Alright. I've always wanted to do this, so I'm going to make a list of my personal favourite protagonists from Rockstar Games.
11) Lius Lopez: GTA The Ballad of Gay Tony
To me, Luis Lopez was the kinda guy that didn't like his criminal line of work, but stuck with it because he knew it was the only way he'd really make his way up in the world. In his own words "Hey, I know who I am. Sure, I do bad sh*t, but that ain't what I'm going to be forever". He's one of the most repentant of any GTA protagonist with his calm, collected and relatively laid back nature setting him apart from most other Rockstar protagonists. That and he seems to have a sex addiction (or at least when I play him). Heh.
10) Jack Kelso: LA Noire
LA Noire's Kelso was a true blue, real man's man. He might come across as a stereotypical private detective, but the character is written in a way that you can't help but enjoy his brash, standoffish nature and unwavering moral conviction to do the right thing (especially when compared to the far more morally ambiguous Cole Phelps, who we'll get to later).
9) Michael DeSanta: GTA 5
Michael is a favourite character to many Rockstar gamers, and it's easy to see why. After all, the man is a walking poster for the mid-life crisis. His self loathing, lack of moral compass (much to his own dismay) and propensity to live in his own head make him a great foil to Trevor (who he actually shares more with than he realizes). Throughout the game, you really peel back the layers of his character (particularly in those hilarious therapist cut-scenes) and see that, despite his almost countless faults, he really did love his family (despite not knowing how to show it sometimes) and respected how he came to accept his own sociopathic nature. Not only that, but he can also be somewhat hilarious in his own way.
8) Tommy Vercetti: GTA Vice City
Tommy Vercetti was inspired a lot by Tony Montana, but where Tony got hooked on his own product and became a paranoid schizophrenic, Tommy was what Tony could have been had he remained clean. Despite his temper, he was an extremely trusting guy (which actually came back to bite him) and wasn't above helping those who were loyal, like sending a friend to rehab for his cocaine addiction. Tommy seem like a Tony Montana rip off to some, but to me, he was his own character.
7) Carl Johnson: GTA San Andreas
CJ is arguable one of the most universally beloved characters not only in Rockstar's history, but in all videogames. Carl Johnson differed greatly from previous GTA protagonists, due to his far less bloodthirsty nature. Not the smartest or most brutal character on this list, in my opinion, Carl seemed really forced back into life as a gangster in San Andreas after the death of his mother. Despite this, he gradually grew to accept his role as one of the leaders of the Grove Street Families and I respected him for that.
6) John Marston: Red Dead Redemption
John Marston is one of Rockstar's most beloved characters and it's easy to see why. Here's a guy who left a life of crime to start a family, only to be brought back into the fray by the Government while holding his family hostage. Despite his checkered past, he's genuinely sorry for the mistakes he's made and does the best to ensure his son doesn't have to experience that life he lived. Gamers everywhere loved John's character and I was certainly among them, however, there were others I enjoyed more for various reasons (as you're about to read).
5) Red Harlow: Red Dead Revolver
While I know many people prefer John Marston given his slightly deeper character, I've always preferred Red as a protagonist. Something about his gruff Clint Eastwood-esque persona really endeared him to me. I will say, beyond his quiet, intense demeanor and no nonsense attitude he did have some subtle character elements to him that I liked, one such example being him covering the scar on his hand with the cloth, no doubt stemming from his shame at being unable to save his parents from being attacked by a gang at the beginning of the game. There really isn't much to say about him except that he really is the most badass character Rockstar has ever produced and also arguably one of their most morally virtuous too.
4) Cole Phelps: LA Noire
This guy is the exact opposite of Red Harlow's badass cowboy. Cole Phelps is inarguable one of the most complex, multi-layered characters in any Rockstar games. He's also one of their most decisive. Some like his complexity, but most ended up hating him. What I liked about Cole was that, despite his brilliance as a Detective and strict adherence to rules and regulations, he was ultimately a complete hypocrite. Despite portraying himself as a squeaky-clean posterboy for the LAPD, he was ultimately a spineless, emotionally distant shell of a man who cheated on his wife . Furthermore, he has a dishonourable past that would leave John Marston shaking his head. His overconfidence and ineptitude as a commanding officer in World War 2 was shown in a flashback where he ordered a soldier to use flamethrower to burn out an enemy cave, only to realize the cave was a hospital full of women and children. Not only that, he then ordered his men to end the wounded civilians suffering too. What a complete bastard. Still, I'm not even scratching the surface of Cole. You really need to play the game to appreciate the character. Personally, while I may not have liked him, I certainly respected his ability and a certain choice he makes at the conclusion of the game. It's these qualities and more that make Phelps such a memorable character in my eyes.
3) Trevor Phillips: GTA 5
What really needs to be said about Trevor f*&^ing Phillips? As many of said, he embodies Grand Theft Auto's random, chaotic nature to a tee. His lax morals, dark sense of humour, explosive anger make him one of the most memorable and entertaining videogame characters in recent memory. He represented a major breath of fresh air from the boring and bland Nico we'd come to play as since 2008. Despite his obvious insanity, I really appreciated Trevor's devotion to his friends and you really got a sense that he was more than just a bundle of rage and destruction. He was one of the first videogame characters that I felt had a life beyond what I made him do in gameplay (due in large part to Rockstar's genius mutl-character swapping system). Ultimately though, Phillips is everything I ever loved about GTA in a single character and for that he'll always hold a special place among my favourite videogame characters.
2) Max Payne: The Max Payne series (particularly, Max Payne 3)
Poor Max Payne. I've always considered Payne to be a lot like Frank Castle if he had a conscious and no mission or purpose, particularly by the third installment in the franchise. He also developed in a lot of ways a lot of videogame characters don't. Max went from a driven, sarcastic John McClane type character to a depressed, nihilistic, borderline suicidal wreck of a man strung out on booze and painkillers. In a lot of ways, if Punisher ever were to complete his mission and loose his lust for vengeance, he'd become Max Payne. Basically Cole Phelps might've been a shell of a man, but Payne was even less. James McCaffrey does a magnificent job of portraying Max as a man with nothing to lose, who's every bit of happiness was stripped from him due to his own overwhelming guilt in regards to the choices he made in his life. However, despite the character's bleak nature, I was happy by the end of Max Payne 3, he ultimately let go of his guilt and learned to live a peaceful on a beach in Bahia. Godspeed, Max, you deserve the rest.
1) Jimmy Hopkins: Bully/ Canis Canem Edit
Part Holden Caulfield, part James Dean, Jimmy (in my opinion) was the kinda guy you always wanted to be in highschool (I'm still highschool, but you get the idea). He was confident, mature, tough, athletic, rebellious, a ladies man and despite his rough nature, he possessed a heart of gold. Unlike the other characters on this list, he isn't a killer, a flawed detective or a washed up or world-weary ex-cop. In the end, he was really only a highschooler who sought to give people "what they have coming to them" and defend those who couldn't defend themselves. And true, he wasn't perfect shown by his cocky nature after conquering the school at the start of Chapter 4, but he did ultimately rise above his faults and prove to be one of Rockstar's most relatable and endearing protagonists. On some level, we can all relate to Jimmy and his experiences whether that be through his parental trouble, desire to beat down all the jerks in his life or his dislike for sleazy, incompetent authority figures. Seriously though, if you've never played Bully/Canis Canem Edit, you need to. It's one of the smartest, most entertaining and innovative games Rockstar has ever made that'll have you playing for hours on end.
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