There was a time when video game voice acting could've conceivably doubled as torture. Simply slap a pair of headphones on your primary suspect and proceed to bang out a 'best of the mid-'90s' VO playlist. I'll bet that by the time they reached Grandia, said villain would have been too busy contemplating the innumerable, illogical absurdities of the 'Jill sandwich' to put up too much of a struggle. Word to the wise - if they're muttering something about a wizard, the moon, and sucking on their thumb from the foetal position then you know you've gone too far.

Thankfully, in-game audio has come an awfully long way since then. For example, we now have actual professionals voicing our icons, as opposed to whichever member of the penal system didn't fancy stamping out license plates that day. Today's big list of stuff will attempt to acquaint you with some of the more prolific players in the modern industry. Particular attention has been paid to the most versatile stars therein, as opposed to folks like Keith David who're specifically contracted for their rich, silky speaking voices. Sorry about that Keith, but knowing that the same bloke voices both Batman and Sonic is just way teresting.

Who? Robin Atkin Downes is a film, television, theatre and video game voice actor, mo-cap performer and music producer. He also has experience in directing. Think of him as the Swiss army knife of this list. A Swiss army knife with great hair.

Who else? Downes portrays Metal Gear Solid's Kaz Miller, Just Cause's Rico Rodriguez, Uncharted 2's Tenzin, Ratchet and Clank's Captain Slag, Team Fortress 2's Medic and Gear of War's Locust Kantus - among others.

Who? Jennifer Hale is the veritable 'first lady' of video game voice acting, though she's also appeared in several live action productions. Last year Hale engaged in a spirited 8-week hot-air balloon race, vying against Tara Strong for the opportunity to call 'dibs' on all of 2015's best roles. Of course, none of that actually happened, but it should've done.

Who else? Hale is the woman behind Bioshock Infinite's Rosalind Lutece, MGS2's Emma Emmerich, Metroid Prime's Samus Aran, Halo 4's Sarah Palmer and Mass Effect's female rendering of Shepard. She also provided the voicework for both versions of Metal Gear Solid's Naomi Hunter (both the early British and later American incarnations).

Who? Mike Patton is the uber eclectic frontman of Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, and about a dozen other bands. He began voice acting in 2007, and is typically tasked with providing gruesome monster noises.

Who else? Patton has provided the pipes behind Portal 2's Anger Core, Left 4 Dead's Infected (including the Smoker Hunter variants) as well as The Darkness' titular nasties. Oh, and he's also responsible for Bionic Commando 09's gritty, cheeseball hero.

Who? Tara Strong is a well known voice over artist and television actress. Her distinctive surname was bestowed upon her by the old gods after witnessing Tara's completion of the 12 labours of Hercules. Of the 12, Tara counts the Lernaean Hydra as being the single most challenging foe.

Who else? Strong has voiced Batman: Arkham's Harley Quinn, Mortal Kombat's Ferra, Metal Gear's Paz, Jak Daxter's Keira and Final Fantasy X's Rikku. Plus a boatload more.

Who? Armin Shimerman is a film and television actor best known for playing Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Principal Snyder and Star Trek: Deep Space 9's Quark. Fun fact: Shimerman came up with the design for Quark's face while bashing a catcher's mitt with a baseball bat? No, not really, but he might as well have done.

Who else? Shimerman has appeared as Mass Effect's Salarian Councillor, Ratchet and Clank's Dr. Nefarious and Bioshock's Andrew Ryan.

Who? Grey DeLisle is a singer, voice actress and occasional stand-up comic. She also goes by the pseudonym of 'Grey Griffin', which probably comes in really handy during live action role-playing.

Who else? DeLisle has voiced Jeanne from the Bayonetta series, Catwoman in Batman: Arkham, Sly Cooper's Carmelita Fox and Amanda from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

Who? Nolan North is a professional actor and voice over artist/bona fide gaming institution. Little known fact: both he and Troy Baker are immortal Highlanders simultaneously attempting to corner the voice over market, because of course 'there can only be one'.

Who else? North voices everyone from DOTA 2's squealing Gyrocopter pilot to the CoD franchise's zombie-mad Richtofen. Other characters include Uncharted's Nathan Drake, Injustice's General Zod, Batman's Oswald Cobblepot and Portal 2's Space, Adventure and Fact Cores.

Who? Ellen McLain is an opera singer and voice actress who regularly contributes to Valve Corp. video games. Her husband is similarly involved with the company, having provided the voice of the Sniper in Team Fortress 2. And no, they didn't meet up while screaming robotic threats into a microphone. Shame.

Who else? McLain's work includes stints as DOTA 2's Broodmother, Left 4 Dead's Witch monster, Half-Life 2's Overwatch speaker and - most famously of all - Portal's array of talkative turrets and the evil A.I. GLaDOS.

Who? James Arnold Taylor is a professional cartoon and video game voice actor. Long-term exposure to the man's unique brand of laughter has been known to cause ferocious irritation in viewers.

Who else? Taylor's most notable roles include Ratchet from the Ratchet and Clank series, the Clone Wars' Obi-Wan Kenobi (both in video games and TV) as well as Final Fantasy X's boisterous lead character Tidus. He also does a rather good Jack Sparrow impression.

Who? Lani Minella is a professional voice actress specialising in video games. I wonder how many people accidentally call her Liza Minnelli on a daily basis?

Who else? Lani voices the female infected in The Last of Us, Sheeva from Mortal Kombat 9, Ivy in SoulCalibur, the Koopa kids from the Mario franchise, and the female fighters in the Worms series.

Who? Troy Baker is a musician, mo-cap actor and award-winning voice over artist specialising in video games. He spends much of his time coated in brightly coloured ping-pong balls trying not to laugh.

Who else? Baker's work includes appearances as Batman: Arkham's Two-Face, Metal Gear Solid V's Ocelot, The Last of Us' Joel, Far Cry 4's Pagin Min and Arkham Origins' Joker.

Who? Jen Taylor is a professional voicework and theatre actress, contracted to the Halo franchise for the next 187,000 instalments, or the complete heat death of the universe - whichever comes first.

Who else? Taylor's impressive C.V. boasts several big name gigs, including those of Princess Peach and Halo's Cortana. Other notable performances include No One Lives Forever's Cate Archer, Left 4 Dead's Zoey and DOTA 2's Medusa.

Who? Fred Tatasciore is a prolific voice actor appearing in film, television and video games. He once voiced one of Jar Jar Binks' annoying Gungan buddies, and probably felt really terrible about it afterwards. We forgive you Fred, you couldn't have known.

Who else? Tatasciore has voiced Baird from Gears of War, Zeratul (Starcraft 2), Bane (Arkham City), Mario (Assassin's Creed 2), both the Tank and Boomer monsters from Left 4 Dead, and Mass Effect's Saren Arterius.

Who? Terrence Carson is an acclaimed stage actor, tv performer and vocalist. Fun fact: Carson was also betrayed by almighty Zeus. He was pretty chilled about it though.

Who else? Carson has portrayed God of War's vengeful Spartan Kratos, the Saints Row series' Big Tony and Star Wars' own Mace Windu.

Who? Quinton Flynn is a video game voice actor and writer. Fun fact: the name Quinton Flynn would also suit a restaurant critic and/or a wealthy teenaged adventurer.

Who else? Flynn voices Sonic's Silver the Hedgehog, Metal Gear's Raiden, Henry from the No More Heroes games, and Crash Bandicoot's Dr. N. Gin.

Who? Mark Hamill is a professional acto… - y'know what, forget it, the man's Luke Skywalker, LUKE SKYWALKER damn it! Oh and he was in all those Wing Commander games too…

Who else? Hamill has provided the voice behind CoD 2's old-timey narrator, X2's Wolverine and of course Arkham's main-series iteration of the Joker.

Who? Matthew Mercer is an anime and video game voice actor. His name is also an anagram for 'Mew Meth Carter', which in the context of the Pokémon franchise would certainly explain a lot…

Who else? Mercer provides the pipes behind Street Fighter 4's Fei Long, Arkham Origins' Anarky, Resi 6's Leon, and Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell's Blackbeard.

Who? Roger Craig Smith is a professional voice actor specialising in anime, video game and cartoon-based voicework. Since winning the role of Batman in Arkham Origins, Smith has received numerous lewd phone calls from a man referring to himself only as 'Conroy Kevin'. Police are baffled. And of course, none of that actually happened.

Who else? Smith lends his considerable talents to a wide array of gaming icons, including Ezio Auditore (Assassin's Creed 2), Chris Redfield (Resident Evil 5), Batman/Bruce Wayne (Batman: Arkham Origins) and err… Sonic the Hedgehog. That's quite the range.

Who? Steve Blum is a professional voice actor specialising in anime, cartoons and video games. Fun fact about Steve: he was only one botched birth certificate away from being called 'Steve Bum'.

Who else? Blum has voiced Sub-Zero and Reptile in Mortal Kombat X, Wolverine from the X-Men franchise, Killer Croc in the Batman: Arkham series, Vincent Valentine in Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, Final Fantasy Type-0's Cid, and Grayson Hunt from Bulletstorm. Also, about .

Men with bomb-spears decimating oncoming traffic. Getting sustenance from the maggots living on a rotting corpse. A powerful, imposing weapon unironically named the Thunderpoon. All of these play into Mad Max's unique post-apocalyptic aesthetic, and it continues full-force in the upcoming Mad Max game, already revving its engines for a September 1 start.

As E3 approaches, we've gotten a closer look at this new addition to Mad Max's vicious universe, developed by the folks at Avalanche (of Just Cause fame) exclusively for current-gen. We now know what there is to find in this post-apocalyptic Australia and the poor bastards who occupy it, most of whom want to kill our 'hero' Max in all manner of horrible ways. We know more about the story, the world, the combat, and your ultimate enemy, Scrotus. Yep..

The Mad Max films take place in a barren and lifeless hellhole. As petrol reserves dry up and the nations of the world turn to chemical warfare to secure what's left, society breaks down, leaving only bandits in DIY battle jalopies to fight over the remains. Each film focuses on a new adventure in the sad-sack life of former highway patrolman "Mad" Max Rockatansky, who spends his days trying to survive in the harsh Australian wilderness, which has only gotten more vicious with the addition of murderers on motorbikes.

Avalanche's Mad Max keeps that same world and aesthetic, and in a welcome move, doesn't focus on rebooting Max's tragic origin story. Instead, it starts him on a new adventure in a desolate outback while integrating the most iconic parts of the films. We have Max acting as the lone road warrior as he tries to outrun and outgun gas-guzzling auto-monstrosities. It has grim-looking locales like the smoke-belching Gastown, showing the macabre shape that society has taken on. It has Max driving his beloved pursuit car, the V8 Interceptor, and in fine Mad Max tradition it has him losing that car to marauders in the opening scene. Such is his life.

Sorry, Furiosa fans, but it doesn't look like Theron's enthralling amputee truck driver will be making an appearance in this Mad Max, nor will any of the wives or Immortan Joe's army. Though they're coming out close together and , the movie and game aren't actually related. Instead, after he's yanked out of his precious Interceptor and left in the desert to die, the game centers on him building his life and resources back up, one car part at a time.

We don't know too much about the plot besides that, and Director Frank Rooke , and in the recent Savage Road trailer he's called 'The Driver' with a notable level of reverence. Is he some sort of grizzled Australian god? Well, yes, but do the people in his world also think so?

Life in Mad Max's savage world is impossible without wheels to keep you from ending up as a vehicular manslaughter statistic. So when the Interceptor becomes the Intercepted and our madman finds himself without a vehicle, he has to build his brand new magnum opus from scratch. And what do you know, the resulting junker car is called the Magnum Opus. Insert groan-worthy genitalia joke here.

While the Magnum starts off as an unimpressive pile of junk, there's plenty of scrap material around that Max can use to upgrade into a much cooler pile of junk. Such scrap can be found in encampments full of homicidal bandits, lost in the desert, or scavenged from cars after you've crippled them and dealt with their drivers. But the best sources of scrap by far are convoys that roam the desert sands, and while they make tough opponents, take them out and you'll have plenty of supplies to turn the Opus into a proper dream machine. That's all thanks to Max's constant companion, a mechanic named Chumbucket (yes, I know) who allocates the scrap to different parts of the car as you see fit.

While Chumbucket (it never gets less ridiculous) is usually pretty amicable to whatever misguided activities you want to partake in, he gets whiny when you abuse the Opus. It's just as much his baby as yours, after all. Unfortunately for him, beating up your ride comes with the territory, since the vast majority of this game's combat is on wheels. Slam into other vehicles at high speed, hit them with bombs on sticks, shoot them from the driver's seat or harpoon their wheels right off - whatever it takes to bring your enemies to a screeching halt is fair game. Sadly for Max, the maniacs he's hunting have deadly options of their own, so be prepared to defend yourself if you let those enemies get the jump on you (onto, say, the roof of your car).

There is thankfully one thing that makes Max's life a little easier: a focus feature that slows the action to a crawl while you line up your moving shot. That makes it simpler to actually hit careening targets, giving you the option to broadside them with a grenade, pop their tires, or harpoon and yank the driver out of their car at high speed. Vicious, but effective.

While car combat is the game's life-blood, Max gets attacked and yanked from his car so often that some basic fighting skills really are a must. He puts them to use via basic melee combat reminiscent of Batman and Shadow of Mordor: he can punch enemies into oblivion, or get special animations and deal extra damage by tapping the Counter button at just the right time. This is likely where some of the spiffy animations from the debut trailer came from, where Max snaps a guy's neck by holding his arm and kicking him in the face, because otherwise there isn't a specific creative-neck-snapping button.

This type of combat isn't particularly new or fresh, since we've seen both Batman and Mordor's Talion employ combat that's visually similar but more mechanically complex. However, that looks to be intentional, since it is very much second to car combat and is clearly meant to give you some means of defense while on foot. The gunplay is particularly telling in that regard, since it's purposefully sluggish and unpleasant to use, keeping you from leaning on it except in the direst of circumstances. Really, it's just there so you don't die the instant you step out of your vehicle. Unless you get hit by a different vehicle, anyway. No promises there.

As mentioned before, while there is a central campaign to Mad Max, it's primarily an open-world adventure, and Rooke and team have gone to great lengths to make this desert wasteland as enthralling as possible. "It distracts you so much that you’ll end up saying, ‘Er, I’m just going to go over here and do this,’" says Rooke. "You can’t help yourself – there are so many things to go off and do." In practice, this means a map full of quests laid out in front of you, showing where you can pull down Gastown's imposing warning statues, find and loot caravans, or destroy bandit camps as you collect scrap and survival essentials like water and food.

As you speed across the wasteland in search of supplies and shinies, some areas will be more dangerous than others, adding to an overall danger meter that prohibits you from taking certain actions. For instance, you won't be able to do extensive car upgrades when the danger meter is above an appropriate range - why bother trying to do a repair when you'll get shanked and robbed for your efforts? Defeating renegade camps and bosses across the land helps lower that danger meter, making this unforgiving hellhole slighter safer for everyone. But mostly you, and that's what matters.