Prolific video game voice actors Nolan North and Troy Baker are doing a Let's Play of Uncharted on their YouTube channel Retro Replay, and I never knew how badly I needed it until now.
For the unfamiliar: North is the voice of Uncharted protagonist Nathan Drake, and on top of being a massive Uncharted fan, Baker is the voice of Nathan's brother Sam Drake in the later games. Both of them have a lot of history with developer Naughty Dog and its Uncharted series, but where Baker is a huge fan of the games, North is relatively new to actually playing them.
North spends most of the first 35-minute Let's Play episode bumbling through set pieces while reminiscing about what it was like to do the voiceover and motion-capture work. Meanwhile, Baker, who says he discovered the Uncharted series at a low point in his career, gushes over the level design and shepherds North through parkour puzzles. It's amazing. These quotes from North should give you some idea of what you're in for:
- "This is not fun watching myself die all the time!"
- "Hold on, I'm very good in this scene."
- "Ah christ, I don't know what to do."
- "HYUP! I made that noise."
- "God damnit, I hate being bad!"
- Oh, and there's this gem from Baker: "I love that you're already frustrated."
Not only is this one of the most entertaining Let's Plays ever, it's also one of the most informative. North has an anecdote for every other scene, like how director Amy Hennig worked with the cast to improvise the script for every recording session, or how he was initially worried the game would kill off Elena Fisher. I love the bits about Sully, too, and not just the way North impersonates him. North says Sully's character was especially improv-heavy, with voice actor Richard McGonagle inventing now-iconic mannerisms on the fly. I highly recommend giving the Let's Play a watch, especially if you're a fan of Uncharted or Naughty Dog's other games.
Speaking of celebrity Let's Plays: Jack Black recently played Brutal Legend, a game starring himself.
