Top 7 Betrayals

The time of year has come to burn effigies of Guy Fawkes and celebrate his infamous attempt at treason. His plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament has gone down as one of history's most epic fails, and tales of his betrayal have been handed down the ages.

With that in mind, this week we take pause to consider some of the biggest, most surprising acts of video game treachery to unfold before our eyes. Here's our Top 7 Betrayals. Warning: There be spoilers here.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

There was something not-quite-right about General Shepherd from the very start of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, but it was easy to put it down to him being a hard-line military type. However, initial mistrust proved well founded after the General revealed his hand at the end of Loose Ends.

Sgt. Gary "Roach" Anderson and his colleague Ghost are amongst the soldiers sent to intercept Makarov in a house on Russian-Georgian border. After some heavy resistance it's discovered that Makarov isn't there, but his computer is. After downloading the information stored on the computer (whilst repelling wave after wave of attacks) Roach and Ghost head down the hill to the helicopter waiting to extract them. It's here that Shepherd commits his act of betrayal, shooting both soldiers, soaking them in petrol and leaving them to burn.

What made the whole thing more gutting, is that on the harder settings that mission was a total bastard to complete, with enemies constantly streaming in the house from all directions. Getting to the end intact (thanks to a load of respawns) took real dedication, and to have it all taken away from us at the very end, by someone who was supposed to be on our frickin team! The outrage!

Bioshock

"Would you kindly..." were the innocuous words used by Atlas as he talked you round the submerged wonderland of Rapture. We blindly, willingly, followed his instructions throughout large chunks of Bioshock's superlative campaign. Going here, fetching this, going there, doing that. We'd played this kind of game before, in that respect Atlas was nothing new.

But Irrational were clever enough to hit us with one hell of a blindside, and in the infamous scene with Andrew Ryan towards the end of the game, Atlas was revealed for what he really was, and his control over you pointed out in no uncertain terms. We'd been had, and thanks to our willingness to obey his commands, always fronted by the unassuming "Would you kindly...", we'd unwittingly fallen into his trap.

Dragon Age: Origins

When we accepted Zevran into our ranks, we already knew he was a bad sort, but we let him join the gang anyway. Our mistake. Zevran is probably the one most of us saw coming, but rather than being included in this week's Top 7 because of the surprise of the betrayal, it's here because defeating Zevran and his crew of "elite" assassins and thieves, the Crows, is even more fun the second time around, because of the deceit.

The scene in Dragon Age is triggered when traveling through Denerim toward the end of the game, when an assassin comes looking for Zevran. Old Zev was recruited after he tried to kill you earlier in the game, and the Crows are seeking out their former employee. During the dialogue your enemy offers Zevran the chance to return to his former role, and he quickly accepts. Cue an big fat ass-kicking.

Halo 3

343 Guilty Spark was an annoyance at the best of times. At the worst of times he killed our buddy and tried his hand at taking on the Chief. It's not clear whether it was rampancy (AI senility - much like Cortana experiences in Halo 4) that causes the Monitor to go berserk, but the flying, blue orb is clearly starting to loose his virtual marbles.

Sgt Johnson, along with Chief and the Arbiter, is ready to activate Halo, but the installation isn't finished, and can't be fired without destroying itself in the process. Guilty Spark reacts badly to the news the ring is to be fired regardless, and kills Sgt. Johnson with an energy beam to the chest. A shoot out ensues with John 117, that can only be ended when Master Chief lands some direct hits from the Spartan Laser that Johnson hands him just before the end.

Dead Space

I was convinced that it was Zach Hammond who was playing me, and much of the reason behind that assumption was the constant guff spouted by Kendra Daniels throughout the game. Looking back, it's easy to see the device used to lull us into a false sense of security, but at the time we were too absorbed in the story to really notice.

Initially nothing more than a computer specialist, it's only later on in Dead Space that Kendra reveals her true identity, that of a government agent sent to secure the marker for employers hidden purposes. Isaac and Dr. Kyne had been about to meet Kendra aboard the escape shuttle in the USG Ishimura, but the government spook is one step ahead of them. She kills Kyne and abandons Isaac. Isaac pursues her, eventually landing on the planet below, where karma rears its ugly head and she gets her just desserts.

Assassin's Creed

Altiar might be one hell of an assassin, but he's not the sharpest tool in the kit, otherwise he might've realised sooner that it was his boss, Al Mualim, who was his real enemy all along.

Disgraced at the beginning of the game for his arrogance and ineptitude, Al Mualim sends our assassin on a series of murderous errands in order to make ammends. What was not immediately obvious was that we were merely helping Al Mualim further his secret agenda, and that he was himself a Templar, and had been playing us all along.

Heavy Rain

At its core Heavy Rain is a murder mystery, where you play as four different characters attempting to foil the plans of the mysterious Origami killer. One of the characters you're playing is Scott Shelby, an old retired police officer turned private detective, who is easy to like and who you'll quickly grow fond of in the early chapters of the game. He revisits those close to recent victims to find clues, and even partners with the mother of the second most recent victim - Lauren Winters for part of the story.

The only problem is... Scott Shelby is the Origami killer. And you'll find out the only reason why he's been visiting the family of victims and people who can interpret clues is to tie up loose ends and clean things up. And even if the actual twist is revealed in a fairly clumsy manner, it still makes for one of the more brilliant betrayals in video game history.