Weekend Hot Topic, part 1: Most hated video game characters

metro.co.uk:

GameCentral readers name their least favourite video game characters, from Sephiroth to Kaiden Alenko from Mass Effect.

The subject for this week’s Hot Topic was suggested by reader Firetrain and covers everyone from the protagonist to the villain and more minor characters. What is it that annoys you about them and is it because of their attitude, their actions, their voice-acting, or something else?

In the end everyone from iconic heroes to relatively obscure side characters were named and shamed, with so many different names almost no-one was mentioned twice.

Canadian psycho The recent Rockstar news reminded me of who I think is the most loathsome video game character. GTA5’s three protagonists are all obnoxious vulgarians but none more so than Trevor. The other two are completely flat racial stereotypes but Trevor, who hails from Canada, seems to be there for comic relief despite being painfully unfunny and totally uninteresting to listen to.

The introduction to his character involves him stamping on a man’s face just so the audience understands that he’s an unhinged psychopathic murderer straight off the bat. What follows for the remainder of the game is simply a mindless chore, as his wacky escapades and groan inducing dialogue cause endless accusations that Rockstar simply cannot write decent scripts and continually resort to tropes to pass off character interactions.

Plenty of gamers warmed to him but to me he’s the nadir of video game characters and quite possibly the worst in any art form. The one sole joy I found was flying a helicopter to the invisible roof of the game world and making sure that I never opened his parachute as he made his direct descent to terra firma.Wonk

Human sacrifice Kaiden Alenko.

I was going