Best voice-over work in a video game, All-Time.

[Captain Pirate]

Gary Oldman as Victor Reznov.
In fact, everyone from Black Ops.
Damn I love that campaign.

Also, all the main characters from Red Dead Redemption.
Favorites (Excluding John Marston, he's a given) of mine are Nigel West Dickens, Dutch, Javier Escuella, and... what's-his-name... Ah, Vincente De Santa.

Fallout 3's Three Dog, too.
That guy's radio kept me through the dark times, and this Mr New Vegas fella can go fuck himself for even attempting to live up to the legend.

 

[Sneeze]

As people have already mentioned Seth Green in Mass Effect 1/2 but also I rather enjoyed Martin Sheens performance in 2 as the Illusive Man.

 

[Wintermoot]

anything made by Game Kings (a company that now has a dutch game magazine called "Power Unlimited") they made a few voiceovers one example being a MGS 2 one where the MGS 2 gets anoyed by constant phone calls and being poked fun at for being blonde

 

[shadyh8er]

Linda Hunt as The Narrator/Gaia in the first two God of War games. The only explanation I could think of for why they replaced her in 3 was for all the screaming she would've had to do.

A tie for close-second would be Gary Oldman as Rocky and Christopher Walken as George, both from True Crime: Streets of LA.

 

[Woodsey]

All of the acting in Uncharted 2 (and would you look at that, Americans put in an English voice actor who didn't sound like Dick Van fucking Dyke in Mary Poppins), Vito and Joe in Mafia 2, Sam and Tommy in Mafia, the Prince and Farah in The Sands of Time, Thane in Mass Effect 2, Dutch in RDR (I disagree with a lot of the points people say are good about that game's writing and it's characterisations, but that guy is good), Monkey and Trip in Enslaved - it's subliminal in some places.

They all get my vote. Michael Ironside as Sam Fisher too; watch the "Johnny Cash trailer" for Conviction, his voice just completely embodies the character.

 

[70R4N]

Kreia KotOR 2 TSL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VvS5MLnG0Y

 

[Bravo315]

Craig Fairbrass is really the only voice actor upon hearing thinking "holy shit what an iconic and well acted voice". As said before, all the MW2 voice acting was top notch.

Nolan North also took voice acting to a new level in both Uncharted games.

 

[Jeffster92]

He's kind of underrated, but the voice of Vigil in ME 1

 

[Reed Spacer]

Also, I think Final Fantasy XII deserves an honorable mention. Pretty much any scene with a judge was just about enough to stop hearts.

I liked Ghis more: <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8Ft167ahA0>"As for you, my dear, the Empire requires you no more!"

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

David Hayter as all incarnations of Snake.

That's probably the first that comes to mind, just because it's so memorable.

But there's different types of characters for all types, and while some people prefer a unique characterisation (something like The Joker from Batman:AA), others prefer naturalism (Uncharted).

However the voice cast of FFXII really stands out to me. The accents are spot on, the localisation is pitch-perfect, and the dialogue feels like a period piece war drama, and the delivery matches the tone perfectly.

 

[Moeez]

Baldur (Crispin Freeman) in TOO HUMAN. His voice-acting and the writing made the character three-dimensional, and would be followed by other similar heroes with quests for redemption for loss of loved ones.

 

[spiffleh]

Dragon Age had great voice acting, as others have said.

I mean they had Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Tuvok (Tim Russ) in there. Actually neither of those get my awards for best voice acting though.

Zevran, Alistair and Morigan all stuck me as incredibly well voice acted. They were able to develop their respective character's personalities strictly through delivery. A+ to them all.

 

[BlastedTheWorm]

Spoiler: Anything that this woman has done.

 

[devildog1170]

David Hayter as Snake. I love what he brings to the character, and his voice sounds like gravel as the series progresses.

Also Andrew Ryan from Bioshock.

Finally any piece of dialog from Enslaved

 

[ReservoirAngel]

Sovereign: "You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it" Or ANY other line works brilliantly
Harbinger was also amazing: "Human, you've changed nothing. Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater. That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction."

Judge Bergan from FFXII is amazing too: "Too late and to their sorrow do those who misplace their trust in gods learn their fate."

controversial one now:

Hope Estheim from Final Fantasy 13. Yes his character is a whiney ***** for most of the game, but while the CHARACTER can be slandered, the way the voice actor delivers it is pitch perfect for every line. Except the awkward shouts and screams that always tend to happen in English-dubbed Japanese stuff

there was another one I was going to put here, but I have totally forgotten it.

 

[spiffleh]

*snip*

Hope Estheim from Final Fantasy 13. Yes his character is a whiney ***** for most of the game, but while the CHARACTER can be slandered, the way the voice actor delivers it is pitch perfect for every line. Except the awkward shouts and screams that always tend to happen in English-dubbed Japanese stuff

I totally agree. Personally, I thought all the voice acting was pretty believable in the game. Hope, Lightning and Snow struck me as the most natural. Sahz and Vanille had to work with their respective character types (token black guy and 'spunky' chick) so they were worse. Villains/Psuedo Villains were well done as well, in my opinion anyways.

But you're right. Why can't English voice actors scream believably?

 

[TheSolemnHypnotic]

Uncharted 2 (Every sounds how they look and vice versa.)
Heavenly Sword (Oh, yeah!)
Devil May Cry 4 (Johnny Yong Bosch fan(Reuben Langdon is awesome too!))

 

[LarenzoAOG]

Just Cause 2.

That chick who played Bolo Santosi.


Best voicework ever.

For real?

Whoever the fuck played Niko in GTA4.

It might have something to do with how she empasizes the last syllable of every word,

"I am BoLO SantoSI, the leadER of the reapERS."

 

[ReservoirAngel]

*snip*

Hope Estheim from Final Fantasy 13. Yes his character is a whiney ***** for most of the game, but while the CHARACTER can be slandered, the way the voice actor delivers it is pitch perfect for every line. Except the awkward shouts and screams that always tend to happen in English-dubbed Japanese stuff

I totally agree. Personally, I thought all the voice acting was pretty believable in the game. Hope, Lightning and Snow struck me as the most natural. Sahz and Vanille had to work with their respective character types (token black guy and 'spunky' chick) so they were worse. Villains/Psuedo Villains were well done as well, in my opinion anyways.

But you're right. Why can't English voice actors scream believably?

I dunno, I think it's something lost in translation. Listening to Japanese stuff IN Japanese all the little vocal exclamations they do seem normal somehow, but when you make English voice actors do it something just gets lost and it always sounds awkward.

Hope's awkward little scream is the one thing that put a damper on the scene where he finally confronted Snow. That scene was amazing, but the scream sounded so forced.

 

[clockout]

Teh booze caused me to miss read this topic. Kindly disregard.