Audio Atrocities (TM) :: House of the Dead 2 (Dreamcast)

Many people say that this game has Resident Evil syndrome - that is, the game is so much fun because of the terrible acting in the horror theme. I'm not denying that the dialogue and acting add to the charm here, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't have been an even better game with some actual actors doing the dialogue instead of lobotomy patients culled from the local mental hospital.

Aside from technical problems and shortcuts taken in the production of the dialogue, the main problem is that most of the acting is monotone or that the emPHAsis is in the wrong place, completely burying the drama of every scene. Fortunately, the soundtrack ROCKS and they have the dialogue mixed so low relative to the music that the cheap production isn't apparent most places in the game, just the poor acting.

Exhibit A: “I've been wai-ting for you...friends”
I'm not sure, but this may be a brilliant but misunderstood attempt to have a menacing autistic villian. The delivery is so...wrong.

Exhibit B: “...point A zero zero six three...”
This is just an example of really crappy production values. The actor is breathing into the mike and "pops" the "p" (hard push of air), spiking the mike. This is why you see a "popper stopper" in front of most mikes, and the mike positioned about nose-level on the actor. It eliminates nasty-sounding audio like this.

Exhibit C: “Don't come! Don't Come!”
This is supposed to be something like "stay away!" or "get back!", but due to the wonders of bad localization, instead it sounds like the zombies are pretty excited and could blow at any minute. This clip also demonstrates that they used pitch shifting to broaden their cast. The first set of dialogue is one clip, and the very next one is the SAME source audio, pitch shifted down. In the game it's not immediately obvious, but in the soundtest, it stands out clearly.

The Rest:
Haven't had enough? Here's some additional clips for your amusement:
Clip 4, Clip 5, Clip 6

“Don't come! Don't Come!”