by: Reach for the Sky
Villains, when applied properly, can make a mediocre story awesome. I would be willing to bet a significant amount of coin that Darth Vader is the most often quoted character from "Star Wars." Col. Hans Landa, played by Christoph Waltz, an actor virtually unknown in America, almost completely overshadowed Old-Man-Pitt in "Inglourious Basterds". Audiences love awesome villains. However, the reverse is also true. A poorly written or completely stupid villain can ruin immersion and drag the entire plot down.
Mass Effect 2 and Modern Warfare 2 spoilers ahead.
Take a villain from Mass Effect 2. There was one point in where Commander Shepard has (possibly) just defeated a Thresher Maw, a monster so powerful, the player isn't even required to kill it to complete the mission. On his way back to the ship, he is confronted by a grumpy alien who then insults Shepard's companion. In summary, immediately after Shepard has gunned down waves of aliens, including what is essentially a sand-worm from "Dune", Disapproving Leader # 47 still wants to fight him. This ends predictably, with Marty McSuicide riddled with more holes then a sweater at a moth convention.
Lieutenant General Shepherd in Modern Warfare 2 is another example of a poorly written villain. He seems to lack any kind of proper motivation to betray Roach and company. The game says he wanted to "rewrite history in his favor". Rewrite from what, exactly? He's already lead a team that had essentially ended the war with Russia, did he dislike the idea of being an famous war-hero? I do have to hand it to Infinity Ward for creating an intensely hated bad guy, even if it was only a side-effect of obnoxious writing.
I'll never understand why video games (and movies for that matter) spend massive portions of the budget on the dialogue, voice acting, and animation of an antagonist, but then skimp out when it comes to character depth. Just look at the big bads of games like Mass Effect, Portal, Half-Life 2, and Halo*, and how far the respective villains took their game franchises. Let's face it, nobody quotes Luke Skywalker or Leia Organa, it's Darth Vader's voice that echos through the fans.
* Quite frankly, Guilty Spark, Gravemind, and the prophets are some of the most interesting villains in video games. It almost makes me forget that the rest of the story is shamelessly copy-pasted.
Rose's Note: My favorite cheesy villain of all-time is a toss up between the giant floating monkey head from Star Fox on the S.N.E.S., and Dr. Claw from inspector Gadget. There's just something magical to the phrase "I'll get you next time Gadget!!!!!"
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