10 Of The Most Evil Women In Video Games

As far as video game lady baddies go, Carmen is pretty tame. She was more a glorified middle school teacher than anything else but thanks to her we learned the capitals of all the countries in South America and the real reasons behind the War of 1812. Players spent over twenty years chasing the red trench coat and fedora wearing beauty around the world. Driving us forward was the hope of finally putting the head of VILE, the ring of international thieves behind bars. Carmen kept us busy at ACME detective agency with a combination of gratifying puzzle busting and that sly come hither glance over her shoulder. I guess I should also thank her for my current obsession with brunettes as well.

It probably sucks to be born without a body to call your own. That must explain where all of the latent she-rage comes from when talking about Dark Samus. The main antagonist throughout all of the Prime series, Dark Samus is equal parts evil doppelganger, stolen hero DNA, Phazon and space trash. One can only expect that she has a lot of self-esteem issues. She was born out of an explosion at the end of Metroid Prime and goes on to hound Samus Aran over the course of the entire Prime series. Armed with her own power suit and ability set that mimics Aran's, she challenged us every time we tangled. Dark Samus also managed to become queen of the space pirates for a time being, which is something that most guidance counselors agree is a sweet gig if you can get it.

Let's see here, product of unstable geo-political turmoil? Check. Watching helplessly as family and loved ones are killed by US sanctioned bombings? Check. Unquenchable thirst for revenge on the country that turned a blind eye and subsequently destroyed her life? Ding! check. As sunny a portrait as that paints, Sniper-Wolf is the only female member of FOXHOUND, the organization that is attempting to take down the US and eventually take over the world. This Iraqi Kurdistani lady bad-ass actually ends up being one of the more noble villains in the game. Famed for waiting days or even weeks without moving to take out her targets, Sniper-Wolf makes emotional connections with her targets before eventually assassinating them. She may have behaved nobly but that is still some next-level psycho behavior.

Fans of both FPS (First Person Shooters) and horror/survival couldn't get enough of F.E.A.R. when it first came out. The only thing I got from this game were nightmares starring Alma Wade, the terrifying child bride of Satan. Anytime Japanese horror, psychic brainwashing and jerky cut frame animation are combined, we are asking for a serious case of the heebie jeebies. Alma has the ability to psychically force hallucinations on players, summon swarms of disembodied torsos and phase through walls leaving behind only bloody footprints. Not one of the best habits a normal 8 year old should pick up on the playground.

Is there anything scarier than an evil genius? Like the kind that don't get their own hands dirty but manages to get the nasty stuff done by coercing and manipulating others? Sofia Lamb from Bioshock 2 is just that flavor of crazy. A psychologist turned revolutionary with a healthy pinch of sexy librarian, Sofia takes over as leader of the underwater city of Rapture after the events of the first Bioshock. She's convinced the inhabitants to embrace what she calls "family collectivism", an ideological cult that values the greater good above all else. Sofia is just a hop, skip and a jump from being a super foxy Charles Manson. I guess a psychologist turned cult leader makes more sense than you'd think.

Look it's 2012, and this toothy female is still populating new releases--most recently in the highly anticipated upcoming Colonial Marines. She combines all of the deepest fears of the human condition: the dark, insects, contamination and swift gory death. First popping up in the second Aliens movie in 1986, she has had dozens of digital incarnations over the years. The hive queen is the universe's primal ID unleashed. She cares only about the propagation of her species and breeds a legion of warrior drones to get the job done. Biology sure can be a chest busting, acid spewing bitch sometimes.

Old school but she still makes the cut. System Shock may have been released back in 1994 but SHODAN (Sentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network) endures as a memorable she-villain all the same. A vast AI network tasked with the day to day operations of running a deep space mining station, players accidentally set her free to systematically slaughter, mutate or cybernetically augment all humans on the station. A condescending, cold blooded, single purposed computer that insults players as "insects" and "pathetic creatures of meat and bone". Yowza! When are we humans ever going to learn to never trust machines? I turn my back to my microwave when I'm counting the money in my wallet.

It's no easy task to be this much of a pain in the rear but Jacqueline manages it with a certain effortless grace. As one of the displaced rulers of Atlantis turned corporate tycoon, Jacqueline was the antithesis to everything Lara Croft stood for in the Tomb Raider franchise. She was diabolically cunning and merciless in her goal of acquiring the artifacts that would bring about something called the Seventh Age. Jacqueline was an amazing female baddy because she embodied all of the elements that made the Tomb Raider series great; history, mythology and fantasy. Also, she wore an awesome pants suit that left room for her demon wings.

There hasn't been a more universally loved and embraced villainess in a long time since GLaDOS in the Portal series. Witty, passive-aggressive, quirky and simultaneously discouraging, GLaDOS was like a private school tutor you didn't have to pay to make you feel dumb. Responsible for testing and maintenance at the Aperture Science research facility, she was also responsible for murdering the whole staff with a deadly neurotoxin. A bloodthirsty AI's work is never done. Often compared to HAL 9000 but with a better sense of comedic timing and signature choppy and endearing text to voice program, GLaDOS, is our favorite computerized killing machine. Plus, what video game character has ever gone on to have a successful post gaming singing career?

There is nothing more tragic than a fallen hero turned villain. It's one of the longest standing tropes in literature, film, and gaming. Most of the time though, they aren't so wickedly hot. That's right, the biggest baddy of the ladies is Sarah Kerrigan, Queen of Blades. Once, one of the most elite Terran psychic agents in the whole Starcarft mythology, she tragically gives her life at the closing of the first game. She's then reincarnated as the Zerg/Human hybrid and goes on to take total control of the Zerg swarm. The depth, vulnerability and complexity of the character is what makes Kerrigan queen baddie of them all. She combines all of the traits of the bad girl: sexy, damaged and evil. What other woman could overthrow the Overmind of the Zerg empire and threaten the entire universe with utter destruction? I'd call that marriage material right there.