Whenever we're playing a Kingdom Hearts game, a character's voice never really takes priority in our minds since we're so drilled into the progression of the story and tearing our hair out in frustration at some of the - ahem - more challenging boss fights (let's not go down the Xigbar route...) However, with the release of the Birth by Sleep final trailer and trailers before that, we've really begun to think about the voices behind the faces - and it seems that Birth by Sleep has a star-studded cast. From Leonard Nimoy to Jesse McCartney to Bret Iwan (who sounds so similar to the late Wayne Allwine it's spooky) to Quinton Flynn, Birth by Sleep's got it all.

While there are regrettably no interviews from Mr. Dohring concerning his involvement in Birth by Sleep, you only have to take a look around Google to see that this is the first video game he's ever featured in which, I assume, is naturally quite a different experience than acting on a screen. Logically I'd assume that he has to put twice the effort into his voice work considering on-screen acting uses body language and facial expression to convey feelings and emotion, and since the Kingdom Hearts series is known for its vocal and dialogue dramaticism, we can probably assume that acting as Terra - who is, without leaking too many spoilers, essential to the series - has demanded a lot of hard work.

I think you can really see the emotion he puts into Terra (you only have to see the final trailer and Terra's unleashing of darkness to agree with me), but this is just my personal opinion. It's sad to say there's been a lot of controversy - as with Aqua - surrounding the ‘authenticity' of Terra's voice: that is, does he voice Terra as we imagine him to? Many people on our forums think his voice has been a lot less deep than he imagined, but to defend that, Terra's only around the age of 19 so it's to be expected. Deepness of voice also portrays power, depth and understanding (look to Master Xehanort and Yen Sid); in a way, Terra's "high" voice is a metaphor for his inexperience and his somewhat naïveté - or rather, not a metaphor but a medium. A lot can be said through just intonation of voice and as we've learned with Terra, we know that means a lot. Dohring does a fantastic job at expressing Terra's personal lamentation and difficulties and we really feel the power behind his words.

Through Holland's voice work we feel the impact of Aqua's somewhat fierceness - or, more simply, determination and strength of will - particularly in the heart-stopping scene in which Aqua grasps a Keyblade (looking suspiciously like that of Eraqus'...) and says with a hard, resolute expression "My name is Master Aqua." We see this trademark strength of Aqua time and time again throughout the game with Holland's voice really backing it up. Some say her voice is a little monotonous at times but it really depends; there are many out there who think Holland did a fantastic job as Aqua and I'm inclined to agree. What people don't realize a lot of the time is that a voice actor must adhere to the ‘personality' and ‘feel' of the character they're portraying, so for Holland, this meant a firm resolution and unwavering decision which had to be portrayed in her voice work, so a stern voice really was the way to go with this.

But first, let's introduce McCartney. Unlike Dohring and Holland, McCartney has actually had quite a bit of experience behind the microphone in both speaking and singing. That's right, McCartney was in a boyband between 1999 and 2002 before the band split up due to a legal battle between the group's parents and the group's manager. Apart from his talent with the scales, McCartney has also featured in a lot of Disney action (so his involvement in Birth by Sleep really fits, huh?) in quite a few Tinkerbell movies. You'll also be interested to know he's the face behind Theodore in Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakquel. Crazy, huh?

Some may describe it as deep and gritty, but I prefer to look at it as darkened and weathered by age, effort, emotion and experience. Obviously not much of Master Xehanort's past is known and some of it may be uncovered in Birth by Sleep, but we do know he knows of something named a Keyblade War. Does that mean he participated in it? He could have, especially since he and Master Eraqus seem to be associates of some sort. Did they meet in the War? Did it bring them together? Were they enemies? Who knows, but some part of Xehanort's past has really hit him hard and has left him considerably chipped and with Nimoy's deep, chalky voice we really get the sense of, "Wow, this Xehanort guy has really had it rough some part of his life." How that is, I'll let you ponder.

align="left">Mark Hamill is also a new addition to the series as the samurai-esque Master Eraqus, Keyblade Master and tutor of Aqua and Terra. Hamill is probably one of the most famous faces in the entire cast; you will recognize him as Luke Skywalker from Star Wars, yet another space-based (that rhymes!) series. Of course, there seems to be a theme going on here: like Luke, Eraqus also wields a weapon of great power and uses it for the greater good; but unlike Luke, Eraqus has a great graceful air of wisdom about him. Was this because he has learned lessons from the Keyblade War, if he participated in it at all? Time will only tell, but that scar is looking suspicious...

Last but not least is a small mention of Bret Iwan, the new voice of the world famous Mickey Mouse. With the passing of Wayne Allwine (R.I.P.) we'd have thought there'd be quite a bit of time before recruitment, but it appears Disney is right on the ball with this one! If you take a look at the clip of Mickey below, you'll probably not be able to find any distinguishable differences between the actors, though Iwan is considerably younger than Allwine was since his last work as Mickey!