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On The Secret Life Of Videogame Voice Actors

Posted by simoniker on from the snaaaaaaaaaaaaake dept.

Thanks to GameSpot for its 'Spot On' feature discussing the world of the videogame voice actor, as the article notes by way of introduction: "Their contributions are never seen, but their work can make or break the spell a game casts upon the gamer." The piece continues: "Brilliant performances, like those in Mafia and Freedom Force, help totally immerse players in another reality, while on the opposite end of the spectrum, Magic the Gathering: Battlegrounds and some Resident Evil games have voice work so bad they offer up unintentional B-grade-movie-style chuckles", before ending by pointing out: "A good voice actor can earn between $850 and $1,000 for a four-hour recording session. Well-known celebrities command tens of thousands of dollars for a single session." What are your favorite voice-acting performances in recent games?

6 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Manny Calavera by servognome · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Actually I liked all the voices in Grim Fandango, but the main character Manny was one of the best performances I've heard from a computer game voice actor.

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  2. Armed & Dangerous by BladesP9 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    One of the lesser known games, Armed and Dangerous has some fantasic voice acting. The cut-scenes in the game are some of the most well done in terms of the actual acting and in terms of their humorous content.

  3. Vice City... by Cyno01 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Great voice acting all around, the characters in the movies were all great, and especially all the radio stations. A tip though, if you rip the Vice City radio stations, dont listen to them while driving, you start seeing pink arrows everywhere...

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    1. Re:Vice City... by ALeavitt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I can't believe it took so long for someone to mention Vice City. Ray Liotta in particular did a good job. Granted, he was just replaying his role from Goodfellas, but it fit the character and setting perfectly. When I heard that he had been cast in the game, I was a little worried that having celebrity voice actors would distract from the game, but in the end he really added something.

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  4. Beyond Good and Evil... by LiquidAvatar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... had an excellent soundtrack all around, but the English voice acting is phenomenal (I've never played it through with another language). Aside from my loyalty to the man for his great movies, I wasn't impressed by Bruce Campbell's performance as the narrator in Spiderman 2. His lines seemed very flat to me, as if he was relying purely on the fact that he's Bruce freaking Campbell to carry them and make them important (which it almost does). But, I guess that the quality level that he offers is right on par for the game though, because with the exception of a few of Tobey Maguire's spiderman quips, the whole of the spoken dialogue is nuinspired.

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  5. Beyond Good and Evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I'm surprised no-one's mentioned this game yet - the voice acting in it is superb, and coupled with brilliant cinematography makes the game easily stand out as one of the best I've played in recent years.

    Other games where voice acting has added a lot to it? Well, there's "The Dig" from days of yore, which has very immersive acting, especially for its day, though admittedly that isn't what *makes* that game; that'd be the whole atmosphere when put together. It certainly helps though.

    Anachronox was especially impressive, when it actually had voice acting, too - again, add that to cinematography, and you've got one of the best games I've come across.

    As people have said, Irenicus is great from BG2, but I don't remember the voice acting from there being half so intense generally as I've found in other games. Could just be that time has addled my memory, though

    -- Tobriand