Voice, in particular, is an extremely challenging game-design element to execute. Like in radio, theater, film, or spoken-word performances, the final delivery can either make or break a seemingly good story or even the shortest of dramatic moments. Voice acting in games still has a way to go because the nuances of the human voice - tone, pitch, inflection, accent, speed, and more - must be delivered in the right way to express emotion and personality convincingly. As with many animated-film makers, game developers turn to, and rely on, professional voice talent or well-known actors to bring characters to life. And we've begun to see voice performances readily advertised in game announcements and marketing paraphernalia as an essential feature to the story and to the overall playing experience.

In this TenSpot, we're recognizing the ten computer games with the best voice acting of all time. These are indeed the games that players remember for the expressive tone of voice, the fleeting pauses between words, lingering vowels, emotional inflection, comedic timing, and more. But above all, the voice acting has added so much to these games that they would not be what they are without them. While you might think that these games were all released fairly recently in light of better sound technology and hardware, you'll be surprised, we think, by some of our finalists. Here are, in no particular order, the games.
 

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