Niko Bellic

Niko Bellic

Niko Bellic is a fictional character and the playable protagonist of Rockstar North's 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV, the sixth main installment in Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto series. He also makes non-playable appearances in the game's episodic content The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, both released in 2009. Michael Hollick provided the character's voice and motion capture. Niko is a war veteran from Eastern Europe, where he witnessed some of the worst atrocities humans are capable of, causing him to develop a very cynical view on life. After becoming involved with a Russian crime syndicate and discovering that his unit was sold out to enemy forces, he decides to move to Liberty City to pursue the American Dream, inspired by the tales of luxury and riches of his cousin Roman, who had been living there for the last decade. Upon arrival, however, he discovers that those stories were large exaggerations, and attempts to improve his and Roman's financial situation, quickly becoming involved with the local criminal underworld. As the game's story progresses, Niko works for various prominent crime figures to this end, as well as in the hopes of finding the traitor who betrayed his unit during the war, while slowly learning to let go of his past and quest for revenge, and that attempting to leave the criminal life comes with major risks. The character was well received, with many critics citing his maturity and moral ambiguity as elements that help to enhance the game's storyline. For his role, Hollick won Best Performance by a Human Male at the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards.

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