zer0
03-26-2004, 03:53 AM
Anyone owning a Playstation 2 and who loves zombies and the horror genre in general (Nicole, you reading this?) should very seriously endeavor _NOT_ to buy the game "Forbidden Siren" for the aforementioned system. The reason is because of the atrocious voice acting. My fucking God! The game has, hands down, the SINGLE WORST VOICE ACTING that I'VE EVER HEARD! Seriously; what the fuck were they thinking?!
SONY EXEC: "So, is that new Japanese horror game ready from overseas for distribution in Europe yet?"
SONY JR. EXEC: "Sure is! We'll add subtitles to the beautiful, mood-creating Japanese language so that the player can still hear the characters talking in japanese and feel like they are watching a Japanese movie starring japanese actors, detaling things like classic Japanese horror, set in the country of Japan!"
SONY EXEC: "Yeah, sure, that sounds like a great-- NO! WAIT! I'VE GOT IT!!"
SONY JR. EXEC: "Sir?"
SONY EXEC: "LET'S REPLACE ALL THE VOICES WITH BRITISH-ENGLISH ACTORS THAT ALL SOUND LIKE THEY'RE STRAINING TO DUB SOME FUCKING DOCUMENTARY ON THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL!!"
SONY JR. EXEC: "Sir?!"
SONY EXEC: "MY GOD! I AM A FUCKING GENIOUS! In this way, none of the players will be able to even finish the game, since ALL of the mood will be gone everytime you hear someone say something!! And just for spite, let's give the part of a 16 year old kid to an aging 40-something British actor, who couldn't fucking act his way out of a wet paper bag!!" I AM A GENIOUS!!! A GENIOUS, I TELL YOU!!!
Sadly, the above dialouge is probably VERY close to what actually happened in real life. You read it correctly; SONY has, for some unknown reason, decided to remove all the Japanese voices and instead add British voice actors doing the parts in British English. It sounds absolutely horrendously horrible. Try imagining a little 10 year old girl being voiced by some tea-drinking rat-faced 30 year old British woman who's probably named "Pamela" and who doubles as a voice over on Discovery Channel! Close your eyes and try it, really really try! And if that's not worse, try imagining her making her voice really small and squeaky to try and sound like a ten year old girl!
Sadly, the horrors do not stop there. Try imagining casting another laid-off 40-something actor from the Discovery Channel as a 16-year old kid! I've been fortunate enough to hear what the game sounded like before it was dubbed, and it wasn't anything like this! Try visiting the game's web page on www.forbidden-siren.com and then listening to the original actors portraying their characters. Beautiful, isn't it? OK, now try imagining dubbing OVER these voices without even changing the damn lip sync first! AAARRRRGHHH!!!
I could go on and on why you should avoid this title like the fucking plague, but I won't. Suffice it to say that this is the worst (read: _WORST_) voice acting I've ever heard in my entire life! It's actually worse than the voice acting for Resident Evil, and that's saying something! Sadly, what makes me cry at night is that the game is otherwise _extremely_ good. This could have really made my day if they had just left the goddamn voices alone. But sadly, they just had to replace the Japanese with English, making me glad every time one of the characters in the game are offed by zombies. Need more proof? I leave you with this scene from the game to ponder:
Setting: An open Japansese country road. Thick fog swirls around, obscuring our view to all sides. We catch a glimpse of a stream running under a bridge. The water appears to have changed into... blood? No! This cannot be?! We gently creep forward, making every step as silent as possible. Suddenly, footsteps! Where do they come from? We scan around, quietly. Look! Over there! Up the raod! Something is moving our way! Oh my god, it's... it's not human! It's giving of really strange noices and gibbering in incomprehensible Japanese! We must run! Quick, let's duck under that Shinto gate over there! Man, this setting is so authentic, it's like you're actually in the Japanese countryside, controlling actual Japanese characters and--
THE CHARACTER YOU ARE CONTROLLING: Cor blimey guv'nor, real pea-souper t'nite ain't it guv? Fancy a tea?
I rest my case.
SONY EXEC: "So, is that new Japanese horror game ready from overseas for distribution in Europe yet?"
SONY JR. EXEC: "Sure is! We'll add subtitles to the beautiful, mood-creating Japanese language so that the player can still hear the characters talking in japanese and feel like they are watching a Japanese movie starring japanese actors, detaling things like classic Japanese horror, set in the country of Japan!"
SONY EXEC: "Yeah, sure, that sounds like a great-- NO! WAIT! I'VE GOT IT!!"
SONY JR. EXEC: "Sir?"
SONY EXEC: "LET'S REPLACE ALL THE VOICES WITH BRITISH-ENGLISH ACTORS THAT ALL SOUND LIKE THEY'RE STRAINING TO DUB SOME FUCKING DOCUMENTARY ON THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL!!"
SONY JR. EXEC: "Sir?!"
SONY EXEC: "MY GOD! I AM A FUCKING GENIOUS! In this way, none of the players will be able to even finish the game, since ALL of the mood will be gone everytime you hear someone say something!! And just for spite, let's give the part of a 16 year old kid to an aging 40-something British actor, who couldn't fucking act his way out of a wet paper bag!!" I AM A GENIOUS!!! A GENIOUS, I TELL YOU!!!
Sadly, the above dialouge is probably VERY close to what actually happened in real life. You read it correctly; SONY has, for some unknown reason, decided to remove all the Japanese voices and instead add British voice actors doing the parts in British English. It sounds absolutely horrendously horrible. Try imagining a little 10 year old girl being voiced by some tea-drinking rat-faced 30 year old British woman who's probably named "Pamela" and who doubles as a voice over on Discovery Channel! Close your eyes and try it, really really try! And if that's not worse, try imagining her making her voice really small and squeaky to try and sound like a ten year old girl!
Sadly, the horrors do not stop there. Try imagining casting another laid-off 40-something actor from the Discovery Channel as a 16-year old kid! I've been fortunate enough to hear what the game sounded like before it was dubbed, and it wasn't anything like this! Try visiting the game's web page on www.forbidden-siren.com and then listening to the original actors portraying their characters. Beautiful, isn't it? OK, now try imagining dubbing OVER these voices without even changing the damn lip sync first! AAARRRRGHHH!!!
I could go on and on why you should avoid this title like the fucking plague, but I won't. Suffice it to say that this is the worst (read: _WORST_) voice acting I've ever heard in my entire life! It's actually worse than the voice acting for Resident Evil, and that's saying something! Sadly, what makes me cry at night is that the game is otherwise _extremely_ good. This could have really made my day if they had just left the goddamn voices alone. But sadly, they just had to replace the Japanese with English, making me glad every time one of the characters in the game are offed by zombies. Need more proof? I leave you with this scene from the game to ponder:
Setting: An open Japansese country road. Thick fog swirls around, obscuring our view to all sides. We catch a glimpse of a stream running under a bridge. The water appears to have changed into... blood? No! This cannot be?! We gently creep forward, making every step as silent as possible. Suddenly, footsteps! Where do they come from? We scan around, quietly. Look! Over there! Up the raod! Something is moving our way! Oh my god, it's... it's not human! It's giving of really strange noices and gibbering in incomprehensible Japanese! We must run! Quick, let's duck under that Shinto gate over there! Man, this setting is so authentic, it's like you're actually in the Japanese countryside, controlling actual Japanese characters and--
THE CHARACTER YOU ARE CONTROLLING: Cor blimey guv'nor, real pea-souper t'nite ain't it guv? Fancy a tea?
I rest my case.