How do you feel about playing as actors/having recognizable actor's faces in games?

[Like the hat?]

This seems to be a thing now, so let's talk about it. Between Norman Reedus, Keanu, now Vin Diesel, and I'm sure others, what are your thoughts?

Personally I find it incredibly weird. I get playing as an actor's likeness in a game based on a movie (like I understand playing as Bruce Campbell in the new Evil Dead) but when it's just an actor for the heck of it, I find it off putting. Maybe this will be the future, but I find it odd personally. I feel like it's much harder to get into the thought of "being the character" if it's a face I've seen in other roles.

 

[HandsomeCharles]

We're not quite there yet. They still look a bit like potatoes.

 

[MP!]

I don't think it ages well at all

 

[AerialAir]

We're not quite there yet. They still look a bit like potatoes.

Click to shrink...

Norman in Death Stranding looks great.

 

[HandsomeCharles]

Norman in Death Stranding looks great.

Click to shrink...

Actually thats a good point, but I think that's because he has hair. If he were bald, potato.

 

[Praedyth]

It's a double edged sword. Some actors really blend in different roles, some other actors really get stuck in my head as an specific character. When that happens I find awful to see them in any other IP.

It's what I think of Keanu and Vin Diesel.

 

[Grimmy11]

I like it. Now give me a remake of this.

 

[Jogi]

I usually hate it and would almost always prefer a unique character.

 

[Renteka-Bond]

Kind of not for it. I understand 'why' it's done, but the thing I like about characters is that they're stylized like characters. The pursuit of overt realism in games is one I'm not super for and, basically, tracing real-life people is the end conclusion of that.

The new Project Athia is an example of one that I'm awkward about because the character will be tied directly to the appearance of an actual person in a way that, like, Lightning or Noctis aren't tied to their VAs appearance.

It's akin to my disdain for Orchestrated OSTs. It's cool, but it, to me, misses what I find fun about abut games.

 

[AerialAir]

Actually thats a good point, but I think that's because he has hair. If he were bald, potato.

Click to shrink...

Fair enough.

 

[Orayn]

I kind of want to say that it sucks and is symptomatic of games trying to ape Hollywood movies. Not the concept of having someone do full performance capture and using their likeness for the character as well, but the fact that it's often celebrities.

 

[Elfgore]

I'm fine with the faces, I just hope it manages to avoid some of the pitfalls I noticed in Death Stranding. Like how there would be scenes it was painfully obvious Sam should involved in the conversation and he just stands there silent. I couldn't get the thought out of my head it was just due to lack of budget to have Norman in the VA booth more.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Depends on how well the face is translated to 3D. Sometimes it works.

Other times you get Miranda from Mass Effect 2.

 

[DailyCalmSpirit]

Not a fan.

This medium gives us the ability to create any face imaginable and to just use the actor's face is so boring.

 

[jwk94]

I'm fine with it. Playing as Elliot Page in Beyond Two Souls definitely made it a better game for me.

 

[Moon Parade]

I'm not opposed to it, and I'm glad we're pretty far-removed from the era of bad stunt casting.

That said, I'm always a little worried when it does happen, just for the fact that it usually makes future releases a licensing nightmare.

 

[MirVie]

I hate it, I'd rather make my own character.

 

[Keikaku]

Using original characters makes them more memorable. Real actors tend to remind me of their previous roles.

 

[FinalArcadia]

I'd prefer to have wholly original characters not tied to anyone's face specifically. Like, it's why I prefer animated movies over live-action ones: I see the character as only the character, not "X playing [character]." I'm fine with celebs doing voice work, it's just when I have to "see" them in-game that it often takes me out of the experience if it's an actor that I'm familiar with outside the game.

 

[Chrisahc]

It sucks, and pointlessly increases the development costs of games

 

[Ra]

Actors are just fictional characters to me anyway, my brain has no problem with their faces blending into fictional video game scenes.

 

[andresmoros]

I don't mind it at all. I also love Capcom's approach of using real life models for their faces. They look awesome.

 

[retroman]

Only if they look as good as Sylvester Stallone in the NES version of Rambo.

 

[EarthPainting]

I kind of hate it. Actors do their best to sell you the illusion they are a different person in their role, and in movies, TV and theatre they use wardrobes, make-up, prosthetics and CG to help sell you on this illusion. Yet in video games, we go out of our way to remind the player that they definitely are those specific celebrities after all. I can't tell if we're just prioritising marketing over art, or if this is still our insecure medium trying to legitimise itself. Whatever the reason is, we are needlessly limiting ourselves over this stuff, and I wish we'd cut it out already.

If you want to use scanned face models, at least go for people who aren't recognisable, or alter them enough until they no longer are. Death Stranding was especially ridiculous, where a bunch of famous people only lent their faces, and didn't even do the performances themselves.

 

[Wulfram]

I mildly dislike it if its a really famous actor. Otherwise I don't really care.

 

[MechaMarmaset]

It doesn't bother me any more than it does for movies. Some actors can disappear into their roles, and other times it's like the Expendables where you wouldn't be able to tell me a character's name if your life depended on it because they decided to have a celebrity convention.

 

[Jencks]

It's weird and takes me out of the experience.

 

[MrCibb]

Not something that's ever bothered me. Doesn't effect games for me anymore than it does movies. I still just see the character despite recognizing their face or voice, the latter of which I've been recognizing for years now anyway.

 

[TheChungusAmongUs]

It really depends.

I thought Death Stranding blended things together well because of how unique the setting and world felt. But with something like Arc 2 I just kept joking about it being "Fast and Furious: Origins"

 

[LoadRunner]

So basically a choice between Troy Baker or a Hollywood actor?

I kid, usually movie games suck but Riddick was amazing and I think that's the only game I can say I enjoyed playing as the character/actor. Haven't play Death Stranding so can't comment there, but that seems to be the high water mark now

 

[Azerth]

Would prefer voices instead

 

[iamandy]

I like it. Death Stranding is incredible with incredible characters models and facial animation.

 

[Duncan]

I like it. Now give me a remake of this.

Click to shrink...

I'm honestly surprised he hasn't appeared in a Call of Duty game at this point. Have him be a major selling point and character in a campaign and I will GLADLY pay for a Trey Kincaid, Soldierman/Scientist who invented his own gun to have infinite ammo, skin in the multiplayer!

"I....feel....GOOD."

 

[Randomless]

I don't mind it personally. It can be done well, like in Death Stranding. I definitely wouldn't want every game to suddenly start having famous celebs in them though.

 

[Veelk]

I honestly don't prefer it. I like it when I can get immersed in the world and try to believe characters as characters. When you get recognizable faces, it detracts from that. I don't think "Hey, that's Johnny Silverhands, that's Keanu Reeves."

Yes, this happens with me and movies as well. If I see a character being played by Samuel L. Jackson, it's harder for me to accept them as their own character and not Samuel L. Jackson. He's too well known a face even though he's an insanely talented actor that can play multiple roles well.

 

[Mukrab]

Hate it

 

[Stowaway Silfer]

I'd rather have distinct faces.

 

[kitler53]

i don't like it.

i love jennifer aniston. and i've enjoyed some of the more recent things i've seen her in. ...but i can't see her and not think "rachel". that's one of the things i dislike the most about movies is my own inability to engross myself in the movie because i can't separate out my pre-conceived connotations about who the actor is or isn't.

video games is completely free of that criticism. ...unless of course you base the character model on vin diesel.

i know that he's a famous actor and they are hoping that his fame elevates the reception of the game. for me personally i don't' really like vin diesel and i was pretty much immediately turned off to the game seconds into the trailer. it's a dumb reason to not like it but that's still my feelings. and i think that's a shame because with out vin diesel it otherwise looks like my kind of game.

 

[IronFalcon1997]

It's a little strange to me. You have the opportunity to make them look however you want to have a completely unique character that no one has seen before and you choose to make them look like someone everyone knows? It's not terrible or anything, but why not use their faces as a starting point and then change them into something more unique or fitting for your character?

 

[Dodgerfan74]

It's utterly fucking pointless outside of marketing to people who are easily impressed.

 

[Eros]

Basically I'm good with it unless it's an actor I don't like

 

[Modest_Modsoul]

I don't mind it at all. 🤷

 

[.exe]

Based on the Ark thing, it seems like it would enhance that uncanny valley effect, because I will probably know how that person emotes in film and it's not what it looks like in-game. Some games are better about it though. Elliot Page's performance in Beyond: Two Souls didn't seem too far off.

 

[The Shape]

I actually like it :)

The whole cast of Death Stranding is amazing. I wanna see more of that.

 

[Ruisu]

It's good when it's done right. In Death Stranding for example it really enhances the experience because of how well captured the performances are, especially Reedus in the open world, and how good these performances are in the first place.

I think it gets a bad rep sometimes because in some games even though the actors are giving a good performance, the game around it isn't as good, or the translation of that performance to the models in the game doesn't work as well.

 

[DOtherOneLives]

It depends. Jean Reno in Onimusha 3 was really cool.

 

[Stencil]

"now Vin Diesel" how could you forget Chronicles of Riddick?!

To answer the question, it was a little off-putting to me at first with Norman Readus. When Keanu showed up in Cyberpunk I thought it was awesome. Not sure what made the difference, maybe I was just used to the concept of actors being in games by that point.

I think it's kind of cool. Certainly makes those characters more memorable. I have face-blindness when it comes to realistic 3D characters, mo-capping an actor is a great remedy to that.

 

[Dylan]

I don't think it ages well at all

Click to shrink...

It doesn't, until you hit a certain point, when it comes back around and suddenly becomes amazing again:

Ned Stark looking fine:

 

[MP!]

It doesn't, until you hit a certain point, when it comes back around and suddenly becomes amazing again:

Ned Stark looking fine:

Click to shrink...

I accept these findings as truth

 

[Tycho Kepler]

Peaked with the Illusive Man