Lunchtime Discussion: Voice

In the last day and a half, I’ve played a lot of SmackDown vs Raw 2010. I mean a lot, I’ve completed one of the paths through the career mode, and I’m half way through the second. My 360 is probably terrified at the amount of gaming that’s happening on it, it’s used to me firing up the Halo: Reach beta for an hour till I get frustrated that people don’t realise that defending objectives might be a good idea.

Any way SmackDown vs Raw is actually very good. I haven’t played the series for a while, probably since about 2007, but the new game is far above and beyond the progress I’d expected. The dull career mode has been replaced with the revamped Road to Wrestlemania mode with a number of unique stories, that have been specially crafted with matches, backstage segments and even actual dialogue.

Now whilst it is kinda cool to hear wrestlers saying the lines, rather than on screen text appearing, the voice work is terrible. I mean actually awful, no one ever sounds excited about anything ever, not even the commentators. Given that these guys come out week after week and perform pretty well in front of thousands of live fans, I was actually surprised at how poorly they perform when you put them in a voice over booth.

So whilst I’ve been let down by SmackDown vs Raw, what games impress me? Well of course the Uncharted series is right up at the top, closely followed by anything else with Nolan North in it. I’m not actually sure how Nolan North manages to find the time to appear in every game released, but his work rarely fails to impress. Whilst I may not be a fan of Uncharted as a game, something I’ve talked about before, it looks to be the best performance Mr. North has given to date.

Unfortunately for Uncharted there is one other game that just edges out the series, Metal Gear Solid. Oddly the latest iteration of the title is another one whose gameplay failed to impress me, but again the voice work shines. David Hayter’s performance as Solid Snake has stood out throughout the series as a whole, although it does have it’s failings with Colonel Campbell, whose pleadings over any death are almost laughably bad.

To be honest maybe I’m asking a little too much from SmackDown vs Raw compared to the other titles, I mean it’s a sports game and voice work probably isn’t that high up their list. The input from the commentators may suck, but given the variety of situations their work has to be used in it must be more difficult to get it all to work. Then again FIFA seems to do a better job of it. Anyway what titles stick out for you in terms of voice work? Is there anything else that’s laughably bad, or something great that I’ve missed out? Get typing.