7. Cole MacGrath
(Spoilers for inFamous 2 ahead!) Cole MacGrath was the protagonist of inFamous and inFamous 2, two of Playstations finest exclusives. In the inFamous series you choose to be good or evil based on whether you help or hinder civilians and also through the big decisions you make. The games are smartly designed in that they reflect these choices well and Coles character develops as a result of your karmic leaning. Therefore people will have a divided opinion on Cole based off how they played the game, maybe they like good Cole, maybe they prefer bad Cole, either way it gives you incentive to replay the game. Im always unsure of how I felt about Coles character throughout the games, on one hand I liked him and his head-strong attitude but on the other hand he was a pretty basic, linear character. Although no matter what my opinion is, I think we can all agree Cole looked cool. Especially in the original inFamous, with his black & yellow leather jacket, grey pants and lightning bursting from his hands. I feel he lost some of his look in the sequel when he wore a simple t-shirt and jeans; a lot less memorable. Due to my love of the inFamous series I initially figured Cole would rate quite highly in this list. However after thinking about it and removing my personal opinion on the games I came to the conclusion that Cole is not worthy of the high spots. Dont get me wrong, hes still a good character with an awesome look, in the first game, but hes also the stereotypical video game protagonist; white, thirty-something, shaved head, stubble, tough, afraid-of-nothing etc. (Similar characters include Marcus Fenix, Commander Shepard, Sam Fisher, Alec Mason, Martin Walker, Nathan Hale and Alex Mercer, to name a few). As well as this Cole simply is not recognisable, unless you include the lightning, to casual gamers. Thankfully the new inFamous game, Second Son, looks to shake things up with their interesting new protagonist Delsin Rowe. So as much as I love inFamous 1 & 2, I had to be honest with my ranking of Cole MacGrath.