Main characters with mouths vs Main characters without.

[Picko]

I didn't mind mute characters once upon a time but the general justification of mute characters - that you can project your own personality onto the character - is rather silly.

For example, I find Link to be a rather boring character in most of his games (WW is perhaps an exception) due to his general lack of personality (overall though I enjoy the games).

Characters such as Snake and Master Chief (and anyone from recent Bioware games) really come alive as characters with depth, intelligence and motivations. Neither would be as iconic if they couldn't talk.

Of course some characters would be better if they didn't talk (Marcus Fenix - and well every other main character in that game).