Wanted: Dead has questionable VA

Cold and shifty eyes

Wanted: Dead is one of those little games that you catch passing you briefly in the hallway in a scene out of a movie, your eyes lock and a singular primitive hunger instantly descends upon you; you must have that game, whatever it takes. Unfortunately, more often than not these days I'm getting those 'animal brain on' moments for games that aren't long for this world at all. Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2 has been entirely reworked, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is on life support in the hands of entirely new studio due out for 2025 at the absolute earliest... heck, I even ended up falling for that Batman: Damian Wayne game and that thing never even entered development! I'm just a hopeless wreck for the projects destined for doom which is why even though I hear no one ever talk about this game and it seems to have an audience of less than 10,000 whenever it shows itself off; I really don't want Wanted: Dead to fade away into the cruel night.

If you're not familiar, and despite the fact I've gone over my thoughts on the game before when it was first revealed I hold no grudge against you if you don't; 'Wanted: Dead' is an action movie of a video game that was probably born from a board-room style pitch held entirely by blockbuster enthusiasts. "What if there was a girl with a katana and a gun" is literally the only part of this game that had any pre-thought before the thing went into production; and you can see that sort of unburnished child-like creative glee from the restrainless mirth present in the gameplay presentations. Of course, ambition is nothing without talent, and this is a team that worked on the Ninja Gaiden games in the past so they sure know how to throw an action game or two at the gaming public. 

There's also some heritage of Dead or Alive left in the freshly born body of this game, and you can really see it in the tightness of the animation suite on display here. These are the kinds of great chorography that only a fighting-game alum would design, featuring overly complicated, but superbly pleasing, acrobatic feats of both sword and gun when practicality would say a simple 'point and shoot' approach would clear rooms so much quicker. (But what is efficiency worth when the cost is style?) What the Dead and Alive heritage hasn't granted the team is a hint of it's visual appeal, both graphically and design-wise. Although I feel that latter is probably an intentional choice, scantily-clad ninja girls probably wouldn't sell the grungy splatter-action vibe so well, the former is sore spot when the game is looking rough.

I'm not a graphics hound, far from it; but there does come a point where a visual style slides out of the realm of 'distinctive' and just lands on plain ugly. I don't think that Wanted: Dead is quite in the danger zone there with what I've seen so far, but it is very close for comfort. When I look at the graphics this game is going for, I can't help but be reminded of the washed out painting style of Babylon's Fall; a game that fell so hard it not only made Square Enix totally revise their business model but averages around 6 players a day. There was only 1 on the Steam version of the game when I last checked. So that's not exactly the company you want to be keeping in people's heads; but I'm sure that this is just an unfortunate comparison and Wanted: Dead will prove itself far more memorable in it's gameplay if not it's looks.

But the question of how shoddy this project is never really does seem to rest, and they were highlighted for myself once again after the recent story trailer. If there were any world shaking reveals about the premise of the game hidden in this gameplay snippet, you'll have to forgive me for missing it; but I was too busy staring flabbergasted at the sheer awfulness of the voice over work for the game. I mean we heard a bit of it before in previous trailers, but honestly I just assumed that was placeholder work meant to be replaced by actual professional recordings later. But it's been a year; the game is approaching release; I'm thinking that Soleil really intend to ship the game like this... which would be a... bold move to say the very least.

When we think about the absolute pits of voice acting, there isn't very many steps to go before we land at the original Resident Evil; and whilst this game is obviously nowhere near that legendarily bad all-around performance- (One which easily crosses the Rubicon into 'so bad it's good' territory) this still manages to get nearly everything wrong too. The cheesy action-movie dialogue is a given, that comes with the territory of this style of game; I'd be upset if it wasn't that way. But the actual performance given by someone who both doesn't appear to speak the language their reading in, at least not fluently enough to act in it, and cannot summon an iota of interest in her voice; as the lead! That's a problem. As is the fact that she's only one of the bad voice actors. If their recent trailer is anything to go by, this game is full of them. Oh, and the recordings sound bad, and the trailer is sound-mixed badly so you can't hear the voices clearly. That's about every sin of video game voice acting guys; all we need is several scenes where the dialogue and subtitles don't match and we'll have Yahtzee!

In full honesty, I am actually somewhat glad that the supporting cast appears to be as bad as the main actress, because there's nothing more painful than a cast trying their all to bounce off an actual brick-wall of charisma. But at the same time I do want just a little bit of love and magic in my ears when I play my games. I don't want a Bob Odenkirk level routine where I'm drinking every word like a thirsty man in the Gobi Desert; I just want to be able to immerse myself in the world without frowning everytime a character reads a witty line like they haven't understood a single word that has just come out of their own mouth. Just because your game is an action game that doesn't mean all forms of acting are totally inconsequential to the gameplay experience! Heck, even Cyberrunner had decent VO work. 

But maybe being bad is the plan? Getting my conspiracy space blanket on for a moment, and covering myself from all the electromagnetic disturbance that might trigger my very real condition, perhaps Soleil know that being a laughstock is as much a draw for attention these days as being a masterpiece. Maybe they hope to draw more attention to their work by seeking out a cast that sound like they were picked off the bench fresh from jury duty. I mean sure, I was interested in the game for it's own merits but I'm sure someone out there only watched the trailer for 'Wanted: Dead' because they heard about the zombie voice acting and wanted to listen to it for themselves. In fact, I'm betting my editor has already stopped reading this blog to go watch it just from reading about it here. A story is infectious, even if it's a story about how mediocre of a job your doing in some departments. At the very least this better mean the game knocks it out of the park in gameplay; you know, considering they plundered the budget from the VO department to make it work leaving them with nothing but a couple of dusty buttons and an IOU food stamp.

Samurai Jack the game

A foolish Samurai warrior, wielding a shapeshifting master of Darkness, wielding a magic sword, wielding a foolish Samurai warrior...

I don't know about you, but nowadays it seems like the only television shows that get greenlit to air on Kids networks are done so because they are bright and cute-looking rather than because they have any substance to them. Don't get me wrong, there are notable exceptions like Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and, I'm told, Steven Universe; but there is one common trait  shared by all of those shows: they're all over now. In today's world all of the Children's shows that have any effort put behind them go up on Netflix where I can't see them, whilst the fools stay on Network TV and flounder in their own mediocrity. However there was a age in the late 90's to early 2000's where this was not the case, (because Netflix was still an embryo) and that was an age that birthed unforgettable shows like Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Animanics and 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'. (Okay, Avatar was more mid 2000's but I still count it.) Amidst this age of great TV- oh did I mention 'Kim Possible'? Loved that show... Anyway, in the middle of that was one show that really stood out due to it's sharp aesthetic, bleak story, and easy to pickup set-up: Samurai Jack.

I'll admit that it has been well over a decade since I last watch that particular show so I can't really provide a full showcase of everything it had to offer, all I can say is that I really enjoyed it so they must have done something right. One aspect that sticks with me was the movement of everything which managed to compliment the sharp angular aesthetic to the show nicely and made everything feel fast and staccato. Maybe that was part of the reason why this show picked up such a loyal following from fans of melodramatic Samurai action, and those who always wanted to play the role of a katana wielding justice seeker. This is a fascination that we know has persisted to the current age, as we've seen the amount of white-hot excitement that has drum up in the wake of Sucker Punch's 'Ghost of Tsushima', so why hasn't there been a revival in the Samurai Jack licence?

Well as you likely already know there was one, and it was a very big deal at the time. Adult Swim, parent company of Cartoon Network, made the choice to revive this series for one final grand finale in 2017 and as far as I can tell the whole thing was very well received. The show had grown with it's audience to be more adult and brutal, without losing it's identity and becoming something else, allowing fans to finally see the end of Jack's journey however that went. (I say 'However' because I never watched it. I will eventually, but I know it's going to be a full 7 season binge and I just don't have that in me right now.) But since then the franchise has been quiet as all the stories have been told and there is no more movement needed, but this is a gaming blog so you're probably wondering: What does this have to do with the price of tea in China?

Obviously that there is a game coming out based on that licence and I am pretty excited to see what it has in store. Now of course, Video games based on Children's shows tend to have a pretty poor reputation, (which is well earned) but after 'Detective Pikachu' and 'Sonic The Hedgehog' we're living in a world where video game movies can be decent, so why can't a TV show - video game come out to buck the trend? I have my hopes on the right side of the fence this time, if for no other reason than because I would love for this practice to start a trend in getting great kids TV shows and making them into games. That way the trend can hit Nickelodeon and we can finally get a proper 'Avatar' game made which I know the perfect premise for. (Come on Nick, everyone wants it!)

But I'm getting off track, what about the Samurai Jack game? This new title, 'Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time' (Huh, do the TMNT know you stole their game title?) is being put together by Soleil and is getting published by 'Adult Swim Games', who I did not know even existed until just now. The story will be written by the original series' head writer, so they're really hoping to nail the feel of the show, and the voice of Jack will be provided by Phil Lamarr (whom I recall from his time as Vamp) who is the original voice of Jack. Unfortunately, Aku cannot be voiced by a beloved VO of mine, Mako, due to his untimely death but we have Greg Baldwin to fill in that void. (He's pretty much the professional Mako voice imitator.)

So all of the talent behind the game seems to be solid and the title itself seems pretty cool, although we haven't seen too much quite yet. The game appears to be a hack-and-slash adventure game in the style of the 2000's classics although this one has a speed to it that seems somewhat indicative of what you would expect from the show's animation. There has also been an admirable effort done to translating the 2D art of the show into a 3D environment and mimicking the sharp angles that the show in know for from all perspectives. (And can I just say that I absolutely love the lighting engine on this game, it compliments the textures so beautifully it just turns my legs to jelly.) Straight away, at a glance I can see that this title looks like a Platinum Games affair, although as anyone who plays their games will know that comparison means this game can either be fantastic or crap. (They really don't do inbetween's at that studio.)

The only real question for me going into it is where this story will take place in the timeline. Personally I haven't seen the wrap-up series but I was under the impression that everything was resolved, so I don't know where-else the story has to go. With a title that so heavily alludes to the concept of time travel the possibilities are really endless, and seeing as how this is being sold as "an original story" I have my hopes up for something special. I will admit, however, that I haven't personally seen anything really grand coming out of Soleil studios and all of their previous games look pretty so-so. (But I try not to judge the talents of a studio on their past. That's a lie, I totally do that all the time I'm just hoping this turns out to be something cooler.)

At the end of the day this may be something of a muted opinion, because I'm not sure how many folk grew up as fans of Samurai Jack and are actually excited for an old-school action adventure title with that as a backdrop. Although evidence would point to the fact that action adventure as a genre may be making a comeback. Nier Automata was one of this generation's masterpeices, Final Fantasy 7 just debuted it's demo (Playstation only, but still) and The Last of Us Part 2 is a hotly anticipated title. Why can't Samurai Jack slide in there with a title that looks cool so far. Time, and some more indepth marketing, will reveal this games' talents at which point we'll see if there's anything special here, however for now I'll just say that I have a good feeling about this one, keep an eye out for me.