Writers in the Recording Studio - Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing - page 100

Here are some recent (and fairly recent) games that were praised by critics and
players alike for doing it right. Play them if you haven't already. Listen to the voices.

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Half-Life 2 (Valve, 2004)

• Kingdom Hearts (Square, 2002)

• God of War (Sony, 2005)

•

F. E . A . R . (Monolith, 2006)

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No One Lives Forever (Monolith, 2000)

•

Splinter Cell (Ubisoft, 2003)

• Knights of the Old Republic (BioWare, 2003)

• Indigo Prophecy (Quantic Dream, 2005)

• Psychonauts (Double Fine, 2005)

•

Company of Heroes (Relic, 2006)

•

Dawn of War (Relic, 2004)

•

Max Payne (Remedy, 2001)

• The Grand Theft Auto series (Rockstar North)

• Gun (Neversoft, 2005)

• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (Funcom, 2006)

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Bioshock (2K, 2007)

These are all games with inspired voice acting. I'm sure I neglected to mention many
other fine games with great voice acting, but at least this list will begin to point you
in the right direction. It's hard to know how to judge your work without a standard
to measure it against.

11.3 Casting
George Lucas said, “The most important part of directing is casting.� Academy
Award-winning director John Frankenheimer said, “Casting is sixty-five percent of
directing.�
Pick the right voice actor and you're most of the way home. But where do you
find the best voice actors? Hopefully, the producer will hire a qualified casting di-