Cologne (Germany) (AFP) -

Vincent Cassel, who played in 'Ocean's Twelve' as well as award-winning French movies, did the English voice overs for Napoleon Bonaparte

French film star Vincent Cassel dubs Napoleon Bonaparte’s voice into English for a new video game released on Tuesday that sets the French emperor on a violent quest to take over Eastern Europe.

“Valor Mortis” by the Polish studio One More Level shows Napoleon’s 19th century army fuelled by a mysterious substance that makes them stronger before turning them into zombies and half-animal creatures.

Much of the action is straight out of a blood-soaked horror film.

One More Level co-founder Radoslaw Ratusznik said the studio originally approached agents for Cassel – who starred in “Ocean’s Twelve” and “Black Swan” as well as a host of award winning French movies – to do the voiceover as “a joke”.

“We reached the agent and we had some conversations. And they were on board. And we were, ‘oh, my God, that’s so amazing’,” Ratusznik said of the team’s surprise when Cassel agreed.

Cassel said he had been tempted because like Napoleon he has Corsican roots.

“It did ring a bell for me because I’m from Corsican origins on the side of my mother, and I always heard about Napoleon at home, and you know, as a lot of Corsican people, you know, in their house, they have a lot of portraits of Napoleon, so that’s how I grew up somehow,” the 59-year-old actor said in a promotional video for the game.

“My grandmother and my auntie used to tell me that he’s a cousin of the family. Cause you know, it’s a very small island, Corsica.”

Cassel does not discuss having to make Napoleon speak English. But Ratusznik said it was a commercial choice for the studio based in Krakow and which is known for having developed the “Ghostrunner” game.

“As a small team we have to make tough decisions about what we can ship,” he said. French voices will only be added if there is enough demand.