10 Videogame Characters Who Inexplicably Survived A Sh*tload Of Punishment

1. Niko Bellic €“ Grand Theft Auto IV

Niko The problem a GTA game usually has is explaining how the everyman character is capable of mowing down wave after wave of anonymous goons, but GTA IV was fairly up front about Niko. A veteran of an unspecified war back home, he was very adept with guns and bringing the pain to Liberty City€™s boys in blue. Yet while this gave you a perfectly legitimate reason for his proficiency, nothing could prepare you for just how damn durable Niko was. Rest assured, whether by way of genetic travesty or just sheer dumb luck, the bloke was almost indestructible. Now, you could perhaps say the same about all Niko€™s GTA predecessors, but the introduction of ragdoll physics in GTA IV ramped up the insanity. It made the game something of a playground, with the world€™s unluckiest Serbian as its prize toy. You could chuck him at bollards from speeding vehicles and he€™d get up, throw him in front of speeding cars and he would bounce, or make him fall off buildings only to see him get back up with a jaunty spring in his step. It was actually astounding to see what you could do to Niko and have him survive. Now don€™t get me wrong, Niko did eventually stop moving, but that doesn€™t mean he was dead. Much like the Terminator, he would always come back stronger, faster, and capable of car-jacking the ambulance which brought him to the hospital, because you can€™t keep a good psychopath down. I can€™t even walk after leaving hospital, never mind commit a car-jacking offence. Combine this with his penchant for self-cleaning outfits (because seriously, nothing gets blood out a suit like time) and the ability to turn burgers into the elixir of life and you€™ve got a freak of nature on your hands. Simply put, Niko was basically Wolverine, only more morose and Serbian. He ingested bullets so often that you would assume he was four parts lead, three parts murder and one part intact human being and shook off flying through a car windscreen like a paper cut. His hardiness looks like a gamebreaker, but if he was a regular person, GTA IV would be a very boring game with far too many hospital visits and too much bed-rest. Acts of insanity require medical marvels, and no-one fit the bill like Niko. It€™s a pity he wasted his gift shooting pool with his fat cousin. Agree or disagree? Know any more? Feel free to comment!
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Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League. You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.