11. Wei Shen (Sleeping Dogs)
Sleeping Dogs may not have been the most original game but it was one of the best, and Wei Shen is one of the many reasons for that. While the whole cast of characters were superb Wei stands out. He's got some guts to go undercover in the Triads, which leads to some exceptional Departed style moments where others suspect you and you're still going to see your police contacts. Sure Marky Mark doesn't make an appearance but maybe that's for the best. Wei might have made it on this list just for the fact that he can launch himself from his car onto another car while doing 100 down the highway. Looking even more closely and you will find a superb combat system that makes you feel seriously awesome, especially when you're dropping engine blocks on people or snapping their legs just to build up some "face". It's slick in all the right places and Wei comes off as an equal to GTA protagonists and not a knock off.
10. Vault Hunters (Borderlands 2)
Borderlands 2 was many peoples game of the year, and thousands of hours have been plugged into the game, but when you are talking about the best heroes of the year, sometimes it helps to recognize the old. Yes, the new crop of vault hunters are pretty awesome but it's even more awesome to see the ones you put just as many hours into grow up in a way. It's like meeting an old friend after a long time away and finding out he became successful: Roland is leading the charge against Handsome Jack by leading the Crimson Raiders, Lilith in the meanwhile has become ridiculously powerful and is helping out the cause as well and Mordecai and Brick were also founding members of the Raiders and show up even more awesome than they were years ago. It's tough when the current heroes have to deal with maybe the best overall new character of the year in Jack, but they also had to contend with the old school hunters who proved to have lots of personality. Maybe Borderlands 3 will continue this tradition and we'll see Axton, Zero, Salvador and Maya in a new light in a few year's time.