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On The Secret Life Of Videogame Voice Actors
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?
The voice acting in the Resident Evil games is INTENTIONALLY cheesy to reflect the Italian zombie movies of the 70's and 80's that inspired the series.
Check out my foes list to see who is so retarded that they can't use the signature line!!!
Hands down, it's got to be Bruce Campbell. His tone and the inflection he uses when blurting out even the weirdest of hints in Spiderman 2 for PS2 make the game.
One of the few games that managed to pull off a sad ending did it so well partially because of its superb voice acting. If you want to play a game with awesome voice acting, or just an awesome game, you can find this one in bargain bins for $10.
I gotta hand this one to Bruce Campbell as the "Tour Guide" in the Spiderman game. The only bad part about it was the fact that I was paying more attention to him than the game.. ;)
I haven't gotten around to trying Evil Dead: A Fistfull of Boomstick yet, but I imagine he's just as good in that one (even though the game got some pretty bad reviews)
End of line..
-Best concept for an end villain ever. -Best plotline of any game, period. -It does the best job of completely rejecting average FRPG stereotypes without becoming one itself, while still keeping an interesting setting you can relate to. -Best puzzle ever.(The tomb.) -Best NPC interaction, as its characters do grow, do banter with each other, and are three-dimensional. -Best areas.(Brothel of Slaking Intellectual Lusts) In short, it's refreshingly original, has the best story and characters of anything we've seen, and never lets up on either.
The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say. -Anais Nin
Hayter and James Flinders as the over the top voice of Liquid Snake. I also liked Matt McKenzie as Auron in FFX
I would have to agree with the parent poster on this one. The voice acting blew me away. Carth Onasi was great! I loved how you could make him put his foot in his mouth, and he kept stumbling over himself trying to apologise! Not to mention Jolee Bindo! I first took notice of this actor in Animatrix, and was surprised to see him in Lilo & Stich. Incredible voice actor, as he has already been in 25 productions since finishing KOTOR.
But I think what blew me away the most was the use of well known hollywood actors to play bit parts! If I were to make assumptions, I would assume that these are the people who really love their craft, and are willing to take any job, even if it isn't some high profile production with their name in lights. Those are the actors I respect the most.
If I were to push my assumptions even further, if voice acting like this were combined with the details in characters that we will see in Half-Life 2, I think we are going to see some extremely memorable performances by some unknown actors, and it just might shake up how actors and characters are viewed by the Hollywood Studios.
I haven't lost my mind!
It is backed up on disk...somewhere...
pretty fuckin sweet compilation of games.
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I remember Grimgnaw's voice in the first campaigh, especially his "I know you..." speach, was really creepy - exactly the way you'd expect a Sadistic Dwarf to sound. I also remember going around for a few weeks saying "Takasi! Oh, excuse my elven" in a british accent instead of the usual swearing.
If you've ever played this game, they you must know what I'm talking about. Great voices. Ben was so gruff I almost laughed everytime he said something.
Given that one of the first posts talked about how good the Kyle Katurn voice was in Dark Forces (he's right), and how it made Luke sound lame, it's ironic that several of the voices were done by Hamil in FT!
Wood Shavings!
- Godai
The original warcraft had the awesomest voice acting of all times (especially when repeatedly clicking on the characters.) That was funnier than the game itself (at least after a few beers.)
That aside, I really liked Homeworld. The radio voices were really dispassionate and distant, and in combination with the sound effects and music gave the game a very eerie atmosphere.
My third favorite are the German soldiers in the sub pen mission in MoHAA--they're standing around discussing something like "why are all the Norwegians so mad at us? Just because we're taking their women to Germany to breed the master race." It's flawless unaccented German, and I honestly have to respect any German voice actor who could pull off a line like that without breaking up laughing.
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
David Ogden Stiers's voice-overs for Icewind Dale are the best voice acting I have ever heard in a game. I can listen to the opening segment time after time and never get bored. Or the second intro: "And so you continue your journey... Alone." A lesser actor would have hammed up that line, but Stiers delivers it with understated grace and musicality.
The guy can do amazing things with his intonation. It came as no surprise to me that he's an accomplished orchestra conductor as well.
He's also in lots of Woody Allen films.
Obligatory joke answer: Marvin Mindbender in the C64 game Impossible mission.
Sentimentality is merely the Bank Holiday of cynicism.
- Oscar Wilde
You joke, but the complete absence of a human voice for Gordon Freeman seems totally deliberate.
If you rummage around in Half-Life's pak0.pak datafile, you'll find a couple of pain noises for Freeman which sound like normal human gasps and grunts, just like you get in every other FPS, but I don't think they ever actually get used.
I'm surprised other game developers haven't jumped on board the 'you are the protagonist' route that Half-Life took, what with its absence of speech from the player's character, the lack of third-person cutscenes, etc, etc...
In terms of voice acting in games, some of my favourite is from System Shock 2. Shodan, anyone?
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I was first introduced (or so I thought) to the impressive talent of Michael Bell in the Soul Reaver series as Raziel. The story, but most especially the voice acting, really elevated the game's quality to a higher standard.
It was only after reading the man's filmography that I understood what a powerhouse of animation and game acting he was. It includes game roles in everything from I-Ninja to Warcraft 3, and my jaw hit the floor when I read some of the animation credits from my childhood that he claims (Transformers, G.I. Joe, He-Man). This guy has been doing this (and well) for a very long time!
(The other actors for the Soul Reaver series should not be forgotten either, including Simon Templeman, Rene Auberjonois of ST:DS9, and another fav of mine: Tony Jay as the Elder God)