The voice actor for the male version of Commander Shepherd says he doesn’t mind if you play as FemShep instead, since he voices so many NPCs in the game that you’ll end up hearing him no matter who you choose.
Speak with PC GamerMark Meer said that when people tell him they’ve only played “his” version of Commander Shepherd, he counters, “Why fail to give credit to Jennifer Hale’s excellent performance?” Hale, of course, voices the female version of Shepherd, and while the majority of Mass Effect playthroughs opt for Meer’s performance, FemShep enjoys a well-known cult popularity.
In addition to being able to voice his support for Hale’s performance, Meer has another reason to encourage players to pick FemShep: Even if they don’t hear his Shepherd, they’ll almost certainly hear his voice somewhere else in the game. “I’m afraid you’ll be forced to encounter me as Niftu Cal and Blasto and every Vorcha you encounter and various other things in the game.”
Meer’s overall Mass Effect reputation includes a total of four named NPC roles; Niftu Cal is a volus found in a Mass Effect 2 side quest; Prazza is a quarian encountered in a similar manner; the vorcha are an entire species, all voiced by Meer; Blasto is a hanar action hero who appears in several films in the universe. Meer can also boast of providing “additional voices” in all three games in the trilogy, with these voices also including the vast majority of the hanar species as well as several additional volus.
It’s not uncommon for voice actors to lend their talents to multiple roles in the same game, especially in large RPGs like the Mass Effect series. What’s a little rarer, however, is that these RPGs feature two protagonists and one of them has left a larger audio footprint in the game than the other. I must confess that I only played Mass Effect as BroShep, but if I return to the series before Mass Effect 5, I’ll definitely be playing as FemShep so I can keep an eye out for Meer’s other roles.
Mass Effect 5 is in good hands as the director confirms that the long-awaited RPG sequel will be directed by four BioWare veterans.
