New voice for Cole in inFamous 2 explained

A director from Suckerpunch Studios explains why Cole McGrath from inFamous needed a new voice actor.

[RememberThe357]

It doesn't seem like the same character anymore. I can understand changing the looks but changing the voice makes Cole seem like a completely different character with the same name and powers. I' just not feeling it right now. Hopefully I'll get over it.

@sehnsucht: That's is exactly. I know that it should be a big deal. But it is putting me a pause. There is something very uninspired and unoriginal about the new voice actor. I feel like I'm nit picking but I can't seem to get over it.

[sehnsucht]

I'm having the same reaction right now, It doesn't seem like it should be that big of a deal, but it's preventing me from getting hyped about this one.

@RememberThe357: At this point it kind of seems like a new character with the same name. I would have been FINE with a new character if they decided to go that way, it just seems a little odd to revamp a character people have already built (probably) two play-through's worth of time with.

[Bobbykotickrulesz]

The new voice sounds fine to me.

Sounds like pretty much the same guy, without the annoying ass Batman growling.

[RememberThe357]

I meant to say it "shouldn't" be a big deal but that it doesn't feel right. And I think your point of having multiple play throughs is probably my biggest issue. Cole is already a character in my mind and there is nothing about the new Cole that reminds me of the old one. It seem like a completely different character and I'm not sure that I'm OK with that.

[Solid_Malone]

i've got to admit that it is actually bothering me too. I really liked the original voice actor, it fit perfectly with the noir-comic style it was portraying but this new guy seems too americanised (no offence to americans but he sounds like a cheesy typical super hero, which the developers are trying to go into that direction with this new game however it doesnt sound fitting to atmosphere around the infamous universe) and is appealing more to kids :/ whereas original cole seemed more of a mature, realistic type of guy who had to make use of his powers to get out of the city.

From reading what Nate Fox said,
"The old Cole was just a voice actor and since we're starting motion capture work we wanted to get someone who had the physicality and the voice, which we get simultaneously so we have more nuance in our performance"
it seems like they may not be using the comic styled cut scenes which was what set the atmosphere for the first game :/.

Other than that, the game looks good but i do not like the voice actor.

[akiraburn]

You know after reading this I get a much better insight as to why they chose this, although I still would have preferred the original Cole. I myself am an audio engineer/audio designer, and I've also done a bit of voice acting, so I can understand where the issue would lay with this. I did really enjoy the original Cole, and I really would have liked at least his voice actor to remain the same, but I understand why they made the change. Regardless, I am still stoked for the game.

[Hideo_Kojima]

I didn't play the first game so I don't mind but this is weird...

Maybe they should give him a new name as well?
New story?

Change the name of the game?

I can't imagine playing Uncharted 3 and playing as someone who is Drake but looks like this... http://www.buzzbinmagazine....

[Reibooi]

Normally I would be pretty annoyed by something like this but this time I am all for it.

I loved the first Infamous but it was really because of the awesome gameplay and not the characters or story. Most of them I thought were either annoying(like Zeke) or Forgettable(like Cole himself).

This time however it looks like they are changing Cole up a bit and it's a good idea in my opinion. The first game basically had Cole as the stereotypical bald gruff guy who is reluctant to become the hero.(assuming you went the good route of course) This time however I think they can make him alot more interesting.

I am looking forward to the game quite a bit. The trailer looked pretty awesome so I can't wait to play it.

[ReservoirDog316]

Meh, it's not like complaining about it is gonna help anything. Just gotta adapt to new stuff.

And it's not like they got a guy that has a completely different kinda voice. It's not as rough but it's still not squeaky or anything. It's the same ballpark.

Change is only good when it's for the better right? Well, I'm sure it's gonna be for the better.

[wAtdaFck]

"it seems like they may not be using the comic styled cut scenes which was what set the atmosphere for the first game :/. "

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

[Solid_Malone]

seems like thats what Nate Fox is saying, but i hope they keep the comic style cut scenes, it really set the depth of the game, much like Max Payne and its comic strip cutscenes, not many mature games have this type of story telling anymore :/

[sikbeta]

I think it's a Good Move, like he Grow up as a character, deal with the situation and Now Assume he's a hero/have powers and it totally proud of it, well that's what it seems to inspire the new Cole...

[AtatakaiSamurai]

The Xter just seems like a totally different guy who's name also just happens to be Cole too. When InF fans play the game they're going to be going "who's this dude?"

Had they change the outfits and looks of the Xter and kept the voice, easy to assimilate. Had they kept the outter look and change the voice, harder but gamers will adjust... but changing both? that's way too much I'd say.

It's like Max Payne, ain't no way you can tell me that the dude in those pics is max payne or the game is a Max Payne game with all those bright pretty colors everywhere.

We'll see how it turns out but for now, I just don't enjoy the new Cole at all.

[LoVeRSaMa]

All in all what this shows that sucker punch did such a good job with the atmosphere and connecting us to the character that we cannot let go..

Things have changed, it's straining us, but I have faith again in them to show us Cole in the next episode of his crazy superhero life and the tasks he's now up against.

I can't wait :D

[Tommykrem]

Yeah, I agree. Even though Cole's original voice was a bit weird, it made an original character (Well, it's kind of a cliché on an evil character though) I sure hope they'll keep Quinton Flynn as "the photographer" though, that man is a genius.

[deadreckoning666]

Didn't the old Cole have a generic, tough guy voice?

[callahan09]

These are all really great reasons for the new actor and thus new character design, and personally I like the new style of Cole a lot more than the generic original. What's most important, though, is the gameplay, and it's looking better than ever with the screens & trailer we saw and based on the descriptions of IGN and Geoff Keighly, et al. Having a more cinematic game with fully mo-capped animations and all acting performed during mo-cap sessions a la Uncharted is definitely the way I want to see things go, so this is great news in my opinion.

[sehnsucht]

I got what you meant anyway.

Wonder why we're getting so many disagrees on this one

[ABizzel1]

Stop crying, at least he sounds somewhat similar. You love inFamous for the game, not just because of Cole. Get over it.

[Solid_Malone]

Actually i liked infamous because of cole's character and the art direction that was put into his character. He was unique which guranteed that the story must have been well thought through which made him stand out from other generic characters. If the protagonist of Infamous wasn't unique, i assure you, the protagonist would of been as generic as shane from haze.

[himdeel]

...if there writers aren't totally brain dead.

EXAMPLE: S P O I L E R - For anyone that hasn't complete inFamous.

After Kessler icy grasp leaves Cole's face in the final scene time itself begins to warps and bends around them both. Kessler's final gift to Cole is a new reality a clean slate where Cole is changed, younger, powers in tact, but now find himself in the ultimate power struggle with the BEAST!

/and scene

[himdeel]

dbl post

[vhero]

The main point is this. If you keep the same character you don't change his voice on the second game especially as they completely changed his looks too. He is only gonna be Cole in name in the second game now. New powers/Look/Voice.. Infamous 2 Cole isn't the same character pure and simple. They can't say he is he isn't!

[Persistantthug]

What I'd like more, is if they developed new and more hero's and villians, give them their own sets of powers, their own stories, and their own perspectives.

Next thing you know, Sony would have their own Marvel'ish world/universe.

Leave Cole alone, Sucker Punch...not every hero has to be someone "likeable" or "mancrush" worthy.
There's something to be said for being genuine and just being "who you are"....genuine.

[FACTUAL evidence]

When I was in elementary, teachers told me 3 things that makes a good story. Those three things were, setting, story, and CHARACTER.

[Heisenberg]

And as much as I want this game to kick ass, changing the main character completely, only keeping the name was and is a mistake, there was no call for it... Cole is an established character, we spent the whole last game getting to know him, and to add insult to injury, the new voice sounds pretty lame, like a poorly Nathan Drakified version of Cole.

They could have tweeked the look, even give him some hair and hire a new voice actor, but they changed his personality it seems, and made his voice completely different, not just an improved version of his old voice (which would have been better.) This Cole seems less badass...

[Davoh]

Cole in InFamous 2 explained:
New Hairstyle = He grew it
New Clothes = He took a bath
New Face = He had plastic surgery
New Voice = He had a throat transplant

Seriously though, this is like if Kratos for God of War 3 became black, wore a suit and was voiced by Nolan North. A sequel of the same character is meant to have the same character

[AtatakaiSamurai]

Kratos IS black :/ Well, Dark skined

[neolit]

I second that.
I really liked the first game. Got it day one and never regretted it.
The sequel... Man, I cringed when they changed his look to a New Kids on the Block boy band crap.
Of course, once they did that, the old voice did not work anymore, so they had to change the voice...
I will pass this time around...
Someone was very stupid to do this... They destroyed the franchise...

[Tomdc]

they turned him from a regular guy to some skater extreme sports dick. Hes recently lost the love of his life which means he know goes around spouting one liners?

[tigertron]

I prefer the old Cole, I don't really think it was necessary changing his character...don't fix what isn't broken Sucker Punch.

[callahan09]

Did you read it? They're going for a more immersive, cinematic type of game this time. In order to do that, they wanted to motion-capture everything, and they wanted all of the performances captured in real-time, with the acting & the mo-cap done together, so they needed a new actor who could portray the physical Cole because the original actor couldn't do that stuff. This is definitely a worthy reason for the change. The biggest let-down of the original game to me was the in-game cutscenes. The animation was crap. This is going to make the whole game so much more immersive and impressive to behold.

[pody]

Maybe read the article before you comment tigertron. Agreed callahan09.

[magnifier]

Sorry, but did you read it? They could have used the same voice actor and another person for the motion capture. Just some poor excuse to justify what they have done.

[shwiggity]

dont comment on things you know nothing about...
i've read from several places that simultaneously doing motion capture and voice acting at the same time makes the experience much much better

[sorceror171]

Look, people change. They grow their hair out, get tattoos, fine. Their personality can develop and change, fine. If SP can sell the changes dramatically, fine. If there's a reason *why* he changed his appearance that way, *why* he's "less grumpy" now even after going through what he did in the first game, that's great.

But they're going to have to sell it. I'm reasonably confident they can, but you don't get to just swap things around 'cause you think it's cool.

And one thing that doesn't change is someone *face*. The new Cole has a different face than the old - broader nose, etc. If he had cosmetic surgery, maybe - but you have to explain someone operating on him without getting electrocuted, and explain why Cole would do that.

SP gets a lot of credit with me for inFamous... but they're going to have to spend a lot to get my buy-in on the new Cole. It's not impossible, but...

[callahan09]

I don't understand why my comment got so many disagrees? They wanted the game to be more cinematic. It says so right in the article. They needed an actor who could do the physical stuff. The cinematics are being motion-captured like Uncharted 2, that means that the actors' eyes and mouths are motion-captured, meaning that the voice actor and the motion-capture actor not only have to be the same person, but the voice performance has to be recorded during the physical action performance. This is how it's done with Uncharted, and last I checked that game was one of the most praised of all time for its cinematic immersion and presentation.

[Heisenberg]

they could have still written the character to be the same personality type, and same sort of voice, an actor is hired to act the way his or her part is written, the new Cole is the way he is not because they changed the actor etc.. but because they wrote him and intended him to be a different Cole.

[neolit]

what is this? Reality TV or a game. What a load of *** for a justifiable reason to completely change the character. Man, we had movies being finished with the main actors dead and you need a new look because the original voice actor could not do the motion capturing...
Give me a break!
Stop justifying a decision that was probably made in one of the sales/marketing team meetings. Those @-holes ruined the franchise.

[bjornbear]

=|

[e-p-ayeaH]

This sequel will be refreshing! its not i like Cole´s voice but since this to fit better the character style i kinda agree with this.

[BeaArthur]

I don't mind the change. He sounds similar and it's not like they are changing the voice of Kratos or Mario (a legendary character).

[ALFAxD_CENTAURO]

It doesn't make sense, it is like changing the voice from Snake in MGS.

[Neo Nugget]

The old Cole was dull and boring. New Cole actually seems like he has some sort of depth to him.

I feel this sequel will be like having ice cold water splashed on you after a long trek in the desert. Don't misread my statement though. InFamous 1 kicked so much ass it's not even funny.

[Redempteur]

we are in the minority because i agree with you
First i loved infamous ..i platiniuimed it ..i finished that damn game three time and i have one play where i'm only missing ONE shard with no idea where it is ..

Cole in the first infamous was as generic as you can be ..the new look has won me yet but i welcome the change
( you can say that cole is recuperating after the blast now time has past and he's got his original voice back ( simple )

the main point is ...will Infamous 2 be as fun as the first ? i don't care much more about cole looks beyond that point ..

[LOLconsoles]

I always thought cole didn't have hair in the first one cause it'd look something like this : http://www.shrani.si/f/0/y/...

[pody]

hehe nice

[Raoh]

i dont care about a new voice actor but from the trailers i've seen it seems like they want to make a Nathan Drake clone

pitiful and just a terrible decision

[Morituri]

Actually, his previous voice was annoying as hell. Batman much? That and the smudge smudge sound his shoes made when he walked.

I welcome this new Cole. Just 86 the smudge smudge please.

[Hellsvacancy]

I aint feelin the new look/voice, i prefer the old Cole, the new one looks too. . . . . cute?, yeah thats it, he looks like a ladys man whereas the old Cole had the look of sum mofo that would tear your head off in an argument if u upset him (looks a little like me)

Ill hav to wait and see i guess im buyin it day 1 either way, they could of replaced Cole with this guy http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/i... and id STILL buy it day 1, i REALLY liked how the 1st game ended "CliffHanger"

[HurstDarkStar]

when has anyone complained about a batman voice?

[djfullshred]

"it seems important that your hero is someone you'd want to have a beer with."

Really? I myself always like those anti-hero archtypes (ala Clint Eastwood), and those were not the kinds of characters you wanted to hang out with as a buddy. But they were characters you wouldn't mind being in your wildest imagination.

Maybe that is what I am not liking about the new Cole. They are trying to make him a guy you want to hang out with & drink beer. While I want to play as a badass that people probably wouldn't really want to hang out with at the bar.

[Derekvinyard13]

For the COMPLETE MORONS complaining about his old voice i have to say you guys are morons. inFAMOUS sold over a million copies and the dark knight made over a billion dollers now domestic and forign. it looks like no one HATES the raspy voice. the point here is why would sucker punch do this? this is ALMOST like changing drakes voice and look and saying dont worry it will be fine. but they wouldent do that because WHO CARES if you want him to look more mainstream. IMO it looks like they tried to make cole look appeling to skaters. we can all agree he dosent look cool eaither.

[djfullshred]

What, you don't think those wannabe tattoos look cool? Well, I guess 12 year old skaters waiting until they are old enough to get tattoos will think they are cool. ;-)

[Derekvinyard13]

his look isnt the main problem, his voice is. i mean look at other games such as uncharted and god of war. im gunna take a wild guess and say the reason this is being made is because the first one sold good. such as uncharted, then look uncharted 2 came. no changes just gameplay and the voice actors stayed the same. it sold better. why change what people liked?

[magnifier]

But changing out the old, awesome Cole with this new, lame and "sporty" Cole, is just wrong.

[Derekvinyard13]

AGREE 10000000000000%

[neolit]

sporty, healthy, springy, bouncy, vegetarian, tree hugging, member of the green peace and utterly dull and lame Cole...

I don't want to play that character... I want to import him into inFamous1 and have the old Cole whup his ass like there is no tomorrow.

[GrandDragon]

Well the new look and voice has put me off from buying the game, but just imagine if I'm not buying the game because of this change imagine all the other people who feel the same as me.

This change could potentially break the game and even ruin it's sales. If they went for slight change to Cole's face but kept the jacket and voice then that would be ok, but this new Cole looks like a completely new person.

He now looks like a wannabe Nathen Drake and he's lost that 'unique' feel. SP are great developers but they need to change him back for the better.

[pody]

Fail

[GrandDragon]

You'll see when the game comes out, just because it'a a PS3 game doesn't mean it's perfect. This is a very big mistake and if they don't fix it then....

Well you'll see

[FFXI101]

looks ok, I understand why they'd want a new looking Cole but I still perfer/miss the old Cole.

Maybe they can do a unlockable character(or DLC) So people could use the Cole from inFamous.

[MoB21]

First of all i wouldnt get your hopes up for a DLC of an old character model. And two, at first i really was like WTF with the new model. But after seeing the trailer and some of those new screenshots (the one with Cole next to Zeke), it kinda grew on me and im really diggin the new style.

[maddhatter123]

i don't care about the character changes all that much if you look at any super hero franchise they all have lots of changes. the new spider man dimensions game is proof of this it has like 4 different spider men. super heroes always change but keep the same origin story so i don't see why infamous can't do the same.

[N4BmpS]

Finally someone who speaks with sense.

[house]

its just with change even if its for the good or bad people always freak out

[Hazmat13]

obama!! change!!!! YAAA!!!!!

[DigitalAnalog]

Depending on the ending you've finished on Infamous 1. I want to see that transition for the sequel. Otherwise, the whole morality thing is just......

POINTLESS.

-End statement

[djfullshred]

I admit I don't know what's happening with the new game other than those pics, but I am sensing it is a "reboot" rather than straight up sequel. I think they looked at previous sales, got some marketing focus groups, did surveys, look at games like Uncharted 2 winning GOTY...and started with a fresh piece of paper to try to come up with better sales in the sequel.

[DigitalAnalog]

Because they've showcased

THE BEAST.

You'll understand when you finish the game.

-End statement

[Redempteur]

it's a sequel

was cole supposed to be affected by the sphere blast all his life ?

People recover , heal ..especially super heroes

Now 2 years later things happenned

[Knightofelemia]

I would have used a new actor for the motion capture its self the orginal voice actor of Cole defined Cole as a solid character in the first game. Just like Mark Hammel defined the Joker in the Batman tv show and the Batman game. But time will tell if this new Cole can pull it off.

[Sanhlami]

can't they just say in the story that during the accident his voice and hair were damaged and now time has pass by he's healing, and his electrical powers is helping him heal... it would at least connect the change in charater to the 1st game. or something like that

[Nuckles]

If the game is good does it really matter that they changed cole a little.

[djfullshred]

Not really, but it is an interesting debate for us that were geeks for the first game. ;-)

[R_aVe_N]

I think people are making a big deal out of nothing really. The old voice of Cole was very generic at best. All that matter is the gameplay really, but I can understand that people liked the way the old Cole looked, but I really don't see a problem with them changing it at all. SuckerPunch delivered a great game the first time around in inFamous I will have no problem at all believing they will do the same with the next one.

[LinuxGuru]

Interesting, so it seems animation is being improved with the use of mo-cap. Nice.

[Ripyealip]

I feel they are going to mess up with the next game(but things can always be changed). If they wanted to have him look like this and sound like this they should have done it in the first one. Why is thier ice powers? i swear infamous was about electric powers. i swear in the first game you couldnt even touch water, now he has powers with water(ice)? Im starting to think that the explosion gave him the power to adapt to things around him. only explanation right?

The game seems all over the place right now. its like thier puling new things out of no where.

[goromei]

I have faith in Sucker Punch. They know what they're doing.

[Magna Farta]

...when I first saw the new Cole, the first word that popped into my head was "douchebag"

The old Cole had the weight of the world on his shoulders, and his voice, look and personality fitted that demeanor perfectly. By the time the game was over, he looked and sounded like the events of the game aged him.

This "new" Cole looks like he could be a contestant on Vh1's Tool Academy. He has a generic "pompous asshole" look to him now, and it doesn't sit well with me at all.

If anything, the new Cole should've been in the first game, and the old Cole would've better reflected the character in the sequel as an aged, somewhat bitter hero with a score to settle

[Spenok]

Kind of an odd reason to change the voice actor. However at the same time it makes sence. At the moment i like the first voice actor for Cole better, however im going to give the new one a chance. Something tells me by the time i finish the game ill love him all the same as the first.

[Figboy]

some of you guys are overreacting.

i guess i'm in the camp that didn't think the original Cole was anything to write home about.

his design was ok, i guess, but didn't really fit with a bike messenger. it looked like it was designed to make him look like a "modern day superhero," instead of the spandex and tights super hero. kind of like what they do with just about every super hero franchise in comics (like the X-Men movies).

the voice actor was ok for the original Cole, but he felt too much like a guy trying to do a "cool guy" voice. it didn't sound like a natural delivery to me. David Hayter slips ups also sometimes while playing Snake.

i think once the game is finally in people's hands, they'll have a change of opinion about the new Cole. it's all about execution. we haven't heard enough of new Cole to really gauge how much we'll like him. narration NEVER sounds good, in movies or games, which is what he does in the debut trailer. the delivery of his "It's always somethin'" at the end of the trailer sounded much more natural.

i'm with-holding judgment, but people saying they can't get excited for the game because of this change seems a bit, i don't know, EXTREME.

[hallz907]

Seems like they are trying to create a more likable character, much like Drake. I personally like the old Cole better, he was more bad ass...

[Redempteur]

old cole voice was generic ..that's why he could became anything in the first game ...

whatever path you take ( evil or not ) it still sounded the same and it should have not.

This new voice also fit with the new delivery on the choice SP wants to do in Infamous 2

[jaosobno]

New Cole sounds like a pussy. I can't stand his new voice. Old one was perfect. Dark and charismatic.

[Swiftfox]

I am personally worried about a Resistance 2 repeat. Where there is a real change in gameplay and feel to the finished product that removes what made the first game fun in the first place.

When a good game happens it's not just because of gameplay, or just because of graphics. It's a combination of everything. Everything in Infamous worked and worked well. I'm just worried that changing even the character design or art design will be enough to through the title off. Though I do hope I'm wrong and that as we know more and more about the title things will make more sence and even out.

[AtatakaiSamurai]

Old Cole - Total Badass and felt like a "real" guy

New Cole - 19yr old Pretty Mama's boy trying to act tough without breaking a well manicure finger nail.

We'll all play the game sure and probably tolerate the voice change by the end but to those that got endeared to the old Cole, it will always seem like a totally new guy who's name also happens to be Cole.

[Darkfiber]

He sounds like Martin Sheen. He is way too old sounding to be playing a 20something year old guy.

[Gene]

Can't wait to be leaping off tall buildings again.