I’ve been playing Skyrim pretty heavily since it came out on Friday, and one of the first things I noticed (beyond the fact that dragons are apparently heavily attracted to whatever perfume my Breton is wearing) is the incredible use of voice acting. Just walking through the city of Makarth to buy some potions I stumbled across four different conversations, which being a good little girl, I obviously had to eavesdrop on.
They were fantastic.
Not just the dialogue I mean, the voices. They were superb and I really did think at that minute, “Wow, I’m one badass mage”.
Voice acting plays a major role in keeping the plot integral to the player. Games are about more than graphics, it’s about giving the game world a living personality. So with that, for my first actual post I pondered at how I could write about anything else?
Well how about a list of my favourite voice actors? Eh? A treat for you all, I’m sure!
5. Stephen Merchant
His portrayal of Wheatley, the endearingly malfunctional robot in Portal 2, is perhaps one of the greatest voice overs in the history of gaming. His fast talking Bristolian accent plucked you right from your living room and straight into the bleak laboratories of Aperture Science.
Equally comforting yet menacing, it was definitely worth the stress he was allegedly put under to perform the role! Talks are already in motion for a Portal 3- so can we expect even more Wheatley? Well given the success of the second game (in part perhaps to his celebrity status over here in the UK!) I would definitely say so!
4.Mark Hamill
Yes, he is famous for being Luke Skywalker. A lesser known fact (probably not amongst Batman aficionados) is that he also voiced The Joker for the animated series that a lot of us enjoyed as kids (and also, big kids!) and furthermore voiced this menacing role in Batman: Arkham Asylum and its successor Arkham City.
To many Batman fans, he is the pinnacle of Jokerdom. So it is sad news to many that with the ending of Arkham City, came the end of his Joker career:
“Hello/Goodbye Joker! I’ve enjoyed every minute behind the wheel of the [Clown] Prince’s crazy car – I’m going to miss him more than I can say!!”
He will always be one of my top voiceover actors, as well as my top Jedi swordsman (or should that be lightsaberman?). RIP Joker, you will be very much missed!
3. Gideon Emery
With a soft rich voice that just makes me melt, his portrayal of Fenris, the pouty moody elf from Dragon Age 2, puts Mr. Emery in my third favourite spot of voice acting. My Lady Hawke romanced a bit of pouty elf, in part because he had a rich and oddly affluent sounding voice. Although with the only other alternative being the newly maddened Anders, it was sadly not solely on that basis.
But it isn’t just Fenris that he has voice acted, far from it! His CV includes heavyweight titles such as Uncharted 3, Skyrim and Guild Wars 2- so perhaps this is why I was so taken aback by Skyrim’s superb voice acting? [insert obligatory cheeky wink face here]
2. Jennifer Hale
It was her work as Commander Shephard that first bought my attention to this fantastic woman. A firm, authoritative (yet undoubtedly humorous) tone let people know that this was on soldier who wasn’t going to be messed around. And too damn right, I had after all saved the universe from extinction on 2 separate occasions!
Like others on this list, Ms. Hale is not new in these ‘ere parts, in fact she’s a veteran! Just by glancing on her Wikipedia page there are at least 7 different games to choose within the first 5 sentences to describe her, that let us the gamer, know she’s sticking around for good.
1. Grey DeLisle
She is a woman that many have not heard of, but a woman that many have heard. Ms. DeLisle has voiced over an overabundance of characters in games including (but not limited to); Mass Effect 2, Arkham City, Tomb Raider Underworld and Baldur’s Gate.
My favourite “piece” of hers, if you will, was that of Jacqueline Natla from Tomb Raider: Underworld. This Atlantean creature has a superb dark side, and Ms. DeLisle lends to this perfectly. She brings a certain mystique to Natla that was missing in her first incarnation in Tomb Raider 1, lending a sort of femme fatale mysteriousness that suckers Lara and the player into almost believing what her actions may be then- WHAM. Brilliant!
The main reason however that she must top off my list, is the fact that she has been featured in over 80 games. That is an incredible achievement, certainly not to be sniffed at!
So that’s my top five voice actors. Do you agree/disagree? Let me know!
-BG
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boudoirgamer 