David Hayter in MGS, I know the dialogue in those games is non-sensical and cringe worthy, but Hayter's voice acting manages to convince me that it's him up there on the screen and not some mute arrangement of polygons, something no other videogame character and their voice actor has been able to do.
Greatest Voicework in a Game, EVER!
- Thread starter cojo965
- Start date
Nathan Drake are Elena Fischer are fantastically voice acted, but my vote has to go to Troy Baker. Not only is he excellent in Bioshock Infinite, but he did a great job as Vincent in Catherine as well. I look forward to his upcoming work in InFamous: Second Son as well.
I could never pick one, there has been some amazing voice acting for games over many years.
From Baldur's Gate's Sarevok & Minsc, Fallout's Master & Marcus and Team Fortress II's entire cast to more recent titles like Far Cry III's Vaas & Sam, Mass Effect's EDI, Garrus & Joker, or Bioshock Infinite's Lutece siblings and beyond to the upcoming Wildstar's "meet the factions" voices.
Voice acting in video games has been recognized as a major selling point and companies are investing heavily into it. I couldn't possibly call something "the greatest" because so many have shone at different roles... from villains, to heroes, to narrators, to comic relief.
From Baldur's Gate's Sarevok & Minsc, Fallout's Master & Marcus and Team Fortress II's entire cast to more recent titles like Far Cry III's Vaas & Sam, Mass Effect's EDI, Garrus & Joker, or Bioshock Infinite's Lutece siblings and beyond to the upcoming Wildstar's "meet the factions" voices.
Voice acting in video games has been recognized as a major selling point and companies are investing heavily into it. I couldn't possibly call something "the greatest" because so many have shone at different roles... from villains, to heroes, to narrators, to comic relief.
I'm kinda surprised no one has mentioned this... Michael Mando, Vaas Montenegro in Far Cry 3.
Crazy isn't as easy to pull off as you think it is, and that guy did bone-chillingly crazy. He deserves a medal.
Also Nolan North, 'cause, ya'know, everything.
Crazy isn't as easy to pull off as you think it is, and that guy did bone-chillingly crazy. He deserves a medal.
Also Nolan North, 'cause, ya'know, everything.
I'd say that Deus Ex: HR has some of the best voice acting. It can be surprising how much emotion gravel can emit.
No one Lives Forever, both of them, had pretty good voice acting too. More comedic and over the top, but it is still pretty funny and well done.
No one Lives Forever, both of them, had pretty good voice acting too. More comedic and over the top, but it is still pretty funny and well done.
Mark Hamill as the Joker (Asylum and City as well as the animated series). In fact, Arkham Asylum and Arkham City set the bar imo.
Just to name a few:
Sora from Kingdom Hearts II, Haley Joel Osmet has a great voice for slightly older Sora, I would also highlight Kingdom Hearts in general for getting many of the real voices from Disney movies.
Halo's voice work is pretty great, my favorite being Keith David as the Arbiter in Halo 2 and 3.
Mark Hamill for his work in the Batman games and original animated series is excellent, shame he isn't returning for Origins.
Sora from Kingdom Hearts II, Haley Joel Osmet has a great voice for slightly older Sora, I would also highlight Kingdom Hearts in general for getting many of the real voices from Disney movies.
Halo's voice work is pretty great, my favorite being Keith David as the Arbiter in Halo 2 and 3.
Mark Hamill for his work in the Batman games and original animated series is excellent, shame he isn't returning for Origins.
Oh gods, there is way too much great voice acting to name in one discussion. I'm really excited these days that video games and cartoons are finally going out of their way to make sure the voice talent and direction is or some quality. Bad voice acting can ruin even a great script. Imagine if Kain and Raziel had been at the average level of '90s VA work. That brilliant game would have been painful to play.
SO, I will just name some of the people and performances that blew me away.
Soul Reaver, as mentioned above. Every main character in the 2 games is amazing, and they introduced me to Simon Templeman, one of the best voice actors in the business. Damn, does that man have a voice made for dramatic delivery.
Andrew Ryan was one of the first game performances that really showed me how far voice acting has come. Armin Shimerman is a shockingly talented actor. I didn't even have a clue it was him until I finished BioShock; I had to know who had played that brilliant character Andrew Ryan, and when I saw his name next to Ryan's I was stunned. I never even recognized Quark's voice, and I'm a HUGE DS9 fan. There are moments from his work in that game that I will never forget.
Dameon Clarke is someone I'd never heard of before last year, and you might not have either, he's mostly a small character actor with an eclectic variety of roles, but his work as Handsome Jack in Borderlands 2 is revelatory. He's hilarious, he's chilling, and when he gets serious it's just as convincing as his humor. All the way through his smug, smarmy character is just dead on. It's one of the best performances for one of the best written villians I can think of in a long time.
And, I could never leave this thread without talking about Mass Effect. Nearly every character across 3 games is voiced brilliantly. It's just astounding how consistently high the quality is across the board in this series. Some people complain about Shepard's VAs, especially Mark Meer, but I think they were fantastic as well, and improved with each game. My very favorite performances include:
Seth Green as Joker; his Seth Green-ness is sometimes annoying, but here he was spot on and always amusing.
Keith David as Anderson; this guy's voice is just amazing no matter what he's saying, and I love Anderson's character.
Martin Sheen as the Illusive Man; Martin Sheen is a legend of cinema, but I'm not familiar with anything he's done really. He must be one talented guy to be able to build that kind of career for decades, and then as an old man go into a recording booth and deliver the kind of performance he does for TIM. His delivery is dead on for every. single. line.
Brandon Keener as Garrus; I think the reason he's the most well-liked character from this game is 50/50 between the writing and the VA work.
Ash Sroka as Tali; I've never even heard her in anything else, but I think she gives one of the best performances I've ever heard. Her effective emotional range is apparently limitless. When she cried about her father in the second game, I was honestly choked up myself, and that never happens to me.
Fred Tatasciore as Saren; This guy's an underrated actor, his performance here gave Saren so much depth and feeling that it was hard to hate the guy. When you're playing someone who's trying to destroy an entire galactic civilization and you can make him sound reasonable and sympathetic, you're doing it right.
Courtenay Taylor as Jack; the voice is one of the reasons I like Jack so much. Again, the emotional range here is staggering, I don't know how she pulls off so many shades and tones for one character and makes it believable.
Michael Beattie as Mordin; man, this character would never have worked without the right voice actor, or, as it turns out, actors, but both of them nailed a very difficult performance. The first Mordin is the best Mordin, though.
No other game has ever pulled off the range of character and emotion so well, and the VAs are as much to thank for it as the writers, probably more.
On another note, Troy Baker is in everything these days. Or, maybe not everything, but he's getting some huge, high-profile roles lately. I wonder why that is. He's pretty good at his work, but something about his voice sounds whiny to me. I actually think he's more suited to supporting roles than playing the main character all the time.
SO, I will just name some of the people and performances that blew me away.
Soul Reaver, as mentioned above. Every main character in the 2 games is amazing, and they introduced me to Simon Templeman, one of the best voice actors in the business. Damn, does that man have a voice made for dramatic delivery.
Andrew Ryan was one of the first game performances that really showed me how far voice acting has come. Armin Shimerman is a shockingly talented actor. I didn't even have a clue it was him until I finished BioShock; I had to know who had played that brilliant character Andrew Ryan, and when I saw his name next to Ryan's I was stunned. I never even recognized Quark's voice, and I'm a HUGE DS9 fan. There are moments from his work in that game that I will never forget.
Dameon Clarke is someone I'd never heard of before last year, and you might not have either, he's mostly a small character actor with an eclectic variety of roles, but his work as Handsome Jack in Borderlands 2 is revelatory. He's hilarious, he's chilling, and when he gets serious it's just as convincing as his humor. All the way through his smug, smarmy character is just dead on. It's one of the best performances for one of the best written villians I can think of in a long time.
And, I could never leave this thread without talking about Mass Effect. Nearly every character across 3 games is voiced brilliantly. It's just astounding how consistently high the quality is across the board in this series. Some people complain about Shepard's VAs, especially Mark Meer, but I think they were fantastic as well, and improved with each game. My very favorite performances include:
Seth Green as Joker; his Seth Green-ness is sometimes annoying, but here he was spot on and always amusing.
Keith David as Anderson; this guy's voice is just amazing no matter what he's saying, and I love Anderson's character.
Martin Sheen as the Illusive Man; Martin Sheen is a legend of cinema, but I'm not familiar with anything he's done really. He must be one talented guy to be able to build that kind of career for decades, and then as an old man go into a recording booth and deliver the kind of performance he does for TIM. His delivery is dead on for every. single. line.
Brandon Keener as Garrus; I think the reason he's the most well-liked character from this game is 50/50 between the writing and the VA work.
Ash Sroka as Tali; I've never even heard her in anything else, but I think she gives one of the best performances I've ever heard. Her effective emotional range is apparently limitless. When she cried about her father in the second game, I was honestly choked up myself, and that never happens to me.
Fred Tatasciore as Saren; This guy's an underrated actor, his performance here gave Saren so much depth and feeling that it was hard to hate the guy. When you're playing someone who's trying to destroy an entire galactic civilization and you can make him sound reasonable and sympathetic, you're doing it right.
Courtenay Taylor as Jack; the voice is one of the reasons I like Jack so much. Again, the emotional range here is staggering, I don't know how she pulls off so many shades and tones for one character and makes it believable.
Michael Beattie as Mordin; man, this character would never have worked without the right voice actor, or, as it turns out, actors, but both of them nailed a very difficult performance. The first Mordin is the best Mordin, though.
No other game has ever pulled off the range of character and emotion so well, and the VAs are as much to thank for it as the writers, probably more.
On another note, Troy Baker is in everything these days. Or, maybe not everything, but he's getting some huge, high-profile roles lately. I wonder why that is. He's pretty good at his work, but something about his voice sounds whiny to me. I actually think he's more suited to supporting roles than playing the main character all the time.
So happy that my two choices (Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines and Legacy of Kain series) got mentioned on the first page. Gotta add Alpha Protocol too, because it's also great and hasn't been mentioned yet and Obsidian are incredible.
But, gun to my head, if I had to pick the best of ALL TIME, I'd say VtMB.
But, gun to my head, if I had to pick the best of ALL TIME, I'd say VtMB.
Seconded on Kain vote.Doom972 said:
Especially after hearing him in DS3. I was like, "Wait, the cultists are being led by KAIN?! I'm Boned."
