Poll: Which Commander Shepard has the better voice acting?

[DarkTenka]

Once you go femshep you never go back.

Hale or the Highway for me.

 

[regalphantom]

I think that both are good, although I favor Meer over Hale. Meer definitely does a better job with the Renegade, while Hale does better with most of the Paragon. However, I personally find that Meer sounds more inspiring during the big speeches, both Renegade and Paragon, than Hale. Both are good though, the voice acting is definitely a lot better than for most games (the only game I've played relatively recently that I can definitively claim had better voice-work was Portal 2).

 

[RatRace123]

I like them both. And I think both actors have their strong suits. Hale does better with the paragon dialogue while Meer does better with the renegade dialogue.

Male Shep also gives the better deadpan snark, and I think we can all agree that this line would not sound the same without the deadpan delivery.


I've also heard it said, that the two Shepards have different emotional inflections when speaking. Femshep is more emotional and displays more passion when she speaks while Broshep acts more reserved and stoic regardless of what stance he's taking.

Both work in my opinion.

 

[cmerc]

Male Shep is abysmal. I can't imagine playing as anything other than FemShep.

 

[GartarkMusik]

I didn't care for Meer much in ME1, but he improved considerably in ME2, and Hale was pretty good across the board. There's definitely room for improvement in both of them, but I'm gonna say Hale just for consistency. Mark Meer has come a long way however, and I hope he gets even better in ME3.

 

[Terminally Chill]

FemShep for me, but since I play Renegade a big section of this is from the corniness. It's all part of the experience.

 

[Bebus]

I prefer female.

That said, I have nothing against the male voice. It gives the game a slightly different feel and allows the player to give Shepard a little more of their own personality, at least in their mind. Plus, he improved dramatically between 1 and 2. Who knows what will happen in 3?

 

[Casual Shinji]

For me the real problem was that I could never create a ManShep whose face didn't look totally crap.

Creating a good looking FemShep was easy-peasy, but a ManShep was a shear impossibility. Hence, it was always Jennifer Hale's voice.

 

[mrhappy1489]

From where I stand, Mark Meer performs much better as Shepard. That might be bias considering I mostly play as him, but to me, he personifies the role of the stoic defender of humanity. He shows limited emotion and he doesn't exactly express himself the way we have been condition, but when he enters a room and delivers his line(preferably in renegade), you know he means business and that he's the only one to get it done. He definitely improves come the second game, exuding a smidgen more emotional weight(at least when he's comforting people, it appears like a real person, unlike in the first where it appears that he only knows of this emotion thing from watching bad romantic/drama movies). All in all, what he brings to the table is simply, for lack of a better word, the ultimate badass who no man would question in the trenches.

 

[Puddleknock]

Where's my fence, time to sit.

By that I mean I'm pretty ok with both. I've played both games as both male and female sheps and I've never had a preference between either voice. Indeed I am quite surprised how much the difference between the voices comes up as a topic of discussion.

Interesting that a few people said that Meer was better for Renegade and Hale for Paragon, as I actually played the ME games the other way around and still found the voice acting to be decent.

 

[Zhukov]

For me the real problem was that I could never create a ManShep whose face didn't look totally crap.

Creating a good looking FemShep was easy-peasy, but a ManShep was a shear impossibility. Hence, it was always Jennifer Hale's voice.

Heh, yeah, I had a similar problem. I first went with female Shepard after like six failed attempts at making a decent male face.

That said, my female Shepard still looks kinda derpy.

 

[Patrick Buck]

I liked Maleshep. I agree that femshep sounds better in most situations, but I don't like the voice. At all. She puts in emotion, but it REALLY makes me angry. Don't know why. I stick to maleshep. I can't rememeber the actor's names, and I can't be bothered to scroll to the top.

 

[Casual Shinji]

For me the real problem was that I could never create a ManShep whose face didn't look totally crap.

Creating a good looking FemShep was easy-peasy, but a ManShep was a shear impossibility. Hence, it was always Jennifer Hale's voice.

Heh, yeah, I had a similar problem. I first went with female Shepard after like six failed attempts at making a decent male face.

That said, my female Shepard still looks kinda derpy.

The one problem I have with ManShep is always the eyes; No matter which you choose, they look completely devoid of interest or intelligence.

With FemShep you could at least add eye shadow which would instantly add some depth and life to the character.

I do finally have a quality ManShep now. He might suffer a bit from sleepy eyes, but that's just part of his character.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Always so much hate for Mark Meer. I think I just think he is perfect because he voices his Shepard exactly how I envision mine doing it, totally disinterested and sarcastic!
I also am not a big fan of Jennifer Hale in anything she does.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

Jennifer Hale is by far the better voice, in my books. Every time I tried to get through ME1, I'd get bored and quit...it was only after I switched to FemShep that it started to get involving.

Mark Meer fits the default Shepard perfectly. But that's about it; the voice seems out of place on anything else, in my experience, while Hale's voice had to suit different builds.

To me, it ends up with ManShep being the badass, generic space-war-hero with generic space-war-hero acting. FemShep comes across as being more layered.

 

[loc978]

FemShep.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not one to bag on Mark Meer's performance... it's perfectly acceptable most of the time and has some moments of greatness. Jennifer Hale just does a great job capturing the essence of the Action Girl trope in every line.

My Shepard would scare the shit out of me if she were real (but she's also got the Earth street kid - ruthless commander background and goes about 60/40 paragon/renegade).

 

[Autumnflame]

jennifer hale. mainly due to the emotion she brings to the front.

mark need to work on emoting a little.

for example you know and feel Femsheps emotions as shes talking( at least i do).

while male shep seems a little flat to me

 

[KB13]

Jennifer Hale defiantly i'm currently trying to play through as maleshep so I can romance Tali but he's so bland and un-punctuating, when going after Garrus, Femshep actually sounds like she sighs when EDI tells her about the routes, maleshep just says it. He's just as bad when you take the prompt to hug Tali, ugh no emotion what-so-ever.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Jennifer Hale is pretty much the voice actress of the video game world.

Meer doesn't really emote that much, but I still think he fits the part.

 

[Dr. Paine]

The one problem I have with ManShep is always the eyes; No matter which you choose, they look completely devoid of interest or intelligence.

With FemShep you could at least add eye shadow which would instantly add some depth and life to the character.

I do finally have a quality ManShep now. He might suffer a bit from sleepy eyes, but that's just part of his character.

Who has time to sleep when there's a galaxy to save stores to endorse?!