Voice Acting in Video Games

[Locko96]

As we all certainly know, voice acting can make or break a game. We all have seen examples of great voice acting. Unfortunately though, we all have seen terrible voice actin. So Escapees, what do you favorite examples of voice acting and which ones did you think were shit?

I would also like to bring up another subject: the voice acting in Red Dead Redemption. I played through that game. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I thought the gameplay was great. The setting was beautifully realized. The writing was phenomenal. But for me, the voice acting was... an interesting case. There were some very well acted characters in my opinion. I enjoyed the Marshall, West Dickens, Nastas (he sounds like the indian dude in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") and Dutch. The rest of the cast was from "meh" to good. However, I thought that John Marston's voice acting was fucking terrible. It got significantly better in the last 2 hours of the game. But the other 15 or so hours... I wanted to like him but every time he walked by a prostitute and he'd say "I'm a married man." in his ridiculous, stereotypical Western voice. I remember one scene where he's in a bank in a tense, hostage situation with Dutch. Dutch is taunting John by insulting him about his wife. And then, as soon as John opens his mouth, I lose any sense of immersion. I've seen reviews throwing out the magic, positive Gamespot words about the voice acting.

Now I am just ranting so I'll stop before I go over the edge...or go farther over. Give me your thoughts.

 

[Ashcrexl]

stereotypical western accent? i dunno. i think john marston has a pretty unique accent despite sounding very western. and he's from the west, so there's that.

anyways, i absolutely loved the voice acting in the original metal gear solid. maybe its because the faces had absolutely no expression, so i paid attention to the actors more, but it just seemed to be absolutely brilliant.

worst voice acting that is actually painful (as opposed to hilarious e.g. resident evil) would be bubsy 3d. i havent actually played this game, but check this out.

 

[Zhukov]

When I hear the phrase, "Bad voice acting in video games", the first thing that pops into my head is Just Cause 2. Closely followed by, "leeedehr of da reeepehrs."

As for good voice acting, eh, the usual suspects. Mass Effect 1&2, Bioshock 1, Half Life 2, Portal etc etc.

 

[Phlakes]

When I hear the phrase, "Bad voice acting in video games", the first thing that pops into my head is Just Cause 2. Closely followed by, "leeedehr of da reeepehrs."

As for good voice acting, eh, the usual suspects. Mass Effect 1&2, Bioshock 1, Half Life 2, Portal etc etc.

Mayee nayeem ees Bowlow Sahntowseeee...

Yeah. I played the demo about 30 times, and therefore heard that about 30 too many times.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

stereotypical western accent? i dunno. i think john marston has a pretty unique accent despite sounding very western. and he's from the west, so there's that.

For a stereotypical one, try Jonah. He's the voice of everyone pretending to be Western.

I vote in Two Worlds. There's something hilariously grating about speaking Ye Olde English in bland Midwestern accents.

As for good voice acting, eh, the usual suspects. Mass Effect 1&2

Female Shepherd and the big namers definitely. I find Male Shep to be about as interesting as Kevin Costner mixed with an older Keanu Reeves.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Yeh I thought the Matshall and Dutch had the best voices in RDR. John's voice was alright, it sounded average, which is good because it makes him more human. However, jack Marston had the worst voice in RDR.

Personally I think Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction had great voice acting for all the main characters and leaders. They all fit their roles and were all diverse, plus it's always good to hear Peter Stormare and Carl Weathers voice. Also I thought Warhammer 40000: Fire Warrior had great voice acting too for the characters.

 

[Lerxst]

Man, I remember when voice acting consisted of "Remember, don't shoot food."

As much as I love it though, my award would have to go to Castlevania: SOTN for the bad voice acting category.

I was tempted to put Oblivion but that's more in the direction of bad voice production than acting. The 3 actors they had were OK at least.

 

[Istanbul]

How has no one in this thread mentioned the abyssmal voice acting in Resident Evil 1?

Fixed.

 

[Death-of-Penguins]

Good? Well, since it's sitting in front of me, Dragon Age had some good voice acting. Tim Curry anyone? Oh, and there was some half decent stuff going on in Secret Files: Tunguska. Sometimes.

Bad? ...Well... The name's slipped my mind, but there was a game my friend played on the xbox, something about a magic arm and this overly stereotypical gay guy and... Yeah, I didn't like it.

 

[MrJKapowey]

Mayee nayeem ees Bowlow Sahntowseeee...

Yeah. I played the demo about 30 times, and therefore heard that about 30 too many times.

on the wiki it has this to say on Bolo Santosi's voice:

Spoiler

Bolo Santosi's voice actor is London-based British theatre actress Liz Sutherland, who is in her 30's. She states that western audiences are not familiar with South-East Asian accents and the producers wanted something different and new to western ear, also adding in that she had not meant for the accent to be Singaporean but an exaggerated version of it, which was meant to be exotic, unfamiliar and unreal. She had also considered her role to speak in an "unique" accent a pleasure.

The best voice acting has to be this:

Skip to 6:50 for the best in sh*t voice acting

Spoiler

 

[Sixcess]

How has no one in this thread mentioned the abyssmal voice acting in Resident Evil 1?

Because it goes so far beyond bad it becomes awesome. Just. Take. A. Look. At. THIS!

Resi wouldn't be Resi with good voice acting.

The best voice acting I can recall is from the Fear Effect series, especially the second game. Those were the first games I played where the characters really spoke like people instead of plot exposition robots.

 

[Lordmarkus]

Good voiceacting:
Mass Effect

Excellent voiceacting:
Half-Life 2

Fantastic voiceacting:
Company of Heroes

Tremendous voiceacting:
Grim Fandango

And we can't have a list without some horrible contestants.

Horrible voiceacting:
Call of Duty 2

Horrendous voiceacting:
Men of War

 

[Extragorey]

Just Cause 2.
It's a great game, but I agree with Yahtzee in that some of the voice actors are absolutely TERRIBLE.

 

[Ranorak]

I for one actually could get into Metroid Other M's voice acting.
As soon as I figured out that Samus is actually freaking insane and emotionally dead, her voice is kinda fitting.
She can shoot a evil rat from half way across the room right between the 3th and 4th rib, but don't ask her to start a normal conversation.

As for bad voice acting.... I hate to say it, but Oblivion. The same character switched accent mid way sentences.

Special mention goes to Tales of Symphonia for the gamecube. Good acting, but the compression needed to make the game fit on those 2 small cd's really busted up the quality.

 

[Timmehexas]

Already mentioned, but COME ON the writing in Resident Evil and the voice acting combined can almost cause brain hemorrhaging!

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

It's already been said, but Mass Effect 1 and 2 had great voice acting. It should be noted though my Shepard is female; the male voice just doesn't sound real to me. What's annoying me is I'm SURE there was a particular scene I thought was great voice-acting wise, but I can't remember it right now.

As for bad voice acting...I'm trying to play through Silent Hill 3 since I put in so much effort to get it, and hadn't had time to until now, but my God some of the voice acting is terrible. Particularly the character Douglas, who doesn't seem to deliver a single line of dialogue believably. The main character has decent voice acting though, although the animation lets it down.

Spotted the most recent cutscene I've seen in one shot, go me. Note: non-endgame spoilers.

<youtube=XK15Cc5hUGE>
It's actually not as bad without subtitles. I need to remember to turn them off ingame...