During Gamescom, Konami released some new footage for the HD version of Silent Hill 2. Normally this would be awesome news. After all, Silent Hill 2 is easily one of the best Survival Horror games ever made. What could possibly go wrong, right?
Apparently, Konami didn’t feel like paying the original voice actors for their work and decided to recast all the characters instead. This could have actually been a good thing since the voice acting in Silent Hill 2 was pretty bad. It had a certain charm to it, though, and that’s why it actually worked.
To say that the new voices broke my heart would be an understatement. Watch the video for yourself and you’ll understand why.
There are so many things wrong with the new voices, I don’t even know where to begin. Let’s start with Eddie. His character in the original Silent Hill 2 sounded absolutely insane. There was always a feeling of disgust in every scene he was in. I don’t even know how to describe the new Eddie. Just listen to him. It sounds like he has a throat infection or something. This new performance doesn’t even come close to evoking the same emotions as before. It still makes you cringe, but for all the wrong reasons.
The voice of Mary/Maria in the original Silent Hill 2 was actually really good. It was certainly the most believable of the bunch. The new Maria has too deep of a voice and is trying way too hard to be seductive. James doesn’t actually sound that bad, surprisingly enough. It’s not like he says much, though, so it’s kind of difficult to tell.
Konami somehow found a way to ruin Silent Hill 2. How is that even possible? Check out the voice actor comparison video to get a better idea of just how bad it truly is.
Source: YouTube
Samiro05
At first I thought you meant the lip syncing which you have to give an old game some slack just because it is old but then realised what you meant n as I have never played these games I’m not really fussed but I see where you’re coming from as the character voices are quite different and it’d annoy me if my fave old gen games were given this treatment. (Reminds me of how annoying it can be to hear Dragonball Z characters with different voices in the films to the TV series)
CrawFail
To me it’s like taking Terminator 2 and replacing all the voices. The delivery, articulation and emotion you felt for the scenes are lost..
CrawFail
As much as I would live people to play these games, PLEASE support me and absolute loyal fans by waiting for it to hit the used market, or until it gets to £20. I refuse to acknowledge that the developers or publishers should be rewarded for their ‘hard’ work in this instence.
Please, boycott this title for the sake of fans.
CrawFail
Love*
Sorry :(
It’s lovely to see that I’m far from alone in my lament for this. The comments on the YouTube videos alone need to make someone sit up and take notice*
*pay the original actors
moshi
It’s like a god awful afternoon itv4 made for tv version.
Kite
OMG! What did they do to it!
This adition to this game is as welcome as a grenade launcher with inf ammon for a weapon instead of the pype.
hazelam
i quite like the new maria, if it sounds like she’s trying to be seductive, i’d say that’s because that’s what the scene calls for.
it seems to me like maria’s trying to be seductive.
i don’t have a strong opinion either way about james.
but the voice for eddie seems really wrong.
i always thought eddie was a man child type character, with very childish motivations.
and that voice really does not suit that kind of character.
and if these hd remakes are from the same team that are making the new silent hill, a top down twin stick shooter, i think if the voices are the only thing they changed we should count ourselves lucky.
why doesn’t the collection include silent hill 4 anyway?
i know it’s not the most highly regarded entry in the series, but it seems strange to leave it out.
Lymmusic
4 was originally to be a new IP for team silent, but from what i heard konami got cold feet on the project and forced them to shoehorn silent hill back in… maybe they didn’t want it on there as its like the deformed member of the family they only let out at night
Foxhound_Solid
Konami..dont ever do this to mgs/dmc hd rereleases. Granted I own all originals but still. Dont fuck them over as well. Real shame for the hardcore fans of the hill…..
Jim H [Teabags]
I can under people’s frustration but for me personally it won’t be too much of a barrier (if I ever get around to playing this.)
Lymmusic
This outrage article has been lifted wholesale from another site, a site i read and thought, wow there’s a website trying to get hits by using baiting headlines… Wouldn’t have expected it to turn up on tsa…
New voices are better, well recordeed, and lip sync better. Its a minor point that will not ruin your game experience.
I really expected better of tsa
http://www.gamefront.com/congratulations-konami-on-finally-pissing-all-over-silent-hill/
Delriach
This isn’t even an “outrage article”, let alone one that has been lifted from somewhere else. That’s not to say that I don’t agree with Jim Sterling, because I do (even if I haven’t read that piece on gamefront). I didn’t even know he did stuff for that site.
I ranted about the voice overs on Wednesday night when I got home which is before either article had ever been written and several hours before Sterling even talked about it online (you can just check our twitter feed). I’ve just been too busy to write about it and I thought someone on the site already covered the news. I’m still playing catchup myself since I’ve been away for a few days.
This is far from a baiting headline. I could have easily just said “Konami F’d Silent Hill 2 Up”. Now that would be baiting. Regardless, just because two people and the dozens upon dozens of complaints you see on forums have a similar opinion that doesn’t mean that it’s been “lifted wholesale” from somewhere else. That doesn’t make sense. If multiple sites are posting the same outrage then maybe those people who write for them have a point. Have you ever considered that?
Now that I got that out of the way. How exactly is this a “minor” point? They are changing something that was fundamental to the original game. It’s not like they just gave James a haircut or something. No, they essentially changed the way the game is going to sound. That is a big deal. This is Silent Hill 2 in an HD Collection. I’m expecting Silent Hill 2 in HD. Not Silent Hill 2 HD Remix. It’s not the same product. It’s not the game that it says it is. It can easily ruin the experience if the voice overs are worse. How can it not?
Lymmusic
If theyre released phantom menace and re voiced jar jar binks with a much better actor you’d get the same response from the internet. Some would think it ruined their memories, others would think, boy this film is shit and that jar jar is a bellend…
I agree tinkering with things shoukd be kept to a minimum, but the voice acting was awful first time round, and someone at konami obviously agreed. They haven’t made it worse, but they haven’t made it better judging by the videos, but besr in mind the comparison vid is raw voice data on the new stuff, but the game mixdown for the old voices, so any post effects, dynamics or background noise are not present so the new voices will not seem to fit right as they are essentially being hewrd out of context. Of course if they stay like they are in ghe vids and dont get micpxed properly then that could affect the game, but it wont ruin it enough for most normal folk…
nemesisND1derboy
“Not Silent Hill 2 HD Remix.”
Yeah, they are Konami, not Cap-Konami!
*Shakes fist*
Kovacs
1) Can they even use the old voice work? I’m assuming there are some audio mumbo-jumbo about not being able to reuse it in a 5.1 mix or whatever.
2) The original voice acting was bad. The new voice acting I bad. At least they’re consistent.
3) That said, Del has a right to express his opinion on a site he writes for that supports its authors’ varied opinions. To say he “lifted” it from elsewhere is disgusting and I thought better of a TSA reader to make such an outlandish, spurious and insulting remark.
Kovacs
Apologies for typos. iPhone. Grrr …
Delriach
I don’t think they can re-use the voice overs for two reasons. According to the dude that did the VO for James, Konami still owes him money and refuse to acknowledge it lol. And I’m pretty sure you’re right about the technical mumbo jumbo. I just don’t get why they went from bad to “wow this is even worse somehow”. I mean, Eddie doesn’t even remotely sound like how he did in the original. >_<
bunimomike
I can sit and respect both Lym’s and Del’s opinions but easy on the attack on TSA. No real reason to dive into that one as it’s not really justified here. Still, voice acting is going to please some and piss off others.
Lymmusic
Ok, saying lifted wholesale was a tad harsh, but the articles looked and read identically… I was more annoyed that an opinion piece of such one sided negativity was published when tsa is normally the pinnacle of balanced articles… Particularly based on a small comparison video of an as yet unfinished product… Each to their own i guess
Kovacs
I see your point. Personally, I think Del could have written an opinion/blog piece about the topic. If he’s “guilty” of any “wrong-doing” here it’s reporting news and proffering his very negative reaction at the same time.
That said, it does say “Game news and opinion” at the top. That doesn’t neccessarily mean separately.
:)
Accusing TSA of plagiarism is really not cool. Considering how TSA has been the victim of this nefarious practice in the past, it definitely struck a nerve.
Lymmusic
del if you’re reading, i humbly apologise for such an accusation. i entirely jumped to a conclusion and this was wrong.
furthermore i applaud you for speaking your mind and applaud tsa for allowing its staff, contributors and its community the freedom of press and expression it offers.
The Lone Steven
Are the voice actors making an effort to act? Doesn’t sound like it. It’s not original RE1 bad but it comes pretty close. I may just mute the game during cutscenes. I suppose it could be worse. At least they didn’t hire one voice actor to cover every character.
Tuffcub
Different actors = different acting. New versions sound fine to me.
skibadee
me as well day one buy still for me.