The Worst of the Worst

A couple weeks ago, we talked on the podcast about bad voice acting in video games, wondering what were the titles with the most notoriously bad dialogue and delivery.

Our forums lit up like a Christmas tree. And honestly, even some of us at GameHounds didn’t recognize the games. And we’re kind of people who slow down for car accidents and happily investigate when someone asks, “Hey, does this smell bad to you?”

So we looked up these games, and boy, did we find a veritable treasure trove of really appauling voice work. Someone actually got paid for this stuff?

After the jump, we’ve compiled videos of these monstrocities. Watch them… if you dare!!

Beware videos after the jump…

First on the list is Chaos Wars, notoriously voiced by the family of the game’s producer. Oh so bad.

Next we have the classic, Oblivion IV: Elder Scrolls. Despite it being a great game to play, you did so despite the god awful voices, which tended to switch from voice actor to voice actor mid-encounter. By the end of the night, you wanted to kill yourself.

Next, Two Worlds. Wow. Not only a very tedious game and practically a direct lift of Oblivion and a number of other games, it also kept the ghastly voice acting. Gah! (Voice acting starts at about 3.00 in, if you don’t want to sit through the boring gameplay).

Dynasty Warriors was a port from a Japanese game, so it’s understandable if it seems a little stilted. Even so, you’d think, since you didn’t have to pay for a new game, someone would have thought to pay up for some decent voices. Alas, no.

Megaman 8 for the Dreamcast was also a Japanese port, and while the retro Japanimation graphics harken back to a simpler time, the voicing for the characters is so mindbendlingly bad it’s hard to comprehend how anyone let this onto the console.

Finally, if you really want to go back in time, try Blue Stinger. Even the intro to this game looks slow and unappitizing. Worse yet, someone hired the voice actors from a school for the mentally challenged… or so it seems (voices start at about 2:11 in).

Do you have any suggestions for this list, ’cause we know there are more out there. Add your pick to our forum topic about bad voice acting in games.