Historically Bad Voice Acting in Games

We've all played a game or two in our lives that has made us either cringe or bust out laughing (or both) upon reaching a cutscene.  I don't know about you, but when I'm watching a cutscene, I like to feel at least some immersion in the game world.   Even if it's a comical world such as in the Sonic Adventure games, the voice actors should at least give us the impression that they are trying to do their jobs.  But alas, in too many cases we have received some of the most cringe-worthy voice acting in gaming history.




Now that is some uninspiring voice acting!  And since we are on the topic of awkward, monotone-ish voiceovers, you know that I'm going to bring up Capcom.  The Resident Evil games are notorious for providing bland, uninspired, and as a result hilarious voice acting (Jill sandwich anyone?).



Were the actors even trying? How could Capcom let this pass inspection knowing that laughing at cutscenes in a survival horror is a sure way to break the mood?  To their credit, recent Resident Evil games have improved their voiceovers, although it appears that the character of Albert Wesker will always remain over the top, as he should be!

Now, to finish off this small roundup of bad voice acting, we have to go somewhere that is absolutely painful to even think of.  Games whose mere mention makes Nintendo fans scream in rage and anguish before clutching their copies of A Link to the Past for comfort.  The games I speak of are....The CD-i Zelda Games!

Judging by this pose and hairstyle, I don't even want to know what he has to say.

Besides the fact that the gameplay in these CD-i versions of Zelda has no redeeming features, the cutscenes are jaw-dropping bad.  I can't even express the horror of these cutscenes.  The most obvious blasphemy to Nintendo fans (besides the fact that these games were made) is that the developers gave the famously silent Link a speaking role, and to add insult to injury, Link and all the other characters were voiced by amateur actors who obviously had no freaking idea what they were doing!



Seeing as we've hit rock bottom with the CD-i Zelda cutscenes, this is as good a time as any to wrap up this segment of Historically Bad Voice Acting in Games.

If you know of more cringe-worthy cutscenes that you would like featured in this blog, feel free to drop an email to: strangegaming86@yahoo.com