Keifer is so much of an upgrade over Hayter it's not even funny, it absolutely boggles my mind that people are still pining for David Hayter's voice in this game. His caricatured tough-guy schtick was fine for the PS1 era, but not anymore.
I have a running joke with a friend of mine that dates back to 1998, where we do a Solid Snake voice whenever we're unexpectedly disappointed by something. "What?! They're out of Tutti Frutti?! It caan't beeee!" The reason why it's such an easy voice to impersonate is because, at it's heart, it's a very silly performance. It's camp acting, he's like the Adam West of video games. Which is perfectly adequate in a "it's my destiny to be here... in the boooox!" sort of way, but it's obvious that MGS V's story is largely dropping the campy vibe, and as far as I'm concerned it's the right decision to drop Hayter along with it. Keeping Hayter now is like casting Adam West in the 1989 Batman movie.
I think Keifer does a fine job, and he does sound older and a bit more dynamic than Hayter, which is important for the tone Kojima seems to be going for in MGS5. With that being said, re-watching MGS1 and 2 as Drew played them, Hayter's VO is pretty good and he's definitely capable of delivering emotion and setting mood, but I can see why it was changed. I'd love for him to make a cameo in the game, though.
Log in to comment