Greatest Voicework in a Game, EVER!

[FalloutJack]

Legacy of kain, all of them /thread. TONY JAY IS YOUR GOD, FEAR HIM MORTALS.

He's gonna have to be, being dead and all.

But yes, some of the best voice-work I've heard in games is that of the work done in Legacy of Kain, the dark almost-Shakespearean talent of men who have probably done playwrite acting in the past. Cultured, decent acting voices.

 

[Anthony Corrigan]

Steven fry in little big planet is pretty cool too, again he makes the game

 

[piinyouri]

Far from the best ever, but I really enjoyed the guy who played Jade in Tales of the Abyss.

 

[Frozengale]

Truly a masterpiece of voice acting.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

My two favorites are:

Jennifer Hale as Commander Shepard (female)

Brian Bloom as Varric Tethras

 

[Guffe]

My top 3 voice overs in videogames
1. Mario in Super Mario Sunshine
2. Link in Twilight Princess
and
3. Samus in Metroid Prime: Corruption

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

Gotta go with the Legacy of Kain series. High melodrama done so well you never roll your eyes is, IMO, harder to pull off than comedy, camp, or sarcasm.

A lot of right answers in this thread, though. I'd argue against Nolan North because I think he sort of embodies the "aim for the middle", focus-grouped approach that shapes the majority of voice acting at this point.

 

[Winji]

Liam O'Brien. There is just something magical in his voice and it's a pleasure to find him in any game I play =)
And like others have mentioned the narrator from Bastion was also rather lovely =P

 

[PatrickXD]

The best voicework I've heard in game, not for any particular character but as a whole, is The Cat Lady.
Not to mention the fact that it has the most disturbing bit of voicework I've ever heard at a late stage of the game.

 

[exxxed]

Dear God how could I forget about the Homeworld series, both the soundtrack and voice work are amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os280aKKfIw

Honorable mentions:

Deus Ex

Bioshock

Borderlands 2

The Witcher 2

Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 and Outcast

 

[KingWein22]

Jon St. John: Yeah, he did Duke Nukem but to VA a horrible Sonic character and to have a Ventrilo Harrasment of his voice was great. Hell, he even did the intro to Twisted Metal 4.

Charles Martinet: The voice of Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi! A legend in his own right.

 

[Severian]

Very impressed with The Last of Us. I've honestly not seen/heard better voice acting in a video game in all my years of gaming(30 or so). It's quite impressive.

 

[Salsajoe]

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare

I'm amazed over and over again, by the impressive sounds in that game.
From footsteps to bloodspilling and bonecracking, and of course the screams.
They really let themselves go with the screams, especially the Agathan archer screams of out of the top of his lungs.

 

[TheDoctor455]

Legacy of kain, all of them /thread. TONY JAY IS YOUR GOD, FEAR HIM MORTALS.

The entire cast was great in those games.

Oh, remember Melciah in Soul Reaver 1?

He was voiced by the same guy that was voicing Raziel.

OT:

Pretty much any character Simon Templeman voices is awesome. The only reason the one he played in Uncharted sucks is because the writing for that series is terrible and cliche-ridden to begin with. Even the best can't do much to redeem complete dross.

 

[Anthony Corrigan]

Alright, I suppose I'll list my top three.

Spoiler: Number 1

The Illusive man. Not only do I like the sound of his voice, but the tone leaves you with both a subtle undertone of dread, as well as a certain kind of faith in him. Sort of like "I know he might be plotting against me... But I trust in his abilities" It basically gives him this image of a boss that not only is confident and intelligent, but one that you can almost trust (as well as one you wouldn't want to oppose) with your life. Hell, even while playing a paragon Shephard, despite knowing that the Illusive man was "evil", I just honestly couldn't be anything but polite to him. It was a very good performance, one I truly think is award-winning.

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Spoiler: Number 2

Stephen Heck because... Well... Just LISTEN to him, the actor Nolan North truly gets the whole "truly batshit crazy" thing down.

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Spoiler: Number 3

Cave Johnson, for... Well... Cave Johnson.

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Did you work out who the Illusive man was? That bugged me for hours before I realized it was Martin Sheen and at that point it really destroyed the character for me actually because I kept seeing him as the president. Sometimes its better to chose an unknown than a well known actor because that can interfere with the character

 

[Mandalore_15]

Probably not the most original choice but the voice acting in The Last of Us is bloody amazing.

 

[Weaver]

It's obviously Mark Hamill as the Joker.

 

[Iwata]

The Killzone games, in general. The voice cast is a who's who of the finest actors to ever live: Brian Cox, Malcolm McDowell, Sean Pertwee, Ronny Cox, Ray Winstone...

Nothing to me comes even remotely close.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

Legacy of Kain, all of them /thread.

I'm seconding this. Listening to Simon Templeman and Micheal Bell is like having a ceaseless orgasm.