Games with very good acting?

[Tzekelkan]

Gordon Freeman had the best voice actor.

Had to be said, sorry. I didn't find Oblivion's voice acting stellar though. Especially the beggar women going from miserable to charming to melodramatic to panicky in the space of a few clicks.

I loved Grant Theft Auto IV's voice actors. I heard Niko's Serbian accent wasn't too authentic, but I don't speak Serbian so it went down really well for me. He captured the spirit of the character very well. Even Roman's unending cries for "teetees" were pretty awesome. Though I have to give credit to the guy who did Brucie. Ace.

Max Payne also rocked in the voice category, particularly the titular character's and Vladimir's, though not so much with Mona Sax. Narration still counts as voice acting, right?

Also, the Modern Warfare games had good acting. Soap's voice was passable, but nothing too memorable. As for Captain Price, Captain MacMillan and General Shepard... I'd quote them till my teeth fall off.

One last: "I'm watching you, scum.


EDIT: How could I have forgot Starcraft, Warcraft and Diablo. I swear, Blizzard is obsessed with good voice actors. I'll mention Diablo II because SC and WC have been explained previously.

I loved the cutscenes in D2. My favourite has got to be the one from the Fifth's act opening... after so many years, I still have chills go down my spine when I think of Baal yelling "Enough!" then casting a wicked awesome spell that kills the poor gatekeeper that was telling him to leave in peace and then, right before unleashing all the armies his primordial evilness could conjure, dropped "I shall take your position... into consideration."

 

[Lemon Of Life]

Bioware games are usually very good, and I think the characters in Bioshock, audio logged or otherwise, were superbly voiced.

Oblivion is runner up, for the sheer diversity of its cast. Seriously, how could they afford so many actors??

Agreed, except for the Oblivion part. I hope you're kidding about that, because I stopped playing the game because everyone sounded the same. It completely unimmersed me.

Also, to add to the list, the Warcraft's VAs were good; kept me entertained, as did everything else that they've done. Good FMVs have nice acting. idk, i'm easy on VAs i guess...

No I'm absolutely serious. They could've been like, hey, lets have one actor for each race and save half the money, but they went for two. Two. Hats off to you Bethesda.

 

[TotallyFake]

Mass Effect has brilliant voice acting.

Mass Effect is getting a little too much praise. Did nobody listen to the doctor on the ship? She quite clearly isn't British, and has probably never met an actual British person. It's horrendous.
But yes, Jennifer Hale is godly.

For content: Myst.
Specifically, Esher and Atrus. As the Myst protagonist is as silent as they come (The utlimate AFGNCAAP) the games speech is entirely monologues. Some people cock it up (Sirus, Achenar, Catherine, Young Yeeshah. Okay, most people) some are just boring (Adult Yeeshah, Gehn) but these two are just bloody fantastic. The characters are pure concentrated Da Vinci, and they manage to pull off this extreme intelligence.

Esher, from Myst V: skip to 8 minutes. Adult Yeeshah at the begining if you care.

Atrus, from Riven. Possibly my favourite game opening:
Just beautiful.

 

[Novania]

Mass Effect 1 and 2, but I couldn't stand male shepard's voice acting.

I loved Crysis, DA:O, KOTORs...

L4D for the voice spamming xD

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

Mass Effect 2, everyone except for male Shepard. There's so much voice talent in the game, it's ridiculous.

Vampire (blah blahsqurade) Bloodlines's voice acting made the game bearable. Paired up with the setting, it made the game great in spite of itself.

Indigo Prophecy's voice acting wasn't bad, but the setting became progressively dumber as the plot advanced.

Anything made by Valve, ever, is a no-brainer. "Welcome. Welcome, to City 17."

Halo ODST seemed to have decent voice acting too. My roommate played it, and the inclusion of Fillion and company was inspired.

 

[Amnestic]

Also, the Command and Conquer series. Joe Kucan is one hell of a (voice?) actor, though I'm not sure if it counts since all the stuff is live action.

To weigh in on the ManShep Voice Acting issue, I don't think it's that he's particularly bad, just that he's surrounded by comparatively better and more experienced people. Jennifer Hale is a thousand year veteran in comparison, and in ME2 he's going up against Martin Sheen.

When you compare his ME1 performance to ME2, you can see a huge, massive improvement and if you go look at some of Meer's work not in the ME series (especially his comedy stuff) he's really quite good at voices.

 

[ThePreshFrince]

GTA. Best voice acting heard in a game, ever.

 

[Rayansaki]

Mass Effect? Really? /sigh

For me, Bioshock, Uncharted 1&2, God of War, Halo ODST, Assassin's Creed 2 and World of Warcraft are the best from the last couple of years.

As for So bad it's good, I would say C&C and Deus Ex

Edit:

Forgot the absolute best, Little Big Planet, and there is no way you can contradict that!

 

[Firia]

I felt the voice acting work (done by the main cast) for Dragon Age was pretty quality. Enough to make up for the subpar graphics of facial expressions. I quickly forgot about sub par graphics thanks to the voice work in the game. Well done!

 

[Firia]

Halo ODST,

Is that one with some of the Firefly/Serenity guys? I wanted to play that game just for them. And I'm not a Halo fan!

 

[MadeinHell]

Mass Effect games. Although Sheppard (both male and female) always feels... monotonic. But maybe that's just my oppinion ;P.
Also knights of the old republic and OFC Portal

 

[Rayansaki]

Halo ODST,

Is that one with some of the Firefly/Serenity guys? I wanted to play that game just for them. And I'm not a Halo fan!

Yeah it is. I hate Halo, but have to admit that's some awesome cast!

 

[Firia]

Halo ODST,

Is that one with some of the Firefly/Serenity guys? I wanted to play that game just for them. And I'm not a Halo fan!

Yeah it is. I hate Halo, but have to admit that's some awesome cast!

Shame (this one time) I don't own a 360.

 

[Napalm_Man]

Batman Arkham Asylum
Kevin Conroy as Batman
Mark Hamill as The Joker
Awesome

 

[Arachon]

Batman Arkham Asylum
Kevin Conroy as Batman
Mark Hamill as The Joker
Awesome

I agree with you on Mark Hamill's performance... But Conroy? Most of it was cringe-worthy.

 

[MadeinHell]

Batman Arkham Asylum
Kevin Conroy as Batman
Mark Hamill as The Joker
Awesome

I agree with you on Mark Hamill's performance... But Conroy? Most of it was cringe-worthy.

At least it doesn't have that ridiculous Christian Bale "hey I'm trying to have a scary voice" thing . And for that it's value multiplies 10x

 

[Huxleykrcc]

Mass Effect 2...of course. I mean, Martin Sheen? The guy's a legitimate actor.

Dragon Age has impressed me in the last weeks, and Fallout 3 does a decent job.

 

[PurpleLeafRave]

My vote goes to Star Ocean 4. Little Lymle wins the cake, kay?

I died inside when playing that game.
ENGAGE! :L

Dragon Age Origins wins my vote, Liliana's voice is pretty sexy.

 

[gellert1984]

The (last 2 or 3) wing commander games had pretty good actors including Mark Hamill, John Rhys Davies and Malcolm Mcdowell also Freelancer had John Rhys Davies, George Takei, Christopher Lee and Jennifer Hale (whose the voice of Femshep from ME2).

God I miss space shooters like those, especially the ones with kick ass story and the acting talent to really bring the story to life...