Ben-DutkaAlthough 2009 boasted many fantastic voiceover performances in the video game industry – Mark Hamill as The Joker in Batman: Arkham Asylum and Jack Black as Eddie Riggs in Brutal Legend come quickly to mind – perhaps the most accomplished overall cast was found in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves .
Why? Well, let the voice of Chloe Frazer explain a bit about how Naughty Dog handles their business; when it comes to preparing an interactive movie of sorts, you need some highly professional and well-trained individuals, right? Joystiq spoke to actress Claudia Black about her first time doing motion capture for a game, and she talked about the general experience:
"Yes, this was my first motion capture experience. I am a huge proponent of it because I think what impressed me about Naughty Dog's is that they respect and appreciate the magic that occurs over time between the performers. That you can have a great script, and you can have great voice actors in the booth, but you are never going to recreate that incredible alchemy that occurs with people in a room together. And they hired such amazing actors, you know, theater trained, very experienced actors to work together. And also, they were very specific and particular about whom they hired based on personalities because they wanted us to be a really tight knit family. And every single day it was fun. Every single day. And I know that games have become a very serious business, but they wanted the levity and the bonding to be the overriding essence on the set."
That's how you get a professional cast for a video game. This is one of the biggest reasons why Uncharted 2 was so good; all the voices were excellent. No voice performer in that game is a rookie in the acting world; Black least of all. Starring in Farscape, Stargate, and a number of movies, she made her mark long before Naughty Dog's ambitious sequel. We'll try to put "Pitch Black" from our minds for now (Black's character didn't fare well in that one) and we'll choose to remember Chloe instead. For my money, she's the best new character of the generation, although I'm sure there can be heated discussion concerning that topic.
Related Game(s): Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Yes, Chloe is certainly one of the best chics in the gaming world!
On a related note, gamespot has the game of the year competition going on, and surprise surprise – Uncharted 2 is ruling the roost so far 🙂
Even GameSpot can't mess this up.
Activision might pay them
Went to cast my vote for Uncharted 2 and noticed we could vote for 2010 most anticipated… No mention of God of War anywhere, not cool.
actually they can mess it up, people can vote but they are the ones that choose the winners
really weird
Claudia Black comes across like a real intelligent actor here. Props to her.
I still prefer Elena!
You can have her! I'll take Chloe with her stunning curves, raw sexuality, and bitter-sweet tartness.
Elena ftw!
Though I don't mind Chloe
Funny, I actually know how Nate feels in UC2 with two hot babes like that. I bet Ben also does 😛
It's not easy when two babes are really jealous of each other……..it's actually kinda annoying
Anyway, I like Elena more overall, she understands/care more 'bout Nate than Chloe
Maybe Sullivan gets Chloe in Uncharted 3. I am looking forward to see the same actors in the sequel.
It's amazing how Uncharted 2 is making the sales in 8 weeks that took the original Uncharted 2 years of struggle.
Chalk me up as another Elena admirer. I like her much more. Chloe is too much of the selfish loner type, while Elena really fits into Nate's "family" of adventurers (along with Sully). Plus, Chloe's eyes always seemed weird. Oh, and Elena looked great in those jeans. 🙂
Last edited by Buckeyestar on 12/21/2009 12:45:09 AM
yes yes, Elena.
Yea yea we know Elena is the good girl that we want to marry and Chloe is the wild one we like to hang out with.
Yeah… hang out… *nudge nudge wink wink*
I guess I was the only one at the end of the game yelling at Drake for passing up on Chloe. She reminds me of a cross between my gf and her little sister as it is.
Elena + wetsuit at start of Uncharted = awesomeness
I do basically agree with her. With overall performance of the entire group, Uncharted 2 had by far the best voice acting and how she described her experience shows how they managed to capture that achievement.
But as far as single best performance. That's all Mark Hamill.
I fell in love with Claudia & her sultry voice when I discovered her in Farscape,
BTW, I also loved that whacky babe with the sometimes,silvery-white, sometimes silvery-blue electrified hairdo too, although she wasn't in all of the episodes(Damm, can't remember her name though).
I loved Farscape.
The pasty white chick was named Chiana, played by another Australian actor Gigi Edgley. Her character was on the last three seasons or so.
I am enthralled with Naughty Dog's behind the scenes videos where you see them doing the mo-cap and voice over the same time, it's ingenious. More companies should do it this way! I especially liked the videos in the first game where you saw the performance side by side with the finished product.
@Orvisman,
Yeah, everything you just said!
Thanks for Chiana's name too, she wound up being their A-1 hottie to me, LOL
@BikerSaint,
Yeah, while I thought there was something hot about Claudia Black, Chiana stole my heart. There was just something about her.
As much as i love Claudia i will always dislike chloe, ever since the start of the game i couldnt stand chloe and hated her… but at the end when she helped carry Elena out i had a soft spot for her and began to like her…. as u can see im a obsessed elena fisher fan lol ^.^… but i do agree with Claudia, that the actors really make Uncharted, Uncharted… If it wasnt for the best voice acting i have eva heard i dont think i would have become a fan… back in 2007 i thought the voice acting was unreal… but along comes #2… and WOW UNREAL AMAZING TALENT SPEECHLESS… all i can say is gratz to Naught Dog for such a great game and thanks to the actors for making Uncharted something really special… (btw if elena dies or doesnt come back during the series… well im gonna cry ='( and Elena wouldnt be Elena without the best actress eva Emily Rose) obsessed much.. i dont think so…
thats why they will always be the best in the industry.
nothing but perfection is good enough at ND.
though im still holding a grudge with what theve done with crash bandicoot, and not to mention how theve completley fu**ed up the MP for uncharted 2.
just because the 360s most popular game has fu**ed up MP, does not mean the ps3s has to.
1 round of MP and I stop playing the MP because it's so hard.
Maybe because I'm too noob but I just die too easily.
I spend more time on the co-op.
And what do you mean ****ed up MP?
yeah i dont know what your referring to but in my mnind the MP in Un charted 2 is absolutely brilliant!
The reason i believe the MP in Uncharted 2 is so great is because it plays, feels and reacts just like the single player does. When i play MW2 online i dont feel a connection to my character, heck i dont even feel like it has anything to do with the campaign. In Uncharted 2, i still feel like im connected to the single player still in some way! The MP not only plays well, but it works well in all areas. ND did a great job on taking the aspects of the single player and adding them to the MP and making it work! In all that Uncharted 2 is which is the campaign most of all, they did a great job putting an aspect of the game in (MP), that most would consider not needed, and they did a heck of a job with it!
the penalties for leaving a game.
ive got better things to do than spend a few hours saving my cash up to buy something than have to leave for dinner or tafe or the net drops out and all my hard work is gone.
no thanks!
I'd touch her.
"Pitch Black" is one of my most favorite sci-fi flicks ever. I totally forgot about Claudia in that film!
Not a very flattering pic. She's looking older than her years.
Uh…I think she looks pretty good for 38.
shes 38 damn let her play laura croft forget megan fox i like older women
So Ben's an ass man.
Not really.
Oh sure, you like her for her voice.
There's nothing wrong with that. A good t*rd cutter can go a long way 🙂
Yeah U2 has a great cast, great voice-overs and there's definitely some positive chemistry between the characters. I think that's why the lines were so believable and I felt that I actually cared about the characters because they looked and acted like real people do.
On a more loving note. I got love for Chloe, I mean…nice body, great curves, a sexy chick is what I'm trying to say.
But Elena will always be my girl, she's sexy and she's also got a lot more.