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Re: Worst voice acting?

Posted: February 12th, 2018, 12:14 am
by Matchstick
VideoGameCritic wrote:
Nobody's mentioned House of the Dead 2 yet? So many bad lines, you wonder if it was intentional.

Demon: "Suffer like G did?"

Agent: "I hope that's not G's blood"

Victim, to monsters: "Don't come! Don't come!"


"WE'RE meeting... GEE... over THERE." First lines in the game, delivered with a very Shatner-esque inflection.

Geez, how I saved up for a Dreamcast, along with two light guns, so that me and my buddies could play HOTD2 when it came out on 9/9/99. Having only played the first game in the arcade up to that point, I thought that the second game would be better in every regard. Um... let's just say that it didn't make the best first impression :-\

Agreed with some of the other posts, I think the original Resident Evil is the obvious choice for worst voice acting in a video game. I'd put House of the Dead 2 in second place, and for third, I'd go with the original Sonic Adventure.

It's amazing how impressive voice synthesis was in older games, especially when you weren't expecting it. Thirty years ago, my reaction would always be something along the lines of, "Holy smokes, the game's TALKING TO ME!" Nowadays, not only do we expect our games to talk to us, but when they do, we tend to be critical of it. I know it's not the same, comparing something like Berzerk to Skyrim, but it is a sign of just how far things have come.

On a side note, if I ever have the option to turn voice acting off and just read text instead, I do it nearly every time. Hard to be critical of the "voices in my head!"

Re: Worst voice acting?

Posted: February 12th, 2018, 12:43 pm
by theenglishman
Here's some great examples from some more obscure games:

  • Deep Fear (Saturn) aka Resident Evil on a submarine
  • Deep Freeze (PS1) a tactical shooter with tank controls, a complete crazy story which is impossible to do justice, and national stereotypes abound (the Italian squadmate is named Sicily, and the Israeli squadmate is Bagel. BAGEL!!!)
  • Hard Edge (aka TRAG: Mission of Mercy, PS1)
  • Last Alert (which the Critic already reviewed, TG16)
  • Unearthed: The Trail of ibn-Battuta (PlayStation 3, PC, iOS and Android). This game was developed in Saudi Arabia, and this is the English dub, but apparently its native Arabic voice acting is just as awful according to (translated) reviews Middle Eastern video game review sites I've read.