The Troy Baker Effect

Chances are that if you follow the industry you’ve heard the name: Troy Baker. If for some reason you haven’t, let me quickly catch you up on who he is and why you should be paying attention. Let’s bring up some characters from recently released games: Joel [The Last of Us], Jack Mitchell [Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare], Pagan Min [Far Cry 4], Talion [Shadow of Mordor], The Joker [Batman: Arkham Origins], (the list goes on, but you get the idea). Troy Baker brings some of the best and favorite video-game characters to life. In fact, he is so good and consistent that he carries what we can call the “Troy Baker Effect” – the ability to get people excited about games purely out of the fact that he is associated with them (a rare feat for a voice actor).

Voice actors are important in modern games. With the advancement of technology and the increasing popularity of video games, we also get the advancement of storytelling. Video games are no longer simply about the graphics or gameplay, but are now also judged on their plot and their characters. As we all know, the characters and story can make or break a game (think Red Dead Redemption as opposed to Assassin’s Creed III). But being a good character is increasingly dependent on having strong voice actors who can bring them to life, make us care for them, and make us feel as if we’re becoming that character and exploring the world through their eyes and actions many developer studios now also use motion capture with their voice actors. As a result, not only do we get talent their voices, but  also  their physical presence can add the ability to have them act out the scenes, instead of being in stuck a booth. With Troy Baker, his ability to bring a magnitude of different characters to life is not only impressive, but makes each game feel fresh knowing he’s putting his spin on the character at hand.

For example, one of my favorite game series is Batman Arkham from RockSteady Studios. In the original two games [Batman: Arkham Asylum & Arkham City], The Joker plays a heavy role in the story and is voiced by the legendary actor Mark Hamill, who many say is *THE* voice of the Joker. Now, with Mark Hamill saying he’s done with voicing Joker and the popularity of the character in the Batman universe, it’s not easy task to find someone who can pull it off well. Who else could fill the legendary big shoes left by someone like Hamill? In their time of crisis, there was only one person Montreal could turn to: Troy Baker. And not only did he absolutely kill the role, bringing The Joker to life, but I’d argue that he was on par with (if not even better than) Hamill himself. It’s not an easy task to get Joker’s voice just right. You need to be able to sound crazy, yet sane. You have to give purpose behind his mayhem, while being able to do the trademark laugh of his before he goes blowing something up. Troy was able to hit all the nails on the head, and deliver what many thought couldn’t be done: a Mark Hamill-style Joker.

I’m sure you’ve heard of a little title called The Last of Us? It’s supposed to be an amazing game, and apparently it won many awards or something? If you asked the majority of people what made The Last of Us so special, many would tell you that it was the story and the characters. If you go deeper, it’s the relationship between Ellie and Joel, who, again, is voiced by Troy Baker. Of course, credit needs to be given to Ashley Johnson (who did an outstanding job as Ellie), but Troy’s Joel consistently steals the show. The most impressive thing about Joel are the  different levels of emotions he experiences throughout the story. Despite the fact that he is a stone-cold former hunter and a killer, you understand where he’s coming from, why he’s doing what he’s doing, and you always want everything to work out for him in the end. Troy is able to bring such emotion behind all of actions that Joel honestly ends up feeling like a real person you know. It’s rare for a game to make you care that much about a character, and it’s also rare to get a voice actor to bring that kind of emotion to a character.

If you want another perfect example of the “Troy Baker Effect,” let’s talk about Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. I’ll be the first to say I’m not the biggest fan of the Uncharted series, so when Sony announced Uncharted 4 I wasn’t that excited or thrilled. I had no hype, and wasn’t paying attention to any of the stories surrounding the game’s development. Now let’s rewind a week to Sony’s PlayStation Experience in Las Vegas. There, they showed us a 15 minute gameplay demo of Uncharted 4 and, lo-and-behold, they introduce Drake’s older brother, voiced by – you guessed it – Troy Baker. So now, not only has my interest in the game peaked, but I’m curious about what the story surrounding the brother is. One thing is for sure – the character and the plot are very likely to be interesting and engaging given that Troy is involved.

Many gamers probably don’t even pay attention to who’s voicing a certain character; that’s certainly been the case most of the time I’ve been gaming. But it all slowly started to change when I heard BioShock Infinite’s Booker, also voiced by Troy Baker, and then I noticed his name popping up more and more in games I’ve really been enjoying the past few years. When you stop to think about it, majority of the games he’s been in have also been rated highly, or praised for the characters in the story. Now, just like someone might be excited because a famous director is behind a certain movie, I get just as excited when I learn that Troy Baker is voicing one of the characters in a game.

We’re in this new age of gaming where the voice actors are not longer just in booths giving their performance, but are actually acting each scene out with mo-cap [Motion Capture]. As with movies, actors and directors are what sell them more so than the title or premise. If you think about it, video games have a chance to slowly move towards the same direction. Just like you get excited about Christian Bale or Ben Affleck being in a blockbuster movie, the same goes for games with Troy Baker in them. What used to be just a name at the end of the credits after beating a game now has a chance to captivate or even excite people. While I don’t see the front of the box bearing their names, voice actors such as Troy Baker have now become well known among gamers and announcements about their involvement certainly grab the attention.

There’s no other voice actor in the game industry that has this much influence over me, and it’s not hard to see why (no, it’s not just his charm and good looks). When multiple games in recent years have come out with interesting stories, coupled with the fact that they all featured Troy Baker, and that majority have been highly rated games, it’s easy to put the two-and-two together. As someone who loves getting enriched and immersed in a story, his ability to bring the characters to life matches none other and his name behind a project means he trusts that the story will be good, and we should too.

That’s the “Troy Baker Effect,”  – the ability to get people excited about games purely because of the fact that he is associated with them. When you look at all the work he’s done in the past, the characters he’s voiced and brought to life, and how he can do it even though half the time you don’t even realize it’s him, it’s no wonder that someone who wants to be immersed in a story would have their interest peaked by Troy Baker’s performance. It’s exciting to find out what his next project will be, but you can be almost certain that whatever it is, it’ll certainly be worth your attention.