The Best and Worst of Video Game Voice Acting

[badgersprite]

I'm tempted to point out some specific voice acting performances that annoyed the hell out of me, but I think that would just be really subjective and a matter of opinion. All I'll say is that I've seen some people, fairly big name or at least well known people, who have their origin in TV or film come in to do voice acting in video games only to seem like they have no idea what they're doing in the recording booth.

Sometimes, I get the feeling that you can hear the, "What the fuck am I reading?" in their voice as they read their lines. Although, when they're doing this in a badly written game, I absolutely cannot blame the actors for not giving a shit.

As for games where the voice acting is rubbish overall...OH MY GOD KING'S QUEST V. They narrate everything and they can't deliver the lines the way they're phrased and it is so freaking painful. I feel so glad I always played those old adventure games with the voice acting off. Makes the memories way better, and way more nostalgic. V was the worst, but the rest aren't much better.

Seriously, I watched a Let's Play of King's Quest VI where the LPers did all the voices for the characters, and these amateur people on Youtube doing the game for comedy were better than the original actors!!!! They read the text in the boxes better than the actors in the booth ever did.

 

[nooneisusingthisname]

worst worst worst worst: Far Cry 2

it was just... so pitiful. everyone rushed their lines.

 

[Gerrawn]

Most recently I would say Fable 3. Some pretty damn impressive voice acting there, I say!
And worst? I'm just going to leave this here.

 

[badgersprite]

This. Oh God yes, this- a million times, yes. I didn't much care for Snow's voice either, but Vanille just felt like ear sodomy from start to finish.

Actually, Snow I don't mind because he only talks for a few cut scenes and goes on about 'being the hero' (And all that) but to add to Vanille, I'd have to take Hope.

He was originally my most annoying character but he moved to second after he grew up and shut up a little.

/rant

Sazh rocks though. And Fang. They're the best voices in the game.

Oh God, Vanille's voice. What the hell were they doing with her accent? WHY DIDN'T THEY PICK THIS UP IN THE STUDIO?! That was one of the single worst performances I have ever heard. I swear, I spent the entire game thinking, "WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT ACCENT SUPPOSED TO BE FROM?! Is she English? Is she South African? Is she a kiwi? Wait, she just said that word in a kind of Australian way, but, wait, no, this is nothing like any accent I've ever heard..."

I have never had a voice acting performance take me out of a game like that. She could have spent the entire game doing a Jerry Lewis impression and it would have been less jarring, and less offensive to my ears.

If they wanted her to sound Australian (and I'm sure the actress really is Australian, as unbelievable as that sounds to me and every other Australian out there, or anyone who has ever heard an Aussie speak) then why didn't they just have her speaking normally? They did it with Fang and she was awesome. Best female performance in the game, IMHO. Instead, Vanille sounded like one of those terrible extras on early episodes of Xena who were trying so hard to hide their accent and sound as American as they could, "Bit thiir iccent jist slupped en to ivery loine to the point where ut was jist rediculous." [/attempt to phonetically recreate an obvious accent]

 

[Agiel7]

Best: Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines, Planescape: Torment. If it wasn't for the awful compressed audio, Final Fantasy XII had some pretty choice voice acting, especially with whoever voiced Fran with that totally sexy accent that I can't for the life of me place.

Worst: Oblivion (the guy who voices both the Orcs and Nords still haunts me in my dreams: "Go ahead." "Yes?" Me: "Gah!"). And who could forget the voice acting from Dawn of War: Soulstorm? ("Spess Mehrines! We have fehled da emprah!")

ArmA and Operation Flashpoint, as much as I adored those games, deserve special attention considering that it only had voice-acting in the loosest terms possible. For god's sake, Bohemian, there are flight sims out there that do a ten times better job masking how mechanical the in-game chatter is. With your games, it sounds like a robot having a stroke: "ENEMY machine-GUNNER! is very CLOSE of ME to the NORTH WEST!"

 

[esperandote]

Best: Max Payne

 

[Iwata]

Best: Demon's Souls. If the original Japanese voice actors are able to do English accents that convincing then you know they have talent.

I completely agree that Demon's Souls has a great voice cast that perfectly captures the gloom of Boletaria. However, they are not a Japanese cast: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1537739/

It is a well-known fact that the majority of Japanese voice actors are terrible, as they chew so much scenery that it's almost an all-you-can-eat buffet.

 

[Tarakos]

For me, the best would be the Mass Effect series. The worst...well, any Bethesda game OR Alpha Protocol. I hate Micheal Thorton so much, just because he always sounds like a douche. Because he usually is.

 

[Donald L]

Best - Metal Gear Solid.
Worst - Every Sonic game in existence.

Beat me to it. Nice avatar.

I also like the Warcraft III and Command & Conquer unit voices as well.

 

[Free Thinker]

Best:
Illusive Man - ME2
Reaver - Fable 3
Tychus Finley - SC2

Worst:
Ellen - Kingdom Underfire (She's like nails on a chalkboard.)
Leinhart - Kingdom Underfire (As awesome as he was, the voice put me off.)
Everything in Frontal Assault or whatever the game with "wanzers" is called. All voice acting in that game scarred me for life.

 

[Eumersian]

I always enjoyed the G-man's character, and the voice acting really helped develop it. See here:

 

[cj_iwakura]

Best: Demon's Souls. If the original Japanese voice actors are able to do English accents that convincing then you know they have talent.

The game was released in Japan with English VA.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Best: Mass Effect, Heavy Rain, Uncharted

Worst: Just Cause, Other M

I didn't particularly care for the voice acting in Heavy Rain. It was actually a fault in my eyes.

 

[EmzOLV]

snip snip!

You know, I was having a break from this game and you brought me straight back into it with that - now I may have to take an extended holiday to escape the memory haunting me of that accent.

How could you be so right with Fang, and yet so SO wrong with Vanille?! How is this possible?

 

[badgersprite]

snip snip!

You know, I was having a break from this game and you brought me straight back into it with that - now I may have to take an extended holiday to escape the memory haunting me of that accent.

How could you be so right with Fang, and yet so SO wrong with Vanille?! How is this possible?

Again, I say, why didn't anyone pick this up in the studio? Was there nobody listening to the actress trying to go for this obscure sort of voice who could hear what was going on and step in and say, "No, no, just speak with your normal accent."

I described it to a friend once, and I think what I came up with is, "Just throw 6 different accents from English-speaking countries into a blender and hit 'puree'."

 

[ShadowsofHope]

Worst: Two Worlds - anyone remember that load of shit?

We try so very, very hard to do just the opposite of that. Two Worlds and Too Human are games in which shall not be spoken of or accepted to even exist again upon these forums.

That is all.

 

[EmzOLV]

Again, I say, why didn't anyone pick this up in the studio? Was there nobody listening to the actress trying to go for this obscure sort of voice who could hear what was going on and step in and say, "No, no, just speak with your normal accent."

I described it to a friend once, and I think what I came up with is, "Just throw 6 different accents from English-speaking countries into a blender and hit 'puree'."

Exactly that. I am really sorry but I'm going to have to borrow your saying in order to describe perfectly to my friend how horrific it is. It's just perfect!

Vanille's voice actress hasn't done much else, at all. But the one who does Serah is apparently in Fallout: New Vegas, Quantum Theory and Super Street Fighter IV. That's pretty epic. Lightning's has been in Star Wars: The Old Republic, Starcraft II, Dead or Alive and Mass Effect 2. Even Sazh has been in Scrubs!

I wonder if in person she's got that voice because man, I couldn't hang out with her.

 

[Steel910520]

Best: Half-Life 2 (Episodes included)
COD4- Modern Warfare (Billy Murray and Craig Fairbrass are the best!)
Mass Effect 1 & 2

Worst: Just Cause 2
TES IV: Oblivion (I'll admit most of the voice acting was pretty good but what the hell? A homeless woman is talking to me in an old craggy voice and then suddenly she has a posh accent?)