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This topic has moved here: Subject: Let's Review Something
  • Subject: Let's Review Something
Subject: Let's Review Something

Hanger one I just shredded with the SMGs until ammo was out and I just threw 'nades like a boss while BRing.

My experience playing Cairo Station on Legendary

Okay, one thing that bothers me to the core is that voice acting in the Halo series hit it's peak in Halo 2. There honestly wasn't a single line of dialog that felt forced, and every character had a very distinct voice.

I will review characters, and some overall thoughts.

Lord Hood

To kick off this thread, I thought i would discuss the voice acting of the main "In game" military commander. I would say Keyes, but he was only in CE, and Lord Hood was in two games.

Okay, back on topic. From the first line you hear spew out of Hood's mouth, you know he sounds like a bad ass. Ron Perlman does an excellent job of verbalizing a battle-worn officer. he sounds old, beat down, but tough as nails. I had no complaints at this point.

Let's move to his Halo 3 counterpart. Aside from even LOOKING quite different, Hood speaks... different. His voice is no longer old and tired, he sounds younger and trying to force emotion. If you don't believe me, listen to the speech he gave about Earth during the cut scene at the end of The Flood.

Johnson

This man, is actually the only voice I can say got even better with each line. Halo 2, sure he was a one-line shouting S.O.B, but he kicked ass! Now, in Halo 3, his opening cut scene is very realistic and I can see no flaws.

The Arbiter

When we first met this bizarre elite, he had such a deep, hatred filled voice that suited the Covenant assassin. The emotion felt was outstanding and his dialog lines weren't over done. There was a right blend of talking. Something went wrong in Halo 3.

When this character transitioned, something was lost. I know what it was, it was the anger in his voice. After being played like an instrument, and betrayed by the Covenant, you would expect Arby' to be a little more pissed off than the average Marine, but it doesn't seem that way, does it? He seems to light voiced and reasoning. I did expect to have a kill-everything-givenomercy-elite. I shouldn't complain, the Chief is the main good guy and that's all that matters.

The Prophet of Truth

Forgive me for saying this, but THIS voice change was possibly the worst decision ever made. Halo 2's antagonist has a menacing voice of pure evil and you knew he wasn't screwing around. What happened?

With the new voice acting done, there is nothing scary about him at all. In fact, if you playing the Prophet's voice alone, I might not identify that he's even evil. My main issue here is that case of "Dubbed over voice", that is to say, the voice doesn't feel natural or right in any way.

Background Characters

When we travel back to the days of Halo number two, we notice a distinct variety of voice actors. Michelle Rodriquez, Laura Prepon, and others. These cameos, though funny to hear, were awesome! Marines finally sounded like frightened or pissed off marines. The cheesy dialog only added to the experience.

When we moved on to Halo 3, we lost the cameos, and some of the background voiced died a little, but it wasn't that far off a drop off. "Tank beats everything". This went a little over board, and maybe there's a little something missing from it, but it's still satisfying.

Time for the abomination. Halo Reach voice acting. This is my main pet peeve here. I start up the game fore the first time, and this is the line I hear "We're being attacked by the Covenant." Would it have killed the actor to use ANY emphasis on? It's almost depressing. Next line that's ridiculous "Spartan... ASSIST" Okay, sure you're under attack, and sure you're probably scared, but jesus, yelling would have come across as much more serious. You know, only an entire planet is being glassed.

The only line I found suiting was in the mission New Alexandria where the female marine yelled "I said get back, you nasty son of a -blam!-!" Emotion, finally, I can feel as though things are serious.

Conclusion

So, as the games have continued, the quality of the voice acting has declined. It saddens me to see this (Well, hear) but there's nothing I, myself, can do. Perhaps there were time constraints, and time was limited, but I can only speak for myself when I say this; I would rather wait five year, and have perfected everything, then wait three and have a game that doesn't live up to it's predecessor.

Have any comments? Leave them below! Thanks to those of you who sat down and read all of this.

[Edited on 01.26.2011 10:47 AM PST]

  • 01.26.2011 10:45 AM PDT

Supreme Dictator, Industrial Polluter, Megalomaniac, Corrupt Politician, Underhanded Reprobate, Rainforest Ravager, Puppy Kicker, Oil Spill Coordinator, Holiday Hater, and an Insurance Salesman.

I was definitely disappointed with the replacement for the Prophet of Truth's voice actor. In fairness, I don't think that was entirely Bungie's fault, as I've heard it was about the original voice actor wanting too much money to return (of course I don't know if that's actually true or not).

The only other major problem I had was the replacement for Miranda. Replacing Julie Benz for who now? Yeah that was a great idea Bungie... The story at the time was that they wanted someone with more of an accent, but I sure don't notice much of an accent on the new voice of Miranda.

  • 01.26.2011 1:25 PM PDT