10 Best Lead Voice Acting Performances In Video Games

2. James McCaffrey - Max Payne

There's Nathan Drake cool, and then there's James McCaffrey's Max Payne cool.

First appearing in Remedy's tribute to film noir and graphic novels, Payne was written to be a vengeance-chasing cocktail of painkillers and one-liners. His monologues are historic, the insights into his psyche all fascinating and darkly hilarious. Max knows he's on a suicide mission to bring down those who killed his family, but his comments on neon-soaked New York winter and commerce along the way have stuck with an entire generation of gamers ever since.

For Max Payne 3, Rockstar took over on script duties and turned Max's addiction to painkillers into something altogether more destructive. They really made him hit rock bottom and yet, his humour and Watchmen Comedian-esque comments on depravity stayed.

Referring to himself as a "dime store angel of death", once you 'get' Max's personality, you'll be laughing along with just how ridiculous the idea of this Hawaiian shirt-wearing addict taking on the mob truly is.