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Top 5 Most Overrated Video Game Villains

In every list of video game villains, there are always a few who are placed way too high for reasons that seem to escape understanding. Some I think are just blown out of proportion, some I don't get at all, but let's get right to it, shall we? **NOTE: As I have been so advised, spoiler warning for Portal 2.

#5- M. Bison

Why do I always see Bison in the top 20? A month ago I would've laughed at the idea of a cohesive story to a fighting game, even though Street Fighter has seemed to try to some extent, but since the release of the Mortal Kombat reboot I've seen that fighting games can have a franchise-encompassing narrative that manages to flesh out many of its characters. So until I see a Street Fighter that really makes me think of Bison as an actual badass, toss him back onto the pile.
"Wait! He was a really hard arcade boss!" Yeah, so? Being a pain to beat doesn't make him a good villain, or a decent villain, or something other than fairly cheap, actually. I guess that's kind of evil, but not good enough.

#4- Sofia Lamb

For some reason the doctor from Bioshock 2 finds her way constantly into the top 50, and for what? I remember her yelling at me...for some reason. She didn't stick in my mind, not a bit. To be fair, Bioshock 2 wasn't the great follow-up I was hoping for, but what really stuck in my mind was that the "antagonist" was such a weak character. Oh sure, she was crazy, but who in Rapture wasn't? I would've been far more impressed if she was sane, or at least a creative kind of crazy. But no, she's just a doctor-turned-leader who went the predictable amount of batty. Sander Cohen was a better villain.

#3- The Origami Killer

I enjoyed Heavy Rain, for the most part. I liked the narrative, I liked the fairly unique play style (for consoles at the time) and I liked the Origami Killer because he was that kind of organized psychotic nut that really made things interesting. And then they ruined it by revealing who it was. I was supposed to believe that this character was the mastermind behind the Saw-like traps and puzzles and other assorted mind games? No, I didn't buy it. "Oh but that means he had a good disguise". No, it didn't. It just didn't jive at all. It was supposed to be such a curve ball, but it wound up not making any sense, and that completely ruined what I had thought was a great character.

#2- Sephiroth

Before the hate, let me explain. This is not a list of "bad" villains, but "overrated" ones. I love Seph, don't get me wrong, but when you take a good look at him, he's not a tremendously complex villain. He's not quite as evil as he could've been, and I don't want to hear it about text-based versus voice acting, Kefka managed to be a frightening kind of awesome just fine. "But Seph sets fire to a town, threatens to destroy the planet, and has the most overplayed final boss music in history!" The real flaw is in his legend. We're told he's the most badass fighter in history, and we get glimpses of that during the Kalm flashback, but it doesn't pull, really. He kills a dragon with one attack, big deal; so can Cait Sith if you level him up enough. "But he kills Aerith!" Yeah, and that was evil, granted, but Kefka kills children (gasp!) and oh by the way he actually manages to succeed in destroying the world! Kefka is like Gary Oak to Seph's Ash, in a bit of a twisted way, really. Sephiroth isn't a terrible villain, he's just not all that great.

#1- GlaDOS

"What!? How can you say that!?" Like this, GlaDOS is the single most overrated villain/character/construct I have ever seen. Oh my, a murderous computer; yeah, not revolutionary, right HAL? "But the voice is so soothing and gentle and manipulative at the same time." No it's not. It's spitting out phrases that, well, are phrases. I mean I usually tune out when somebody comes over the intercom. "But the Companion Cube!" Screw the Cube, I'm glad I got to throw that thing out, it was annoying. I get that there was the whole psychology thing there, though, but it was all so flat. It's supposed to be some big shock that someone actually is trying to murder you, but if you didn't figure that out the first time you heard "No one is trying to murder you. I promise," well then I really don't know what to say. And for all the griping about Portal 2, I'll say this, Wheatley was a much, much better villain.
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About bladelyonone of us since 8:28 PM on 07.07.2009