts and high-fiving and flexing, Baird is thinking. He’s finding ways to kick a crate full of Tickers onto a giant leviathan, or hacking a door to get the team to safety. He’s still got the same brawn as everyone else, but he backs it up with a brain. Sure, you might call him a “glorified door opener,” but if Baird wasn’t there to open the doors that the other guys are too stupid to open they’d all be dead twenty times over.

4. John Marston (Red Dead Redemption)

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Though he lived much of his life as a no-good bandit, John Marston eventually turned things around, courting a wife and siring a child before being forced to return to the world of killing every person who looks at him funny. But even though he eventually returned to his revolver, John Marston did it for a good reason: his family. And there’s no better excuse to go on a murderous rampage than family.

He also helps every person within spitting distance along the way, rescuing kidnapped damsels, slaying leaders of gangs, and eventually shooting every person worth shooting in the West. He has no special powers to speak of (besides the ability to slow down time, but that’s bush league for video game protagonists), but he doesn’t need them--he just gets the job done and, sometimes, that’s all it takes. That kind of competency qualifies as supremely, totally badass.

Yearning for the top 3 most badass game characters? Head over to GamesRadar and see if your favorite made the cut.