Kotaku: "Mortal Kombat 1 Fans Can’t Stand Megan Fox’s Nitara Voice Acting"

[Era Uma Vez]

Wooden actor can't deliver lines in a convicing way, more news at 11.
Thats like putting Keanu Reeves in a game and being surprised that the delivery is stiff. Yeah, no shit.

In her defense, her script isnt great.
She's still miles better than Rhonda but thats a low bar, specially for an actor.

So many VAs looking for work, but nope, gotta overpay someone else to do a worse job just to get the headline.

 

[Alienous]

I'm sure you could give enough voice direction to a random person, let alone someone who has acted in movies, to get a performance above monotone.

I just imagine that the recording team is too intimidated - or maybe even just courteous - to ask for multiple takes.

 

[Charcoal]

In the leheast!

 

[ToddBonzalez]

Reminds me of the godawful voice acting in that one NBA 2K game lol. Sounds like she's reading the script for the first time while performing these.

 

[NeverWas]

I just watched Jennifer's Body not that long ago, so I was kind of looking forward to Fox as Nitara. Shame it turned out the way it did, because she's not a bad actress.

 

[Zips]

It's so so soooooo bad. Like, indefensibly bad. It's somehow even worse than Rousey's Sonya in the previous game, which is no small feat.

Every other voice has (so far) been amazing in the story mode.

 

[Dog]

I like Megan but she needed better direction.

 

[Manu]

Yeah she's bad. I was defending the choice to include her before release but nope, she's just terrible.

Ironically JCVD did a great job with Johnny's lines, he sounds much better.

 

[Pirateluigi]

I really like Megan Fox and wanted to like this performance, but I really dont. It's not even that she's bad, it just does not mesh with the other VAs in the game. Everyone else is going all in, to a cartoonish degree, and her more subdued, natural dialogue take just doesn't fit.

She's a good actor so I'm inclined to say it's a combination of direction (or lack of it), time, and recording in a relative vacuum.

 

[LossAversion]

I like Ed Boon, but if he'd gotten his way it would have been fucking catastrophic:

Ed Boon wanted every fighter in Mortal Kombat 1 to be played by a famous actor, with Keanu Reeves as Kenshi

Wasn't Megan Fox enough?

www.pcgamer.com

MK1 has a ton of amazing professional voice actors giving outstanding performances, and he almost threw that all away just for random half-hearted celebrity bullshit. I feel like if I was the casting/performance director at NRS, assembling+directing a 10/10 cast, and I get pulled into a meeting saying "what if...we paid way more for people who are going to be way worse", I'd rip out my hair.

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The whole game with celebrities? Nah.

Keanu Reeves as Kenshi?

Fuck yeah. At least the likeness would make for an amazing skin. No need to replace Vic Chao.

 

[Dark Ninja]

I've heard worse seems inoffensive. Also how much of that is skippable/only in offline versus?

 

[AuthenticM]

"TikTok gaming commentator"

Kill me.

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yeah lol.

 

[Calabi]

its jarring hearing everyone elses feel natural then comes in this.

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I mean none of the voice work is natural but that's the point in a game like mortal Kombat you have to over act. She had to do something other than talk plainly to fit in.

 

[Manu]

The whole game with celebrities? Nah.

Keanu Reeves as Kenshi?

Fuck yeah. At least the likeness would make for an amazing skin. No need to replace Vic Chao.

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Kenshi has always been a 100% Japanese-ass Japanese dude so I've never understood the "get Keanu" thing (which apparently even Boon supports now.)

I understand he may have been an inspiration for the overall vibe of the character but, nah.

 

[Deleted member 6263]

who could have seen this coming

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The announcement thread had plenty of people saying she sounded fine and I was like, "man, am I hearing this audio wrong or what"

Mortal Kombat 1 Nitara Reveal Trailer (Voiced by Megan Fox) News

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah8VyRhiWiE After almost 17 years, the Vampire of Outworld has graced us with her presence. Megan Fox brings Nitara back to life. So that old Megan Fox rumor was true after all.

www.resetera.com

 

[MadLaughter]

For people who are like "sounds fine to me"

Poke around this video, see what the other voice performances in the game are like. She sticks out HARD.


View: https://youtu.be/pCnaCuevRDk?t=416

I have no idea what the recording situation was like, but it's not hard to imagine that Fox had less time in the booth (due to availability or money etc), or that they weren't able to direct her to the same degree as others, or that she had to be recorded elsewhere etc and maybe a different person handled those recording sessions. Or maybe she just wasn't up for it! I dunno, a lot of things could have gone wrong, so I'm not going to put the blame squarely on Fox, but the end result sadly speaks for itself.

On the upside, as far as I know, at least she's not a TERF like Rousey.

 

[Cassius Africanus]

Is this games journalism? Something I can browse Reddit and find out myself? This feels so low effort.

 

[Tfritz]

queen of camp queen of getting paid to do nothing stream "till death" today xoxo

 

[DaveB]

The whole game with celebrities? Nah.

Keanu Reeves as Kenshi?

Fuck yeah. At least the likeness would make for an amazing skin. No need to replace Vic Chao.

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Is Vic Chao the voice actor? I'm pretty sure the face model for Kenshi in MK1 is Noah Fleder from Gamology.

In regards to the Nitara comments, I feel like they could have gotten an A-lister and they still would have phoned in the lines. At least with the Rousey thing, we knew she couldn't act. Megan's been in a bunch of movies, for better or worse.

 

[LossAversion]

Kenshi has always been a 100% Japanese-ass Japanese dude so I've never understood the "get Keanu" thing (which apparently even Boon supports now.)

I understand he may have been an inspiration for the overall vibe of the character but, nah.

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He doesn't need to play him in the story but a skin like JCVD would be awesome.

Is Vic Chao the voice actor? I'm pretty sure the face model for Kenshi in MK1 is Noah Fleder from Gamology.

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Vic voices him, Noah is the face model (and mocap performer, I believe).

 

[Disco Infernal]

View: https://youtu.be/aH94KK6xX4o?si=rR1Z4Hozp3sIDp6Y

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Yuck. Ive seen her do some OK acting, so this has to be a direction issue. That's awful.

 

[ghibli99]

Was the sound mix intentionally altered to boost the dialogue? I feel like it'd be 'fine' with the music and other ambient sounds being balanced better with her lines. On their own, sure, they could be better... but I've certainly heard worse from more popular actors.

 

[HiLife]

It's bad.

 

[The Silver]

She sounded ...ok-ish in the trailer but goddamn it's distractingly bad here.

They sabotaged Nitara, it's a level of bad where I don't even want to play the character.

 

[Shryke]

Anyone with ears knows how bad she is compared to the other VAs in the game. Her voice really sticks out like a sore thumb.

 

[LossAversion]

Yuck. Ive seen her do some OK acting, so this has to be a direction issue. That's awful.

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She definitely could have given a better performance with more time and better direction. But screen acting experience often =/= translate to voice acting abilities.

 

[Xwing]

Mortal Kombat and bad voice acting are like peanut butter and jelly. Salute to the team for staying true to the series' roots.

 

[War95]

I hate these articles based on social media posts. Absolutely terrible journalism. Why do I care about what some randos are hating online? People hate on everything, this is completely meaningless.

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Theres no journalism in videogames media except for a few articles and, after all, this is Kotaku

 

[Rellyrell28]

I don't see why anyone would have a problem with this, it's oddly nostalgic


View: https://youtu.be/UNkRvcUn6VM?si=vWiKE0ErAPOOAXDD

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😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

 

[LiK]

She literally phoned it it. Completely flat and out of place compared to everyone else. Sonya/Ronda quality all over again.

 

[Disco Infernal]

She definitely could have given a better performance with more time and better direction. But screen acting experience often =/= translate to voice acting abilities.

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Unless someone told me that was Megan Fox, I would have just assumed it was a really bad VA. I doubt I'm alone, which is why they probably should have saved money and improved the quality by hiring a real VA. But they succeeded in getting people to talk about it.

 

[Duck Sauce]

Seems pretty good to me.

I also think Tommy Wiseau deserved an Oscar for his acting in the Room so what do I know.

 

[LossAversion]

Unless someone told me that was Megan Fox, I would have just assumed it was a really bad VA. I doubt I'm alone, which is why they probably should have saved money and improved the quality by hiring a real VA. But they succeeded in getting people to talk about it.

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Bad press is good press I guess. Personally, I would rather people be excited about the character like they are with most of the other returning characters. I can't imagine why NRS wouldn't want the same.

 

[bluemarvel33]

I honestly thought Rhonda was decent enough as Sonya (not great, but serviceable) but Megan's voice acting is just terrible.

 

[dancingphlower]

Boon really seems to love the idea of celebrity casting for some reason - it makes sense for guest characters but there's no reason they couldn't have just gotten Christina Vee to do all of Nitara's lines.

 

[LossAversion]

Boon really seems to love the idea of celebrity casting for some reason - it makes sense for guest characters but there's no reason they couldn't have just gotten Christina Vee to do all of Nitara's lines.

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Just have them all be skins like JCVD so that they don't stick out in the story like a sore thumb. Or just have them be the likeness. Nobody would give a shit if Nitara was just using Megan's likeness and had a real VA for the performance.

 

[MadLaughter]

Boon really seems to love the idea of celebrity casting for some reason - it makes sense for guest characters but there's no reason they couldn't have just gotten Christina Vee to do all of Nitara's lines.

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Yeah, it's baffling. Boon seems like an alright guy, and the runs of games from MK9 - MK1 (including Injustice1/2) is a great track record of products. But yeah, you have some of the best voice talent in the world and yet it's still not enough?

Just have them all be skins like JCVD so that they don't stick out in the story like a sore thumb. Or just have them be the likeness. Nobody would give a shit if Nitara was just using Megan's likeness and had a real VA for the performance.

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Agree with this. All celebrities that aren't playing a character they already play (Simmons/omni man, Starr/Homelander etc) should be alternates, like the JCVD situation.

The proof that nobody would care? JCVD isn't much better than fox, but he's not the main Cage so it's whatever:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHuNSrvp6Cw

 

[scitek]

Yeah that's bad. The best VO is still Kane Hodder as Jason Voorhees.

 

[Yurei]

I'm seeing a lot of voice director blaming.

At what point is it the voice performer or the voice directors fault for bad voice acting? Because I'm leaning more towards the voice actress here since no professional VA would do a take that bad (or maybe these were the best takes they had)

 

[dancingphlower]

Just have them all be skins like JCVD so that they don't stick out in the story like a sore thumb. Or just have them be the likeness. Nobody would give a shit if Nitara was just using Megan's likeness and had a real VA for the performance.

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Right like I thought the Dmitri Vegas skin for Sub-Zero was absurd but also it was just a skin that I rarely saw be used, meanwhile we get stuck with Ronda Sonya and Megan Niatara :(

Yeah, it's baffling. Boon seems like an alright guy, and the runs of games from MK9 - MK1 (including Injustice1/2) is a great track record of products. But yeah, you have some of the best voice talent in the world and yet it's still not enough?

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I think I saw a recent interview in Rolling Stone where he floated the idea of having an entire cast of celebrities *barf*

 

[Unicorn]

View: https://youtu.be/aH94KK6xX4o?si=rR1Z4Hozp3sIDp6Y

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Goddamn that mileena VA is amaaaaazing! Super Rita Repulsa vibes

 

[Balfour]

I'm seeing a lot of voice director blaming.

At what point is it the voice performer or the voice directors fault for bad voice acting? Because I'm leaning more towards the voice actress here since no professional VA would do a take that bad (or maybe these were the best takes they had)

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I haven't played MK1 to judge

But imo if the voice directions were at fault then more than just her performance would have issues

 

[Syntsui]

We have a billion reasons to hate the piece o shit of a person that Ronda is, including her terrible voice acting for Sonya. But Megan Fox performance is worse, way way way worse.

 

[MadLaughter]

Goddamn that mileena VA is amaaaaazing! Super Rita Repulsa vibes

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Yeah, Kari Wahlgren crushes it. She voices basically 3 characters in the story mode: Normal Mileena, ''Tarkat' Mileena, and Kitana, and they're all distinct. She partially carries that whole mode.

 

[Kyle Cross]

She's a fine actress and the fact they got someone else to do all the grunts screams budget and time constraints. She probably wasn't given many takes.

 

[Tagyhag]

I think a celebrity alternate skin for every fighter would be super cool.

But yeah, please give VAs more work, Megan isn't hurting.

 

[Richietto]

Both of those examples in the OP sound fine?

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Listen. With all due respect... Get better standards because those 2 examples are so so bad. There is no realm where thats considered "fine" lmao.

 

[Keiriks]

Funny and at the same time sad thing is, very talented voice actress Christina Vee did Nitara's action sounds (screams, grunts... etc.)

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aw man I wish she'd voiced her dialogue, too. Vee's more than earned voice actor GOATdom.

 

[ZeoVGM]

Both of those examples in the OP sound fine?

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It's not very good but I do think there's an added level of hyperbole regarding the quality of her lines that comes from anger at hiring a famous actress instead of a voice actress.

Considering they brought in a different voice actress to do all the yells and screams, I suspect they probably had some very limited recording sessions with Fox.

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Then they shouldn't have done it. It's completely asinine that they would hire a different actress just for the yells and screams. It doesn't even make sense and it makes the stunt casting very clear.

If you're going to hire someone like Megan Fox, either go all the way or don't do it at all. Give her proper direction, make sure she's doing all of the voice work for the character, get her in the booth like everyone else, etc.

 

[Outrun]

Hot diggity dogshit, that all sounds like it was just the first take with no context behind the line delivery.

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Megan Fox ain't cheap.