Gotham Knights is just around the corner and fans can already look forward to some fantastic voice acting from the cast of the highly anticipated game, including Christopher Sean and America Young playing Nightwing and Batgirl respectively.
Voice acting can help cement great titles as the best games out there. With so many voice actors and great performances to experience, it can be difficult to decide which performances are the best of the best. But here are 10 of those great voice actor performances.
10 Christopher Judge – Kratos (God of War)
Kratos was originally voiced by Terrence C. Carson God of War games, but when the franchise continued years later and the character was placed in the world of Norse mythology, stargate Alum Christopher Judge handled the voice acting duties.
Judge sums up the deep harshness demanded by war-weary Kratos, haunted by all his past deeds. The character’s emotional range, ranging from protecting his son to full blown rage in battle against his enemies, demands the same range from his actor, and Judge delivers. Judge will be sure to continue that voice acting when he reprises the role in the upcoming film God of War: Ragnarok.
9 Rob WiethoffJohn Marston (Red Dead Redemption)
Red Dead Redemption transports players to the final days of the Wild West and features a fantastic performance by Rob Wiethoff as the game’s protagonist, former gang member John Marston.
Wiethoff maintains his great performance throughout the game while Marston tries to find his former gang members to see his family again. The trials he goes through are enough to break anyone, as Wiethoff’s acting shows. In the end, Wiethoff crowns this incredible feat as the game turns out to be yet another game where the protagonist dies at the end.
Solid metal gear was one of the earliest video games to have voice actors voice the characters. Despite this, the game still manages to do a great job, especially David Hayeter voicing the main character, Solid Snake.
Hayeter takes the lines given and fully pulls out the battle-hardened, emotionless soldier’s personality, while also showing the character’s funny, humorous side. He’s a soldier through and through, hiding his feelings as he goes through his missions, yet having his moments where he lets the tough facade slip through – all of which Hayeter portrays very well.
7 Peter Cullen – Optimus Prime (Transformers: Fall of Cybertron)
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is probably one of the biggest transformers games at all. And right at the forefront of his success is Peter Cullen, the iconic voice of Optimus Prime, who’s back again to bring the character back to life.
Cullen reprises his role as Optimus witnesses Cybertron’s final days as the Decepticons take almost complete control of the planet. Filled with heart, wisdom and memories of some of Optimus Prime’s most inspirational quotes, Cullen proves once again that he is the only one who can truly pull off a character as iconic and heroic as Optimus Prime.
6 Keith David – Admiral Anderson (Mass Effect)
Keith David has voiced many great characters across the gaming industry, including the Arbiter in gloriole. Another of his iconic roles was the strong-willed Admiral Anderson mass effect.
Although Anderson doesn’t have as many lines as other NPCs in the game, he still stands out as one of the best. David’s iconic voice helps him get through the character’s greatest moments and deliver inspirational speeches, helping Shepard complete the mission to stop the Reapers. His power and reach bring to life a character who was one of the few figures of higher authority in the franchise to have sided with Shepard throughout.
5 Steve Downes – Master Chief (Halo)
Sometimes even characters with few lines are the ones that people remember the most. No character demonstrates this more than John-117, aka Master Chief and voiced by Steve Downes.
Master Chief is a man of few words who only speaks during cutscenes, but when he does speak, Downes’ voice makes everyone listen. His choice of words may be short and sweet, but for a hardened super soldier like Master Chief, he’s perfect. Soldiers are meant to focus on the battle ahead rather than engage in idle chatter during battle. Downes’ performance as Master Chief is one of the main reasons the character is so loved and remembered.
4 Ashley Johnson – Ellie (The Last Of Us)
While many argue that The last of us is a game that shouldn’t be remade, there’s no denying Ashley Johnson’s stunning vocal performance as Ellie.
Ellie is a young girl who finds herself in danger when she could be the key to humanity’s survival as she is immune to the virus that is ravaging the land. Johnson perfectly portrays the girl who becomes increasingly determined and traumatized as the game progresses. What really sealed this role as one of Johnson’s best was her interaction with Troy Baker’s Joel. The bond these two share is very much reflected in the performances of their two voice actors.
3 Dameon Clarke – Handsome Jack (Borderlands 2)
Few exclusive video game villains have become more notorious than the Dameon Clarke-voiced villain known as Handsome Jack, the main antagonist in Borderlands 2. And that shame is largely due to Clarke’s performance.
Clarke brings the insanity icon of the Borderlands franchise and cranks it up well past eleven in his role, filled with vocal improvisations and hilarious one-liners. The comedy in Jack’s voice may make him seem like a comical villain, but it’s the dark moments in the game that brings Clarke to the fore that show just how much of a sadistic villain Jack really is.
2 Mark Hamill – Joker (Batman: Arkham Asylum)
When it comes to voicing iconic duos, there’s probably no more iconic couple than Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, who respectively voice Batman and the Joker – roles both would reprise Batman: Arkham Asylum and its later sequels.
But Hamill really goes above and beyond to show why Joker is Batman’s greatest villain. His performance is exactly what you would expect from the Clown Prince of Crime: sadistic, malicious, but full of black humor and wit. And after the character is voiced Batman: The Animated Series, There are very few people who can capture the complexity and darkness of The Joker’s voice like Mark Hamill.
1 Nolan North – Nathan Drake (Uncharted)
Nathan Drake is the action/adventure hero that many people envisioned and Nolan North does a perfect job of bringing the character to life.
North embeds his own personality into the character, making him quirky and funny, especially when put into absurd, almost impossible situations. He says what he’s thinking out loud, almost mirroring the players’ thoughts, especially in some of his most difficult and ridiculous moments. In fact, Nathan Drake almost feels like a real person with North portraying him perfectly.