5. Hope Estheim (Final Fantasy XIII)

Little kids in video games generally come in two varieties: creepy or cute. Hope, however, breaks the mold and is both whiny and murderous. Sure, no one expects a kid to be happy after they witness their mother's death, but Hope takes moping to a whole-new level not seen in a Final Fantasy game since Cloud. However, what places Hope in a higher ranking is the fact that he decides to place the blame on a completely unrelated character and goes after him with some ill-placed murderous rage. Of course, his murder attempt doesn't work (he is a kid, after all), and it's hard to take his death threats seriously (I mean look at that face!), but he makes the attempt, fails, and then gets back to his regularly scheduled moping.

His character suffers from being pointless, and almost completely extraneous to the plot. It's like someone thought Final Fantasy XIII needed to be MORE depressing. Of course, Hope does go through the requisite "transformative" stage near the end, but I'm not buying it. Angsty little kids never really change.

4. Elika (Prince of Persia)

The Prince of Persia "reboot" in 2008 was a lot of things. Discontinued, being one of them. Though I liked the re-imagining of the franchise, there was one part that grated on my nerves: Elika. While initially Elika displayed the plucky charm that so many Disney princesses and Dreamworks heroines display initially, unlike these heroines, Elika never grew up. She was a consummate fifteen-year old in attitude, and even goes as far as to decide which "corrupted" are worth saving, depending on her personal likes (The warrior is in, but the concubine, well forget about her!). If it weren't for her magical glowing, flying, and life-saving powers, I would have chucked her off one of the many Persian cliffs long before journey's end.

3. Roman Bellic (Grand Theft Auto IV)

Niko Bellic was one of the most likable characters that the Grand Theft Auto series has ever produced. Multi-layered, flawed, and ultimately tragic, Niko certainly made a lasting impression on all who experienced his story. His cousin Roman, however, was the exact opposite. Endlessly chatty, pointlessly involved in important events, and great at catching bullets, Roman Bellic was easily the worst thing about one of the best-rated games of all time. Constantly picking him up (wasn't HE the cab driver?) and hearing about his girlfriend for the 875,768th time all contribute to the hate this character most obviously deserves.

2. Sparx the Dragonfly (The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning)

Not many people liked the Spyro the Dragon reboot in 2006, which is a shame as I found it to be quite enjoyable. With high production values, a cute story, and plenty of simple platforming, Spyro: A New Beginning was a fairly standard title that should have at least registered some mediocre praise. So what's to blame for this game's failure to launch? Sparx the Dragonfly. While secondary characters like Ignitus had suitable personalities and added value to the plot when the spoke, Sparx just added idle chatter to the conversation and ruined any emotional scene he had the misfortune to be in (I have horrible memories of Ignitus' capture scene). And, of course, a terrible voiceover by David Spade didn't help matters much...

1. Bayonetta (Bayonetta)

Bayonetta is, hands-down, one of my favorite action games of all time. The relentless battle system and the cinematic approach to the gameplay all made this a memorable romp through a supernatural world filled with amazingly-designed angels and demons. The only problem? The titular Bayonetta. With an accent that travels across the whole of Eurpoe and an oral fixation that manifests itself at the most awkward of times, Bayonetta had a personality that grated on the nerves. Sure, she wasn't terrible to look at, and I'm sure more than a few players appreciated her "ability" to remove her clothes during strong attack sequences, but her terrible dialogue and confusing personality (Do you like scarf boy? Do you want to kill him? Is he going to kill you? IT DOESN'T MATTER!) made her an annoying character to deal with during too-long story sequences.

The game really suffers every time Bayonetta starts talking, and if they could have just dropped the story, her personality, and her relentless one-liners (No, I do not want to touch you. Thanks.), the game would have been that much better. As a main character, Bayonetta is a total failure, and that is why she tops our list of the characters we love to hate.

By Amanda L. Kondolojy
CCC Freelance Writer

*The views expressed within this article are solely the opinion of the author and do not express the views held by Cheat Code Central.*