8 – John Marston (Red Dead Redemption)
Old John here didn’t have the best of beginnings so you can’t blame him for being a little rough around the edges. Born to a prostitute (who died) and the son of a hate filled old Scottish man (who died) he grows up in an orphanage that he eventually runs away from to the cradling arms of a local gang. They say that a good upbringing lays the roots for a good adulthood so that part is already way screwed up for John. After being left for dead in a robbery gone bad John vows to change his ways but is forced back after a politician kidnaps his family in order to get John to do his bidding. You can take the cowboy out of the gunfight but you can’t take the gunfight out of the cowboy… or something like that. For the most noble of reasons John uses every nasty trick in the book to achieve his goals.
7 – Duke Nukem (Duke Nukem… OBVIOUSLY)
You can’t have a list of badasses without having Duke Nukem somewhere in the top 10… even with his piss poor outing in Duke Nukem Forever he still remains one of gaming’s best of the worst. Kicking ass, taking names and chewing gum Duke is the ultimate alien hunter. He is the epitome of politically incorrect, he’s a misogynist and he’s got a foul mouth but his endgame is saving Earth and his two (you sly dog you) girlfriends so he’s not half bad. As Duke famously said ‘It’s time to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and I’m all out of gum’.
Click on thru to page three to continue the countdown…