Worst Use of Celebrity Voices
Games have been using celebrity voice-overs for years now, to generate mainstream interest. In some cases, good writing, appropriate casting, and great execution by the celebrity result in voice work that enhances the overall package. It's just too bad that these cases are the exception instead of the norm. Too many times, something goes wrong in the production. Sometimes the writing is terrible, and other times the actor is miscast or doesn't have a recognizable enough voice. From time to time, even seasoned film or television actors don't understand the nuances of voice-over work, and foul it up themselves.
This category recognizes the dubious achievement of terrible celebrity voice acting in games. The reasons for each failure run the gamut noted above, and the cast of this year's finalists even includes an Oscar-winning actress, proving once again that no single factor guarantees a successful celebrity video game voice-over. Here are the finalists for Worst Use of Celebrity Voices:
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Cary Elwes in a tongue-in-cheek, fantasy-themed game? It almost sounds too perfect. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work in this game, because, for whatever reason, he didn't utilize his Westley/Dread Pirate Roberts shtick from The Princess Bride. It's a shame, because it would have fit perfectly.
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She might have the hardware to prove it, but Halle Berry certainly didn't acquit herself as an Academy Award-winning actress in Catwoman. Her sparse lines of dialogue in the game are completely overacted, turning what should have been a sultry performance into a campy one.
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What are David Arquette, Carmen Electra, and Steve-O doing in the year's best football game? Dragging it down, that's what.
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Brooke Burke offers a stilted performance in EA's multiplatform racer. Part of it is the writers' fault, but try as she might, she just can't pull off the urban slang. Instead, she sounds about as stupid as Seth Green's wannabe gangsta character in Can't Hardly Wait, only a lot less funny.
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It seemed like a great idea to get the voices of every wrestler in the game, but the execution left something to be desired. Many of the lines are both poorly delivered and sloppily recorded and mixed, so the value of having them at all is dubious at best.
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And the Winner is...
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