1. Tommy Vercetti (GTA: Vice City)
The first speaking protagonist in the GTA series, Tommy Vercetti was a major wake-up call for gamers, and as a result holds a lot of nostalgia for fans of the franchise, all the more so because he was voiced by crime flick legend Ray Liotta. Even if you're not hugely into the 80s aesthetic of the game - how dare you... - Tommy served as a potent everyman to introduce us to this new world, a Tony Montana-like character who quickly rises from nothing to something, killing anyone who got in his way. His partnership with buddy Lance Vance made Vice City such a blast to play through, and though he may not have had as much nuance as, say, CJ or Niko, he was the perfect figure to depict the excess of the 1980s, and its often violent consequences. Amusingly, Tommy is mentioned in San Andreas, when a coked-up Ken Rosenberg thinks that he's talking to Tommy, causing CJ to ask, "Who the f*** is Tommy?" As far as GTA's badass characters go, nobody can top Tommy Vercetti (yet, anyway). Which GTA characters are your favourite? Let us know in the comments below.