City 16

Ah crap, we’ve been at this all night

-Main Character, Dark Void

At which point, right at the start of the demo, the only thing I’m thinking is, ‘Ah crap, another main character voiced by Nolan North.’ Don’t get me wrong, he’s a really good voice actor, but after playing Uncharted 2 and Assassin’s Creed 2 fairly recently, and with Prince of Persia being a not-too-distant memory, I’m getting more than a little bored of his voice.

And the thing is I shouldn’t be able to tell. I’m almost completely rubbish at recognising voice-over artists, to the point that a friend had to point out to me that Morrigan and Alistair from Dragon Age were being voiced by the same people that did Chloe and Flynn from Uncharted 2 despite the fact they’re doing the same bloody voices in games that required them to converse with each other in a similar manner and that I was playing at the same time.

Perhaps my biggest issue is that hearing North’s voice seems to signal a very specific kind of character archetype: a cocky yet lovable rogue who gets embroiled in an escalating crisis but manages to wisecrack his way out of it with some degree of bumbling luck. Would a little bit of diversion from the stock formula be too much to ask for? Maybe I’m being unfair, but surely there are other voice actors in need of work.

Luckily the demo gave me the impression that Dark Void was rubbish; an impression most reviews have confirmed, so at least I’m getting a break.