Games with good game play but worse voice acting

Does anybody know of a game that has good to one of the best gameplay experience but unfortunately suffers from terrible voice acting and even dialog/script? I could consider Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (the english version) as being one of them....

do you happen to count any of the modern Mario games? There's hardly much voice acting, but it's too often ("Yipee!") and too annoying...

It's sad too, the background music happens to be good, but you have to suffer through Mario's relentless hi-pitch expressions to hear it.

Again, not so much "acting" but the constant "flipendo" of the first Harry Potter game was about as annoying as it gets.

There was some questionable voice acting in the Gabriel Knight series but nothing too awful.

The voice acting in Oblivion is generally quite good but, because so many of the incidental characters use the same voices, you start to associate that rather strange way that some of them say things like "hello" and "how are you" as bad simply because often they are said in a situation where their intonation is inappropriate - but that's game design rather than the acting itself.

red alert 2
there's a good fun game beneath those sugar coated american saturday morning cartoon cliche armies.

The french versions of the Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance serie on PS2.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Truly dreadful voice acting.


I also thought listening to Half Life 2 in Italian was pretty funny too.

Far Cry, nuff said.

Star Control 2 had some pretty silly voice acting in it, though I loved the Spathi. It was thrown in there at the last minute, though, made for a later version of the game. Still, it gives all the races character.

Morrowind has some rather mediocre voice acting, but the 10,000 characters in the game are all voiced by the same 6-7 people it seems, all using the same voice sets, so it gets rather repetitive. Some of the lines are kind of memorable, though: "we're watching you....scum!" I hear Oblivion has the same problem.

AVP2 has some pretty terrible voice acting.

There are plenty of types of games known for their horrible voice acting. Try PS1/N64-era games, cinematic puzzle games, any game that's been translated from Japanese...

The DDR announcer from 6th Mix and on gets on my nerves. Not exactly voice acting, but it's a pretty shoddy voice in a game.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the original Resident Evil game yet. "Maybe you, the master of unlocking..."

Bucket said:

There are plenty of types of games known for their horrible voice acting. Try PS1/N64-era games, cinematic puzzle games, any game that's been translated from Japanese...

A good example from the PS1 is Star Ocean 2. That game is filled with terrible voice-acting during battles.

Audio Atrocities has some clips of the voice acting.

Crusader No Regret had pretty weak voice acting compared to the first game. The story was quite a let down too compared to No Remorse. Even though I found myself missing the new movement options and other stuff added in the sequel while playing No Remorse, I still think the original game is vastly superior. A story-based shooter will always be better than a shooter with some story thrown in.

House of the Dead 2

DIE MONSTER, YOU DON'T BELONG IN THIS WORLD

I have no games to mention, but I saw Star Wars: Clone Wars in a theater yesterday. The writing and voice acting were pretty awful.

Well obviously the Resident Evil series has always had horrible dialogue. I'm playing through Splinter Cell Chaos Theory now, and while the actual voice actors aren't terrible there's far too many cultural references and bad jokes, it kind of takes you out of the game. Trying to get into playing a spy creeping out of the dark and slicing someones throat becomes harder when you see a giant UBISOFT blimp. Soldier of Fortune 2 comes to mind as well, it's one of my all time favorite FPS games but the dialogue is so hackneyed and cliched it can make me cringe. Then I remember John Mullins is as old as my grandfather and he could kill me in a second, and I retract my statement.

Creaphis said:

I have no games to mention, but I saw Star Wars: Clone Wars in a theater yesterday. The writing and voice acting were pretty awful.

I thought Skywalker's young Padawan had a particularly horrible voice. It was just so typically that of a "cheeky-kid-in-a-cartoon". Blergh

It is this woman who does it, not a kid at all. http://www.ashleydrane.com/

Sonic Adventure has some of the most appalling writing and voice acting I've ever seen...at least in English. It is a good game but watching the cutscenes can be a painful experience.

Silent Hill, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil Survivor... Almost any fifth gen console game in general.

Enjay said:

I thought Skywalker's young Padawan had a particularly horrible voice. It was just so typically that of a "cheeky-kid-in-a-cartoon". Blergh

BUT THEN THEY LEARN TO TRUST EACH OTHER AFTERALL

*shudder*

Unreal Tournament 2003/4

Creaphis said:

BUT THEN THEY LEARN TO TRUST EACH OTHER AFTERALL

*shudder*

Indeed. If the young Padawan story had been omitted (or made better) and Jabba's kid hadn't just been a horrible cutesy thing, then maybe, just maybe the cartoon would have been OK. Nothing outstanding, but a reasonable, if disposable, story. Some of the artwork was quite interesting stylistically.

leileilol said:

Unreal Tournament 2003/4

Agreed. But the cheese from the original UT is perfect. Dreadful lines, badly delivered just work in that game somehow.

"I'm sorry, did I blow your head apart?"
"I'm on fire."
"My house."

Classic.

Creaphis said:

I have no games to mention, but I saw Star Wars: Clone Wars in a theater yesterday. The writing and voice acting were pretty awful.

So, it sounds like Star Wars Episodes I, II, and III. I'm still not going to watch it.

MikeRS said:

It's sad too, the background music happens to be good, but you have to suffer through Mario's relentless hi-pitch expressions to hear it.

Whup, whoop, wa-ha-hey!

Enjay said:

"My house."

My favorit.

StupidBunny said:

Sonic Adventure has some of the most appalling writing and voice acting I've ever seen...at least in English. It is a good game but watching the cutscenes can be a painful experience.

Do yourself a favour and NEVER play Sonic Heroes.

TheDarkArchon said:

Do yourself a favour and NEVER play Sonic Heroes.

Whooooh my head is spinning!

Shift-RA!

Maken X on Dreamcast, and Zombie Revenge on Dreamcast, both take the cake for horrific voice acting.

StupidBunny said:

Sonic Adventure has some of the most appalling writing and voice acting I've ever seen...at least in English. It is a good game but watching the cutscenes can be a painful experience.

Yeah run that bitch in Japanese and it's much better.