Best Lead Performance of 2023 - Article
by Lee Mehr , posted on 18 January 2024 / 4,029 Views
As the average game script balloons in dialogue there's greater demand for marquee acting talent. And as illustrated by both good & poor examples from 2023, sympathizing with a protagonist's struggle greatly relies on both the writing and delivery. This is emphasized in two unique ways by this year's shortlist: the addition of a voice fundamentally altering Dead Space remake's story beats & the dual protagonist structure in Alan Wake II. A fumble in either of those respects would've resulted in lesser works; fortunately, they're among some of the year's most celebrated titles.
The Shortlist:
Gunner Wright as Isaac Clarke (Dead Space)
Ben Starr as Clive Rosfield (Final Fantasy XVI)
Nick Apostolides as Leon S. Kennedy (Resident Evil 4)
Matthew Porretta & Ilkka Villi as Alan Wake (Alan Wake II)
Melanie Liburd as Saga Anderson (Alan Wake II)
The Runner-Up:
Matthew Porretta & Ilkka Villi as Alan Wake (Alan Wake II)
One of gaming's most popular dual-actor combos, Ilkka Villi as the face & Matthew Porretta as the voice of Alan Wake, results in one of 2023's best performances. While teased in fun Easter eggs and cross-promoted into other properties, like Control: AWE, to see these two inhabit Wake in a full-blown sequel is a dream come true, made all the sweeter when Villi plays Wake's quasi-doppelganger, Thomas Zane. The thing that makes their respective roles even more daunting this time around is the sequel's heavier emphasis on in-game & live-action cinematics, oftentimes melding the two together. To successfully capture the ever-increasing insanity of this loony script across multiple formats, even showcasing some singing chops when the time calls for it, is the mark of both great direction and great talent.
The Winner:
Ben Starr as Clive Rosfield (Final Fantasy XVI)
Ben Starr's performance, on the other hand, makes the most of the traditional voice acting format. English dubs in JRPGs don't have a spotless reputation, but Square Enix's ear was more attuned for Final Fantasy XVI's cast. For Clive in particular, a large part of why his heavier scenes carry such emotional heft is actually due to a real-life tragedy. Opening up on a podcast, Starr discussed how his father's passing during production turned his role into a creative outlet for wrestling with his own grief. He even went so far as to say Clive saved his life. Tie that heartfelt testimony with Starr's natural talent and it's easy to see why he earns the top spot.
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Well deserved!
A bit suprised to not see Yuri Lowenthal on here but I guess maybe it's because he has had his time in the spotlight for that role before.
RE4 finally get's it's due
I'm glad Gunner Wright made the shortlist. Even though he's not as showy or intense as others listed, he perfectly inhabited that 'seasoned everyman' template.
His voice acting is terrible..playing it atm. He's sounds like a grumpy old man who has been chain smoking for years lol
i dont like these categories at all, getting praise for reading from a script. i do like the categories from people who make the real magic who are the people putting these games together.
This is such an odd take to me. Do you really think these people just walk in off the street and read lines from a script? Most voice actors take acting classes and/or spend countless hours at home honing their craft, then do dozens of auditions before they finally get their big break. Then they get called into a recording studio and have to do sometimes dozens of takes on a single line until it is just the way that the voice acting director wants it to sound. Some of the characters they voice have as many as thousands of lines, so they have to repeat that process of doing often multiple takes per line many times over. The process can take weeks per game, especially if the actor in question is voicing multiple characters in said game, which often happens with RPG's.
You may think that good voice acting is overrated in video games, but maybe you should go and listen to a compilation of bad video game voice acting including games like Mega Man 8 and Chaos Wars, maybe then you will see that voice acting is just as important a part of game design as level design, character art, programming, etc. Every department of game design is important imho, right down to the QA team who get paid less than the other departments but do a vital role of stomping out bugs.
I'd like to bring up Dynasty Warriors as an example of bad voice acting, sometimes even to a comical degree. In my opinion, particularly bad voice acting can have an even greater effect on a game than particularly good voice acting, because it really sticks out.
