As I have said before, the idea of A-list actors voice acting in games is a point of curiousity for me. I’m not sure what I’m missing when game commercials use 50 Cent or Vin Diesel or Samuel L. Jackson or some other celebrity as a selling point. Some people I talked to suggested that game-buyers might go for a game with a celebrity because of their talent as an actor, or some similar reason. I might be more inclined to believe that if there were some good actors in these games (actually, close inspection reveals there are a few exceptions, Patrick Stewart voiced a few lines in Elder Scrolls IV, and Ron Perlman did the opening for some of the Fallout games).

And yet, I am a hypocrite.

Brutal Legends is an action/adventure game made by Double Fine. The first trailer for it basically showcases Jack Black voicing the protagonist. Despite the “Look, look! We have Jack Black in this game! You guys like him, right?” feel I got from it, I was still quite excited. Yes, excited. Double Fine is led by Tim Schafer, who has made cult classic games like Pyschonauts, Grim Fandango, and The Secret of Monkey Island. Any snob who has an inflated opinion of the artistic merit of video games knows and loves this guy.

My dilemma with this game then is despite the cartoony aesthetic and overdone voice acting of Jack Black, the designer’s track record is platinum. It’s like if Steven Spielberg, immediately after recieving his Oscar for Saving Private Ryan announced he would be directing a family movie involving a cop dressing as a fat black woman.

Watch this as I have:

Wheelman, as I suspected, is being widely panned as a bad game. However, the interesting thing is that it stars, let me repeat, stars Vin Diesel. To me, this represents an another interesting step that Hollywood is taking to capture the electronic entertainment industry and another step awkward step in blending movies with videogames.

When I first saw the trailers for Wheelman, I wondered, “How does this game benefit from having Vin Diesel as the protagonist rather than just a character rendered on a computer?” It’s not that he can growl out the voice for a badass mercenary driver better than anyone else. Micheal Hollick’s barely a B-list actor and he portrayed Niko Bellic amazingly in Grand Theft Auto IV (and I bet he got paid a whole lot less).

50 Cent did this too by making 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand where he goes from overpaid rapper into terrorist killing badass with biceps the size of small trucks.

Both games confuse me with just their premise. Am I supposed to have fun with this game, or do I, like, experience it, like I would a summer blockbuster movie? Granted, the question is moot anyway because neither game was very good, but they are certainly intriguing indicators as to the cinematic potential of the games industry.

One thing I do NOT like about this concept of stars in games, though, is they probably steal the player’s sense of accomplishment. For 10-20 hours I can only imagine Vin Diesel telling me, “Oh, did you blow up that truck with just the right timing? No. You didn’t. I did. Vin Diesel. I blew up that truck, and you should feel lucky you were there to be a small part of how badass I am.”