Poll: Which Commander Shepard has the better voice acting?

[Exocet]

Jennifer Hale is the best paragon, Mark Meer is the best renegade. His deadpan delivery makes some of the renegade comments infinitely more badass.

Pretty much this, Jennifer Hale puts tone and nuance where needed, Mark Meer puts sharp, cold, or even downright evil where needed.
Plus, he looks the part when he has glowing laser eyes in ME2.
Yes,I know they do not actually fire lasers, but I like to think they can, and Shepard isn't using them, because it would be just too damn easy.

 

[Jandau]

Female was better, but I never understood all the hate directed at Male Shepard. It was a decent piece of work. Not as good as Jennifer Hale, but solid nonetheless...

 

[Imre Csete]

Mark Meer because Jennifer Hale graced us with such amazing performances before, that her FemShep voice is overshadowed by them for me.

She sounds like a bored killing machine, compared to Bastila/Fall-From-Grace it hurts my ears.

 

[Kelethor]

Meer. it was always Meer.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I went with the female Shepherd, Jennifer Hale; Mark Meer's male sounds cheesy and overtly heroic, like a cross between John Wayne and Futurama's Zapp Brannigan (sp?)

 

[j0frenzy]

I don't think Meer is all that bad, Hale just does a better job most of the time. There are times when she comes off a bit flat or Meer is better at selling a line (generally renegade, but I haven't seen a whole lot of paragon broShep). I should also point out I haven't touched broShep in ME2, so that may change my opinion if I ever get around to it. I will say that I prefer femShep for other reasons, namely that the character model for broShep is really unflattering and silly if you are wearing light armor.

 

[Dr. Paine]

I went with the female Shepherd, Jennifer Hale; Mark Meer's male sounds cheesy and overtly heroic, like a cross between John Wayne and Futurama's Zapp Brannigan (sp?)

... I would so play as ManShep if they actually had Billy West doing the Zapp Brannigan voice, it would be the funniest damn thing ever.

 

[IckleMissMayhem]

FemShep's voice irritates the hell out of me. DudeShep all the way!!

Have to say, the times I get irritated by ME, it's usually the dialogue, not the voice acting.

 

[Scorekeeper]

Hale by far. Meer's abysmal voice acting was the biggest reason I chose to play as FemShep in ME1.

 

[draconiansundae]

I prefer Femshep, myself. But I like Manshep when I'm a playing a renegade character. I've also heard rumors that his voice acting has improved quite a bit in ME3.

 

[MPerce]

While I prefer Hale, the best line reading of all time will always belong to Meer's "big stupid jellyfish" line.
That was beyond brilliant.

 

[TakeyB0y2]

To be honest, I think one of the reasons people are so divided on who's voice is better is because everyone's Shepards probably look much different from one another. Mark Meer's voice goes very well with my canon paragon Shepard, and I credit that to my Shepard unintentionally looking like Jon Cryer, and as such I almost expect said Shepard to come off as slightly meek but still badass, and Meer fits completely. I can actually say the same about my non-canon female renegade Shepard (she doesn't look like Jon Cryer though, thank god). I think it's more-or-less just the way I designed and play my Shepards that makes their voices fit.

It's funny really, I tried playing through with a second male paragon Shepard, only this time I intentionally made that Shepard to look middle-eastern; voice did NOT fit AT ALL, and I abandoned that Shepard on the first Citadel visit because I just couldn't take it. This Shepard and my original Shepard were saying the same lines, but the new one's appearance and voice clashed immensely.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

I prefer Meer's Shepard.

His monotone deliverance has an irresistible charm for some odd reason.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

Male Shephard never bothered me since he sounded more like a career soldier.

FemShep doesn't fit the military aspect - plus she always sounded disturbingly angry no matter what.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Femshep fanatics/haters, I'm looking at you.

I think this actually speaks for itself. Jennifer Hale is polarizing because she gives FemShep a personality. Mark Meer is just kinda meh.

This.

I'm a big fan of Jennifer Hale and her work in Mass Effect.

And I'll leave it at that. ^^ Wouldn't want to stir things up.

 

[Windcaler]

Maybe its just me but I can not stand male shep's voice actor. Theres just something about him that grates on me, I dont even know why. So I have always and probably will always play fem shep.

 

[Compatriot Block]

I like ManShep. I've never felt like he's emotionless, but then again I haven't been trying to critique the voice acting. He makes my Renegade choices sound dangerous, and I approve.

And I think someone should link the definition for the word "abysmal." I see it being tossed around here in the same place you'd usually find "not really my cup of tea."

 

[Zayle79]

Meer delivers nearly every line in an annoyingly neutral tone, which makes certain renegade options sound cool in a deadpan sort of way but makes most of his lines sound irritatingly flat and devoid of personality. Jennifer Hale makes Shepard feel completely different--she makes Shepard an actual character rather than a lifeless husk.

I've heard that they wanted him to sound neutral because he's a blank slate and if lines were delivered with more personality they would add aspects to his character that the player didn't want their Shepard to have, but I don't buy that. Shepard isn't a blank slate--the whole point of having a voiced protagonist is to sacrifice the freedom of having a blank slate to have a character with a more defined personality. If the dialogue is delivered in a totally neutral, lifeless tone, you sacrifice both--he's still not a blank slate, and he doesn't have a personality either.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

Hale sounds like she's trying too hard, Meer sounds more realistic. He is more of how I speak in day to day interactions but delivers the big speeches with a steel spined passion that stands my hair on end. Hale reminds me of a decent but not well practiced Shakespearean actress trying to cram more and more feeling into every line, she should relax a little and speak naturally.

 

[Eddie the head]

I would say the voice acting is better for female but the game just works better if you are a male if you ask me. Things just "fit" better I don't know.