As perfect as we think some of our favourite games are, some of them (particularly the older ones) are host to some pretty bad voice acting... ranging from kind of crappy to so unbelievably terrible that you wonder how anyone on the team that made them thought it sounded okay. Bad voice acting ruins a game just as much as a bad actor can ruin a movie. I have compiled a list of games, that despite being fantastic (well, with the exception of a few) contain bad voice acting.
Illbleed (Sega Dreamcast)
You're going to notice a lot of Sega games propping up on this list, so prepare yourself. I mean no disrespect either, I love the games they released during their heyday, but no matter how good they are, you can't escape the fact that their games featured some pretty lousy voice acting. I'm pretty sure that Sega just had a load of bad voice actors locked away somewhere. Anyhow, this game is definitely an interesting survival horror title that makes tonnes of references to horror movies and B movies and stuff, so I guess bad acting is excused. It's still funny though, check out 3:59 on the video below, 'I'D USE THE MONEY FOR A CHAINSAW!!'
Illbleed (Sega Dreamcast)
You're going to notice a lot of Sega games propping up on this list, so prepare yourself. I mean no disrespect either, I love the games they released during their heyday, but no matter how good they are, you can't escape the fact that their games featured some pretty lousy voice acting. I'm pretty sure that Sega just had a load of bad voice actors locked away somewhere. Anyhow, this game is definitely an interesting survival horror title that makes tonnes of references to horror movies and B movies and stuff, so I guess bad acting is excused. It's still funny though, check out 3:59 on the video below, 'I'D USE THE MONEY FOR A CHAINSAW!!'
Shenmue (Sega Dreamcast)
Now anyone who has read my recent article on Shenmue knows I absolutely love this game, and despite being an incredible bit of video gaming art, you can't deny how wooden the voice acting is. But for some reason, that just makes me love the game even more. Whether it be searching for a black car or for sailors, there are plenty of grins to be had at the voice acting of Shenmue.
Resident Evil (Various)
What's the best way to immerse a player into a chilling horror atmosphere? Make the characters have such terrible voices that you can't help but cringe. The original dub of Resident Evil is notorious on the internet for such corkers as 'you were almost a Jill Sandwich' and 'the master of unlocking'.
Zelda: Wand Of Gamelon and Link: The Faces Of Evil (Philips CD-i)
You
know I'm having fun with this list if I include this (who said I didn't
enjoy writing?). The voice acting in these games
is so bad and so incredibly cheesy that as a consequence, it has become some of the
funniest and most quotable stuff in the history of gaming. Some classic lines include 'I wonder what's for dinner?' and 'great! I'll grab my stuff!'
Bad American voice actor forcing a really bad Sean Connery impression anyone? I didn't think so. But this is a damn good light gun shooter, very much in the vein of Virtua Cop in gameplay. If you are a big fan of the James Bond movies like myself then this is the closest you'll come to really feeling like Bond when it comes to light gun games.
The Ring: Terror's Realm (Sega Dreamcast)
This game is dreadful, and so is its voice acting. 'You okay lady?'
Sonic Adventure (Various)
Now I'm not one of those gaming hipsters who rages at the fact that Sonic now has a voice. I really think Sega did a good job of giving Sonic personality. The only voice acting that lets the side down however is the douche who voiced Tails. Like, what the hell? He sounds like he is mentally unstable.
Deep Fear (Sega Saturn)
I feel guilty for putting this on the list, just because it might tempt some of you to play it. There's a problem though, it is a bloody expensive game to get hold of nowadays. I hear that the bad voice work in this game (like seriously, it's as scary as the monsters) is something that gives the game its appeal, making it feel a little bit like a B movie, similar to Illbleed.
The House Of The Dead 2 / The Typing Of The Dead (Various)
This game is notorious for being one of the best on-rails light gun shooters ever. It is also notorious for its absolutely appalling voice acting that is so awful that it borders on outright hilarity. When I was a kid I didn't really notice the bad voice acting, and I'm not sure how I didn't, because I swear that even kids could probably spot how awful these voices are, so why the hell didn't
the guys at Sega? Who paid these lifeless idiots to do the voice acting for
this game? Did they just find some random dudes in the street and ask them to voice act? The people who voiced this game surely couldn't have even passed any form of audition. But it's not all bad, as the voice acting provides many laughs due to how crap it is and the game itself is the bee's knees.
Persona 3 (Sony PlayStation 2)
Before a bunch of rabid Persona fans start lining up outside of my house wielding pitchforks and torches, I need to get this out there, I'm not a Persona hater, in fact, I'm far from it. Persona 3 (the FES re-release in particular) is fantastic, and is probably one of my all-time favourite games, along with Persona 4 (which had an amazing voice cast). But I'm not going to lie, a few of the voice actors in this game are pretty terrible. Fuuka in particular has a terrible voice actress, she sounds too old for the role, she is too wooden, and I know Fuuka is supposed to be reserved, but holy shit, she could at least put a bit more effort into sounding like she actually cares about what is going on! Even Aigis' voice has more emotion than Fuuka, and she's a bloody robot! Also, the voices of Chidori and Shuji are just laughable. However, Aigis, Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko and Mitsuru all sound great, and let's not forget Elizabeth, who has to have one of the most gorgeous sounding voices I have ever heard in a video game (no, for reals) and as a reward for putting you through all the torment of listening to such terrible voice acting in the videos above, I will now put a video of her below.
