I apologize in advance for the lack of video embedding in this post.  Youtube and Firefox aren't getting along on my computer at the moment.
 
After all of the internet bitching regarding Samus's voice in Metroid:  Other M, I became puzzled.  In general, her voice acting is really not that bad.  Does her narration sound flat?  Yes it does, but it's a matter-of-fact tone that one might adopt while recalling past events.  Listen to her actual dialogue with other characters, and the tone and emotion is there, and it's rather well done.  In general, if there's anything wrong with Samus's dialogue, it's the fault of a script with an over-dependence on narration (i.e.:  telling, rather than showing), and some at-times clunky writing; elements over which the voice actors have no direct control.
 

I apologize in advance for the lack of video embedding in this post.  Youtube and Firefox aren't getting along on my computer at the moment.
 
After all of the internet bitching regarding Samus's voice in Metroid:  Other M, I became puzzled.  In general, her voice acting is really not that bad.  Does her narration sound flat?  Yes it does, but it's a matter-of-fact tone that one might adopt while recalling past events.  Listen to her actual dialogue with other characters, and the tone and emotion is there, and it's rather well done.  In general, if there's anything wrong with Samus's dialogue, it's the fault of a script with an over-dependence on narration (i.e.:  telling, rather than showing), and some at-times clunky writing; elements over which the voice actors have no direct control.
 

I don't think it's fair comparing a modern game like Matroid: Other M, a game which is the latest in one of Nintendo's main franchises and so expected to have high production values to decades old games.

Sounds like a bunch of butthurt fanboys to me. Or maybe fans that wanted a true Metroid or another Prime. But I haven't played the game, so who am I to judge.

Resident Evil 1 is not a valid comparison for one good reason. It was TRYING to sound like a bad B movie so the voice acting was intentionally done that way to be schlocky.  Listen to the words they say for gods sake "Jill the Master of Unlocking?  You almost became a Jill Sandwich?" how is someone supposed to say those crappy lines with a straight face?

" Resident Evil 1 is not a valid comparison for one good reason. It was TRYING to sound like a bad B movie so the voice acting was intentionally done that way to be schlocky.  Listen to the words they say for gods sake "Jill the Master of Unlocking?  You almost became a Jill Sandwich?" how is someone supposed to say those crappy lines with a straight face? "

" I don't think it's fair comparing a modern game like Matroid: Other M, a game which is the latest in one of Nintendo's main franchises and so expected to have high production values to decades old games. "

" Sounds like a bunch of butthurt fanboys to me. Or maybe fans that wanted a true Metroid or another Prime. But I haven't played the game, so who am I to judge. "

Compare it to something like Arc Rise Fantasia's dub and I'm sure they'd very appreciative of it.

" @HandsomeDead said:

" I don't think it's fair comparing a modern game like Matroid: Other M, a game which is the latest in one of Nintendo's main franchises and so expected to have high production values to decades old games. "

Bad voice acting is bad no matter the era."

I think it's worth mentioning that all narration is monotone and self-indulgent, and I'm a Dexter fan!  I think I'd have trouble reading this with a straight face:
 
 I love Halloween. The one time of year when everyone wears a mask... not just me. People think it's fun to pretend you're a monster. Me, I spend my life pretending I'm not. Brother, friend, boyfriend - All part of my costume collection. Some people might call me a fraud. Let's see if it will fit. I prefer to think of myself as a master of disguise.

The dealbreaker for me is if there's bad voice acting during gameplay. I can handle bad voice acting during cutscenes. Often it's actually kind of funny. But when I have to hear "Take this! Flame buster! RAAAH!" etc. every time I do a certain move, my eyebrows start twitching.

" @Hailinel said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" I don't think it's fair comparing a modern game like Matroid: Other M, a game which is the latest in one of Nintendo's main franchises and so expected to have high production values to decades old games. "

Bad voice acting is bad no matter the era."

Yeah, but expectations are completely different. Resident Evil was one of the first games to have complete voice acting and House of the Dead 2 is an arcade game from a decade ago, neither of those are expected or even required to have stellar voice acting but when you reach 2010 and take a 20ish year franchise, try to modernise it by fleshing out the character of Samus and then have bad voice acting, it's a different thing entirely. "

" I think it's worth mentioning that all narration is monotone and self-indulgent, and I'm a Dexter fan!  I think I'd have trouble reading this with a straight face:
 
 I love Halloween. The one time of year when everyone wears a mask... not just me. People think it's fun to pretend you're a monster. Me, I spend my life pretending I'm not. Brother, friend, boyfriend - All part of my costume collection. Some people might call me a fraud. Let's see if it will fit. I prefer to think of myself as a master of disguise. "

" @HandsomeDead said:

" @Hailinel said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" I don't think it's fair comparing a modern game like Matroid: Other M, a game which is the latest in one of Nintendo's main franchises and so expected to have high production values to decades old games. "

Bad voice acting is bad no matter the era."

Yeah, but expectations are completely different. Resident Evil was one of the first games to have complete voice acting and House of the Dead 2 is an arcade game from a decade ago, neither of those are expected or even required to have stellar voice acting but when you reach 2010 and take a 20ish year franchise, try to modernise it by fleshing out the character of Samus and then have bad voice acting, it's a different thing entirely. "

Maybe they weren't required, but the voice acting in those old games was still terrible.  It doesn't matter what the games' budgets were or where the priorities were placed during development.

Samus and maybe Adam actually have some pretty good acting-the script is just garbage. Everyone else is terrible, though (I will admit that I found Anthony kind of charming, however).

I'm with you in that Samus's voice acting is not aggressively bad. Personally I reserve that descriptor for when someone overshoots a character; Samus undershot hers, which isn't as bad. The script--or maybe just the localization, I don't know--is really awkward, though. I can't think of any specific quotes, but I remember whenever she was talking about dudes calling her "princess" or "lady", those parts in particular were very poor. If there's one thing that begs for improvement, it's not the voice work, it's the actual words that people are saying.
 
This is Nintendo dipping its toe into the world of sophisticated narrative, so I'm not surprised that there are some rough edges to Other M's presentation. Still, I admire Nintendo's daring. I mean, you can only give so many points for effort, but at least they're trying something new. I really respected that about Other M (I really disliked the game on its own merits, though).
 
EDIT: This isn't much of a compare-and-contrast. Just saying...

I think people don't compare it to House of the Dead and Resident Evil because the bar has been raised in recent years due to better funding and more professional voice actors entering the business.  Personally, I cannot comment on Samus' voice since I have not played the game.