10 Video Games With The Best Cameos From Star Trek Actors
When every Star Trek series ended, the actors lives kept on going. While many fans know them as Star Trek royalty, some gamers came to know them as the interesting side characters in their favorite RPGs. After all, an actor's gotta keep acting, right?
However, at that place where Trekkies and gamers intersect, there are some really fun moments where someone can hear their favorite Starfleet officer in the middle of their totally unrelated gaming experience. And while small cameos can be fun, some games are simply better at drumming up real Star Trek talent than others.
So, here are ten video games with the best cameos from Star Trek actors.
10 Mass Effect
Get ready to hear a lot from Bioware, because they absolutely love to hire Star Trek alumni. However, let's start with Mass Effect. Not too far off from the galactic adventures they came from, quite a few Trekkie stars did voice acting for this beloved series. The most notable role came from Marina Sirtis, Deanna Troi herself, who played Matriarch Benezia. This character was Liara's mother, a powerful Asari who got indoctrinated by Sovereign when she was trying to infiltrate and stop Saren.
Other than Sirtis, though, both Michael Dorn (Worf) and Armin Shimeran (Quark) added their voices to other characters. Dorn played Gatatog Uvenk in Mass Effect 2, a Krogan trying to usurp fan-favorite companion, Wrex. And Armin aided in several characters, including Fai Dan (ME1), the Salarian Councilor (ME1/ME2), and Counciler Valern (ME3).
9 Bioshock
Yeah, let's already come to an understanding that Armin Shimeran, the actor who played Quark (and Principal Snyder on Buffy the Vampire Slayer), does a lot of video game voice acting. However, he's a pretty big deal in the Bioshock universe: Armin voiced the infamous Andrew Ryan. Yeah, that villain who loves to ask, "would you kindly?". Armin has been terrorizing fans for years with his portrayal of the guy, and they probably had no clue he once was a shady bartender with a heart of gold in a galaxy far away.
Alongside Armin, J.G. Hertzler, who played the beloved recurring Trek character, Martok, played Dr. Grossman, a splicer. Correct, those gross medical professionals that the player runs into and is always hissing about seeing inside your body? That's Martok.
You're welcome.
8 Fallout Series
Wherever there's an open world game, there's always tons of opportunities for actors to play a fun, random character. It's no surprise that so many Star Trek actors ended up in a games like Fallout. Lots of sci-fi creatures, evil organizations, and crazy encounters? Sounds like it could be a Star Trek episode.
Wil Wheaton, Robert Picardo, Michael Dorn, and Tim Russ all had their fun as side characters, from thoughtful super mutant leaders to homicidal robobrains.
However, none of them had as much fun as Rene Auberjonois probably did as Mr. House. Depending on the player's route, Mr. House is the main point of intrigue or the main antagonist of Fallout: New Vegas. He runs New Vegas with an iron grip, but has so many secrets behind his handsome, TV screen face.
7 Code Name: STEAM
This game throws realism right out the window and that's awesome. It's framed as a comic book about steampunk London, where two of the three main characters players are first introduced to are John Henry (voiced by Michael Dorn) and Abraham Lincoln (voiced by Wil Wheaton).
Yes, Wesley Crusher is the President in this world. That's something Wes-haters must accept.
The story blends with a bunch of other classics, like Peter Pan, The Red Badge of Courage, and more. It's a wild experience, but it's even wilder to do it side by side with Wes and Worf.
6 Castlevania
Who doesn't love a edgy, handsome vampire/vampire hunter in their life?
Clearly some Star Trek captains do, since two of them played some serious baddies in Castlevania: Lord of Shadows. Patrick Stewart (Picard) played a good guy twisted by time into a dark necromancer, Zobek. And Jason Isaacs (Lorca)? Well, he literally just plays Satan.
No joke. Actual Satan. They even both come back for the sequel.
It's bad when Dracula comes after someone, thinking they're bad guys. Which is exactly what happens in this video game. Wild to think of these two guys as villains, but guess darkness can change even the best captains... (How many lights are there, Picard?)
5 XCOM 2: War of The Chosen
The Reapers in XCOM 2 are led by Volk, who is voiced by Jonathan Frakes (Riker). The next group, the Templars, ared led by Geist, who's voiced by John De Lacie (Q). And the final group is called the Skirmishers. They are led by Betos, whose voiced by Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar). Yes, the three main leaders of this expansion are all Star Trek stars. Pretty neat.
Michael Dorn (Worf) and Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi) also show up as Pratal Mox and Elena Dragunova, a Skirmisher and Reaper, respectively.
4 Dragon Age
One of the most intimidating figures in the Dragon Age franchise is the mysterious and powerful Flemeth. Eventually discovered to be the vessel for the powerful elven goddess Mythal, the Witch of the Wilds helps and intimidates every hero she comes across. She's voiced by Kate Mulgrew, AKA Captain Janeway. If fans are lucky, they'll hear from Janeway in the inevitable Dragon Age 4.
In Dragon Age: Origins, two other Star Trek stars loaned their voices: Tim Russ (Tuvok) played Zathrian The Keeper and Dominic Keating (Reed) played Mouse. One cursed werewolves to extend his own life and the other was brutally stabbed by Templars, so there's that.
3 Elite Dangerous
Elite Dangerous (2014) is a unique flight simulator set in space. It is the unexpected sequels to Frontiers: First Encounters, from 1995. In it, the player pilots different spaceships through various nebulas and parts of the galaxy with different difficulties.
While the game can seem lonely, gamers have the chance to buy voice packs that include entire characters in them. Lucky for Trekkies, a lot of these characters are old Star Trek alum. William Shatner voiced Orion, Marina Sirtis voiced Carina, Brent Spiner voiced Vega, and John De Lacie voiced Eli.
In all honestly, it's just a few more Trekkies away from being some sort of bizarre crossover fanfic. And that's awesome.
2 Call of Duty Series
While COD doesn't have the volume of Star Trek cameos that other games do, they do have longevity. These games have Bruce Greenwood, who played Pike in the recent movie series, voicing the military tech system Overlord in Modern Warfare 2 and every MW game since then. Yes, very similarly to how Gene Rodeberry's wife, Majel, voiced the computer systems for every Star Trek series.
The games also have Robert Picardo playing Robert McNamara in Black Ops, appearing to the player to give intel. Picardo plays a lot of characters with the same name as him, huh?
1 Family Guy: The Quest For Stuff
This Family Guy game gets a serious nod for sheer volume of cameos alone. This Seth McFarlane creation managed to convince not 5, not 10, but 13 Star Trek alum to reprise either their roles in the series or play themselves in the game. The list is as follows:
LeVar Burton (Geordi), John De Lacie (Q), Michael Dorn (Worf), Johnathon Frakes (Riker), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), Gates McFadden (Crusher), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Leonard Nimoy (Spock), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Will Shatner (Kirk), Marina Sirtis (Troi), Patrick Stewart (Picard and himself), and George Takei (himself).
Yeah, they pulled a lot of Trekkie stars together and for that alone, this game deserves a lot of credit.
Source: screenrant.com