Jennifer Hale, celebrated voice actor for the female version of Mass Effect lead Commander Shepard doesnât play video games. Writer Tom Bissell, who profiled Hale in this weekâs New Yorker magazine does and cajoled her to play Mass Effect 2 with him, just for a bit.
She only played the beginning of the game. She thinks she could have nailed her first line in Mass Effect 2 better, isnât so good with a right analog stick, and is able to possibly enjoy about an hour of the game before sheâs had enough. She doesnât seem to be smitten with Mass Effect 2ânot from playing it, at leastâbut she does seem to enjoy acting the role. Thatâs great, because the new Mass Effect contains hundreds of scenes. Thatâs a lot of being Shepard. Bissell estimates that, by the end of recording voice-work for Mass Effect 3 sheâll have played the gameâs commander for more than 300 hours. It seems, from the article, that she may wind up having played as Shepard for only one. Thatâs fine, right? Sheâs doing an excellent job so far. And if youâre playing this series only as male Shepard, youâre missing out.
If you wish to read the least spoiler-y transcript of a short Shepard-âA/Kâ scene ever, go read Bissellâs full Hale profile. Or read it for the explanation about how this voice-acting stuff on video games works. Nolan North even pops up in the article, because, you know, heâs in everything
Voicebox 360 [The New Yorker, subscription required]
