10 Gaming Villains We Were Emotionally-Invested In Defeating

7. Officer Tenpenny (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas)

A great way to establish a character's villainous presence is to introduce them as soon as possible and keep their presence hovering over the player for the remainder of the game; San Andreas does this from the very first cutscene. Officer Tenpenny (voiced by the incredibly-talented Samuel L Jackson) keeps CJ under his foot the entire game, constantly appearing to remind him who's in charge. Despite being an officer of the law, Tenpenny's motives are purely selfish. With several criminal charges stacked against him (corruption and several instances of sexual assaults, among others), Tenpenny has CJ eliminate any key witness to these crimes, getting himself off the hook. This leads to the San Andreas riots which take place during the final stages of the game; Tenpenny's evil deeds effectively end up destroying the society of San Andreas. His Ozymandias-like fall is a great story that remains prominent throughout your time in the game and that's why his final demise is so satisfying. Grand Theft Auto as a series is full of scummy, evil characters but Officer Tenpenny takes it to a whole new level. We'll never fully trust the police again.