1. 10 Greatest Talkative Gaming
Villains
http://www.gamebasin.com/news/10-greatest-talkative-gaming-villains
Things were much easier for heroes back in the day. Video game villains of years gone by would
show up fleetingly in the introduction, normally to kidnap the nearest damsel, and then swagger
back to their Secret Lair until the final showdown. Today’s evil‐doers, on the other hand, just can’t
help themselves — they provide a constant commentary on the protagonist’s progress, dispensing
taunts and insults like your earpiece is their personal Twitter feed. Sometimes this can be
downright annoying, but there are villains whose barbs are so biting, their put‐downs so perfectly
delivered, that it’s an absolute pleasure to be goaded by them. Along the way they give us insights
into their point of view and remind us of just why they should be hated, feared or throttled at the
earliest opportunity. Here are ten of the greatest examples of villains who just couldn’t keep their
mouths shut…
10. The Voice Of The Agency – Crackdown

2. As one of Crackdown’s superhuman soldiers, the authoritarian gruffness of the Agency’s
mysterious director is the only friendly voice you’ll hear while you’re roaming Pacific City. He’ll
deliver your mission briefings, point out nearby landmarks and glow with pride as you snag more
agility orbs to become an ever‐greater killing machine. As an obedient agent, it’s possible to
eliminate every last ne’er‐do‐well without the slightest inkling that anything’s amiss. The Director’s
villainous intentions and your unwitting participation in the Agency’s master plan are only revealed
at the end of the game — Pacific City is now so sick of chaos, they’ll gratefully a accept totalitarian
government. Step out of line on your mission, however, and you’ll get a sneak peek at the Director’s
brutal regime. While a minimal level of collateral damage is scornfully tolerated (nailing a passing
miscreant to a truck and tossing it into the sea, for example), continual misbehaviour will see wave
after wave of Agency Peacekeepers sent against you. Given that you’re a cybernetic juggernaut, it’s
easy to see what little value the Director really places on the lives of his subordinates. Even so, life
as a super‐soldier just wouldn’t be the same without him.
9. Macbeth Train Engineer – Starfox 64

3. Voice acting in Nintendo games is a rare treat even today, so the revelation that Starfox 64 (known
as Lylat Wars in the UK) would be supplementing its character banter with real voices was a
pleasant surprise. The internal squabbling of the Star Fox team may have added to the game’s
cinematic feel, but it’s the enemy pilots chiming in over the intercom that make for the most
memorable exchanges. Step forward Macbeth Train Engineer; the nameless controller of a train
that’s delivering weapons to a supply depot in one of the game’s most memorable sequences.
Grounded in his Landmaster tank, Fox and the Engineer find themselves in a breakneck race across
the surface of the planet. The Engineer’s a confident, even cocky nemesis. “Here come the little
hyenas now!” he drawls, countering Fox’s every move with taciturn instructions. “Detatch the rear
vee‐hicle! Step on the gas!” Only in his final moments – either crushed under his own robot or
thundering helplessly into the depot, depending on the player’s actions – does the Engineer finally
lose his cool. Not even Andross gets as much screen time as this baddie, let alone two unique death
scenes — the Macbeth Train sequence, with its signature villain, remains a classic Starfox encounter.
8. Mr Scratch – Alan Wake

4. Introduced only briefly at the end of Alan Wake, Mr. Scratch returned in American Nightmare, the
game’s digital sequel, to provide Alan with a sadistic counterpart. As Wake’s shadowy doppleganger,
Mr. Scratch occasionally appears in person – usually accompanied by crowds of the “Taken” – but
his most memorable and disturbing scenes take place on the many televisions the player
encounters on their travels. Mr. Scratch takes over TV to goad Alan directly, often threatening him
and his wife Alice and usually torturing one of the local residents. Alan’s helpless to stop these
senseless acts of violence and while the player’s free to walk away, Scratch’s intensity and
unpredictable actions normally make for compelling, if horrific, viewing. As to be expected from a
series rife with the ambiguity and symbolism of gothic horror, much about Mr. Scratch remains
unknown. It’s suggested that he’s the embodiment of the malicious gossip that resulted from Alan’s
travels through the town of Bright Falls; a town where stories come to life. With his defeat at the
end of American Nightmare and Remedy now busy with other projects, it seems unlikely that Mr.
Scratch will return. If you’re the sort to get freaked out by horror games, that might be for the
best…
7. Dr. Wallace Breen – Half-Life 2

5. “Welcome to City 17. It’s safer here.” A quick glance around the looming fences and crumbling
walls of the station in which Gordon Freeman finds himself, not to mention the belligerent attitudes
of the ever‐present Overwatch forces, is all it takes to understand Wallace Breen — he’s a liar. And,
as you’ll come to discover after a reunion with your old colleague Eli Vance, a traitor. It’s
questionable whether Breen’s collaboration with the Combine, the alien empire that preside over
Earth in Half‐Life 2, can be justified as better than the unspoken alternative. While a dialogue with
the eternally mute Freeman isn’t a possibility Breen’s a consistent presence, issuing warnings and
giving proclamations as you journey towards the Combine’s Citadel. His rhetoric shifts as Gordon
meets up with the resistance, his pacifying speeches and propaganda giving way to threats and,
eventually, pleading with Gordon directly. Like all good villains, Breen seems to believe his actions
are justified, though as his hold over Earth weakens he’s revealed as a coward who’s ultimately
discarded by his masters. While he’s a fairly straight‐laced antagonist compared to others on this
list, Doctor Breen is a plausible, and thus chilling, portrayal of how many real‐world leaders might
behave in similar circumstances.
6. Hades – Kid Icarus: Uprising

6. Make no mistake, the 3DS rebirth of Kid Icarus is a very chatty game indeed, and almost every
character gets their share of one‐liners. While the newly‐revived (and unexpectedly sultry) Medusa
is initially established as the villain of the piece, her antics are merely a distraction for the
wonderfully hammy God of the Underworld himself, Hades. He’s an omnipresent character from
the moment of his reveal, whether it’s mocking Pit’s efforts to defeat him or forging a grudging
alliance to repel an unexpected alien invasion. Flamboyant and melodramatic, Hades’ flirty
personality and penchant for insulting nicknames belie the danger he poses – with a single attack,
he destroys the Three Sacred Treasures the player’s spent a large portion of the game collecting.
It’s the combination of casual whimsy and extreme power that makes him evocative of Disney’s
more recent villains (though he’s not as downplayed as James Woods’ Hades) and helps keep his
character from descending into silliness. Even when he and Pit face of directly, he’ll often start
another round of banter — only to cut himself off mid‐sentence to launch a devastating attack.
Hades also has the distinction of being one of the few villains who, having devoured the
unfortunate Pit, continues to chat with him and even threatens to punish him further by, er, letting
nature take its course. No, Hades! Bad God!
5. Atlas – Bioshock

7. Atlas, the pseudonym of undersea smuggler Frank Fontaine, is another villain first introduced as
your only ally in a hostile world. As the mysterious Jack, the player is dragged into the undersea
dystopia of Rapture and becomes an inadvertent pawn in the power struggle that toppled the city.
Adopting an Irish brogue to further disguise his true identity and using the plight of his fictional
family as leverage, Atlas quite literally directs the player as they wander through Rapture’s dripping
corridors, explaining the city’s unusual ecosystems and acting both as saviour and tour guide. After
his duplicity is laid bare in Bioshock’s infamous reveal his radio goes sadly silent — when the player
encounters Fontaine in person he’s succumbed to the lure of his own contraband and his hulking
form makes for a final boss fight that’s high on explosions but low on exposition. Atlas is the driving
force of Bioshock; he engineers Jack’s descent into Rapture and uses him like a puppet against the
city’s architect, Andrew Ryan. While it’s a shame that he largely disappears in the game’s final act,
Fontaine’s duplicitous plan and the ensuing plot twist ensure he remains one of gaming’s most
memorable villains.
4. Zinyak – Saints Row IV

8. Saints Row IV is, to all intents and purposes, set in the Matrix. Yes, Steelport itself is a fairly
shameless rehash of a city from the previous game, but the Saints’ virtual incarceration has one
big comedic advantage — it allows for the persistent presence of the game’s chief villain, alien
overlord Zinyak. He might look like a refugee from a Duke Nukem game, but Zinyak didn’t get to be
head of an extra‐terrestrial empire without an appreciation for the finer things in life. Cultured and
urbane, when Zinyak’s not butting heads with The Boss of the Saints, he’s presenting his own
classical music show (including lengthy readings from his favourite literature) or building a time
machine so that he can kidnap Jane Austen. It’s a far cry from his origins as a cheap gag– had Enter
the Dominatrix been released as Saints Row III DLC, as was originally intended, Zinyak would have
been little more than a comically‐easy boss fight. Instead, he’s the personification of Saints Row’s
evolution — a surprisingly lovable villain for a surprisingly loveable franchise.
3. SHODAN – System Shock 2

9. While she provided an unnerving and implacable villain throughout the first System Shock, many
fans point to SHODAN’s revival in System Shock 2 as being her finest performance. A
megalomaniacal AI capable of taking over entire ships or star bases, SHODAN’s presence in the
sequel is initially hidden from the player, although it might have come as more of a surprise had
her face not been on the box. SHODAN has two distinguishing features: her evident superiority
complex, which peppers her human interactions with phrases like “insect” and “speck”, and her
marvellously discordant voice. Despite having no physical existence beyond the technology she can
usurp, she’s always on hand to berate and mock the player, as well as orchestrating many of the
game’s events. The notion of a rogue computer with delusions of grandeur is hardly new to either
science fiction or video games, but SHODAN’s popularity has endured. This is largely thanks to
some remarkable writing coupled with excellent sound design that uses sudden shifts in pitch or
sing‐song timing to make even familiar sentences engaging. Even if you don’t share SHODAN’s
belief in her own divinity, it’s easy to miss not having her around.
2. The Narrator – The Stanley Parable
“All of his co‐workers were gone.” Thus begins the story of The Stanley Parable. It’s a simple
adventure spun by a pleasingly deadpan narrator — except, of course, it’s also a game. The
Narrator tells you that Stanley picked the left door, so being the inquisitive gamer that you are, you
naturally head right just to see what will happen. Unfortunately, the Narrator takes this personally.
Sometimes the Narrator isn’t a villain at all. If you follow his story like he wants, he doesn’t have to
be. Start imposing your free will upon the narrative, however, and things have the potential to get
ugly. Sometimes the Narrator will scold Stanley; make a different choice and he might recognise
you as an agent of free will and plead with you directly to leave his story alone. Another cascade
of consequences might have you both equally lost and bewildered, trapped in someone else’s tale.
Whichever path you pick, though, the Narrator remains utterly hilarious – by turns exasperated,
petulant, panicked, remorseful, confused or downright homicidal. You’ll shatter his story over and
over just to hear the withering scorn as he picks up the pieces. It’s clear from the chaos your choices
create, and the insistence you have on breaking things repeatedly for your own amusement, that

10. the Narrator sees you very much as the villain and not the other way around. Sometimes, you’ll
find ways to prove him right.
1. GLaDOS – Portal
The number one spot on this list could be reserved for none other than the manipulative,
narcissistic GlaDOS. While she clearly owes a huge debt to HAL and SHODAN for her existence and
name alike, she effortlessly overtook her progenitors in pop‐culture thanks largely to the efforts of
writer Erik Woolpaw: GLaDOS is funny. The relationship between GLaDOS and Portal’s mute
protagonist, Chell, spans two games and is sometimes (not unreasonably) compared to a love story.
While she’s a constant presence in the test chambers that act as Portal’s training wheels, GLaDOS
only truly speaks “to” you when you spectacularly fail to die like she wanted – for her, the first date
and the break‐up happen almost simultaneously. From that point on GLaDOS is your jilted ex, and
much of the humour in Portal 2 is classic rom‐com material — two people who hate each other
being forced to work together, only with more neurotoxin. It’s a twist that helps keep the humour
fresh until the very end – had GLaDOS been merely a threatening AI, there’d have been very little
room to develop her further. Instead, once stripped of her power and turned into an experiment
herself, GLaDOS is able to develop as a character, lick her emotional wounds and eventually
convince herself that she’s dumping Chell — not the other way around. While many of the villains
on this list exist to be defeated by the player’s actions, GLaDOS exists to be at least partially
redeemed, though thankfully she remains a self‐serving, passive‐aggressive psychopath. After all,
everyone loves a good villain.
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