How much does commentary mean to you in sports games?

[Brando70]

Reading a bit of the back and forth in the MLB 2k12 thread got me thinking about sports game commentary. I saw a lot of the 2k backers mentioning the commentary as a big plus. I've tried the 2k demos out, but haven't played the full game since 2k7.

However, I have played a lot of sports games over the years, and as a franchise player, I don't think I've ever gone more than 20-ish games before finding the commentary boring--in ANY game. While I enjoy presentation such as camera angles, animations, stat overlays (especially if they relate to what's going on in the franchise), commentary has generally been a non-issue for me because it's not a question of if I'll get sick of it, just how quickly. In fact, I would love to see a game ditch it altogether and focus on a more dynamic presentation of action on the field, which I think would have a longer shelf life for remaining interesting.

So, I'm curious: How you guys feel about commentary?

[Slumberland]

Is less than nothing an option?

It means something if it sucks. I relished the ability to turn off everyone but Vasgersian in The Show the last couple years, to make it sound more like a restrained, one-man radio broadcast.

[dbdynsty25]

Zero...it's cool the first couple games, but after that, I normally just listen to music or a podcast while I'm playing. I mean it's all part of the presentation package and you mentioned Brando...but ultimately, it simply HAS to get repetitive in any game that has over 20-30 games in a season. They cannot possibly record enough commentary.

The 2k12 commentary is a little better than the Show, but I've already heard repetitive stuff and I've played a handful of games. So even the best of the best get old.

[Spooky]

I was one of the few people that was actually a fan of the generic radio announcer as commentary in early 360 Madden games.

[pk500]

VERY little.

Racing games are my favorite genre, and they seem to do just fine without commentary even though they receive the full booth talent-sidelines reporter treatment during TV broadcasts.

Most sports videogame commentary is so poorly written and/or repetitive that it annoys rather than enhances. NBA 2K12 is an exception. The commentary in that game augments what is the finest presentation I've ever seen and heard in a video game.

[Brando70]

What I find funny is that such a big deal is made about commentary (and so many resources spent on it), yet it always comes up short very quickly for me. NBA 2k11 was probably the best I've ever heard and even then I was sick of "spurtability" within the first 10-20 games or so.

I also agree with Spooky on the Madden radio guy. If the crowd and stadium sounds had been better, I would have loved that.

[Danimal]

NBA2K is the best, NHL and FIFA are ok and the rest range from meh to suck. Honestly they are nothing but white noise for me because they are not relevant. It would be so easy to make commentary worthwhile by making it relevant to your franchise.

Only when they really, really suck like last years Madden do I take much notice.

[pk500]

Only when they really, really suck like last years Madden do I take much notice.

Agreed. Gus was a HUGE letdown.

The Pro Evolution Soccer series is another franchise that is fantastic on the field and brutal in the booth.

[greggsand]

Good 'play by play' makes a big difference for me, but it's always 'color commentary' that leads me to turn it off. I'd love an option to turnoff just the commentary.

[XXXIV]

Only when they really, really suck like last years Madden do I take much notice.

Agreed. Gus was a HUGE letdown.

Agree guys. Almost zero. Only when it blows beyond the call of suckage like Johnson's did this year in Madden do I really notice.

Also agree that that the radio thing was the best Madden ever had due to its lack of invasive d***** - bagi- ness.

[toonarmy]

Good 'play by play' makes a big difference for me, but it's always 'color commentary' that leads me to turn it off. I'd love an option to turnoff just the commentary.

This. Less can be more. I like a smooth pbp job that talks about the action on the field in sports games, but the color commentary usually wears thin very fast.

[Teal]

It's an immersion factor for me: Either do it well (aka 2K series), or don't do it at all. With that in mind, I generally stay away from those things that 'sim' too much, at the expense of the things that immerse me in the atmosphere of it. When commentary is done well, it draws me in, same as all the other 'bells and whistles'. Music, lights, little touches like the kid cleaning the floors between quarters in NBA 2k12, all that...that may mean nothing to some people, but it's necessary for me to fully enjoy a game. I might not even catch the absence of more sim-like stuff (so-and-so's pitch variety isn't right, or he never throws to the inside, or his stats are off), but I'll notice if the bells and whistles are not there...or are not done well.

[sportdan30]

I think there is commentary and then there is dynamic commentary. NBA 2K just does it exceptionally well, and from little I have heard, 2K baseball does it just as well or slightly below the basketball series.

What irks me though, with the exception of the two games I mentioned, is that the next gen games have not advanced very far from last gen systems (commentary wise). With the amount of money EA brings in from the Madden series, their commentary should have advanced much farter than it has. They've heard the complaints for years, and it still is very underwhelming. I can't believe with the resources they have, that they have not surpassed NFL 2K's football from year's past. Poor commentary, in Madden's case can make a game appear more dry and boring. At least it does to me.

Developers are trying to make sports games more sim, however commentary still seems for the most part to be lagging behind. It's not overly important to me, but it is inexcusable to a certain extent that there is not more of an emphasis put in this area.

The Show is an incredibly deep and realistic game, but just imagine if it had true dynamic commentary!

[Naples39]

I couldn't possibly care less. I totally tune it out. Took me probably a dozen games of Bobblehead Baseball this year before I even realized the game had no commentary. I actually preferred only hearing the PA announcer--it was like being at the ballpark.

[bulls23]

I really enjoy NBA2k12 and MLB2k12's commentary, because they make it relevant to the game or season I'm playing. I like being able to hear the stats (game and franchise) as well as see them in an overlay. If you don't have this, then the game is no worse without commentary at all.

[rhymes450]

I really only play PES and FIFA so my view on this is a bit limited. With PES, I prefer to change it to a language I don't understand (i.e., not English or Spanish, the latter being considerably worse) so that I get the atmosphere but don't have to endure the ridiculous or repetitive stuff. Jon Kabira, the commentator on the Japanese versions of PES/Winning Eleven achieved almost legendary status in western countries because people appreciated his enthusiasm, while understanding little or nothing of what he was actually saying. Meanwhile back in Japan, the folks were probably praying that Konami would get rid of the guy and bring in Jon Champion. How do you say "guess who" in Japanese? The English commentary in FIFA is pretty acceptable IMO. The best commentary moment for me in Fifa 12 was when playing a match at the Parc de Prince (I think), Martin Tyler actually tells an anecdote about how he found himself on the Irish bench in a France V Ireland match...very impressive...but it does get repetitive. After a while, you've more or less heard it all. All in all, I prefer to have a commentary option that I can decide to turn off if I want to.

[tmdba37]

To me it's only an issue when it's repetitive or simply doesn't make any sense.

This year's Madden was probably some of the worst with mistakes and as many people have posted, it just seems odd that something like that--this far into this generation of consoles--isn't easily fixed and cleaned up pre-launch.

I haven't played much of this year's The Show yet, but last years was fine--except for Eric Karros' nonsense. His four random pointless observations each game really started to wear me down 100 games into it.

Overall thought, I love having it there and find it hard to play without that "soundtrack" in the background, but when it distracts it certainly affects my opinion of the game.

It's funny, been after thinking about this awhile, some of the best "sound" has to be what you get in NBA Jam. It's minimal, yet impactful and never seems out of place. Sure other games couldn't quite go "over the top" like Jam (or Blitz) but perhaps as I believe Toonarmy said a few posts before, that a simple approach would probably work best for most franchises.

[JRod]

Only when they really, really suck like last years Madden do I take much notice.

Agreed. Gus was a HUGE letdown.

The Pro Evolution Soccer series is another franchise that is fantastic on the field and brutal in the booth.

Don't think it's Gus' fault. Madden hasn't really gotten it right.

[EZSnappin]

Zero...it's cool the first couple games, but after that, I normally just listen to music or a podcast while I'm playing. I mean it's all part of the presentation package and you mentioned Brando...but ultimately, it simply HAS to get repetitive in any game that has over 20-30 games in a season. They cannot possibly record enough commentary.

This is exactly what I do; music or podcasts after a handful of games. And the more of the pointless bling I can shut off (replays, overlays, FT routines in hoops games, etc) the better. I want to play the game, not watch it.

[MizzouRah]

Agree that NBA 2k is the best in the business followed by MLB 2k.. although I'm kind of already tired of them talking about pitches. The Show's has really been repetitive, but maybe once I start a franchise, it will open up some?

[Aristo]

I really like the commentary for both NBA 2K and MLB 2K. I thought EA's NHL series is pretty good. NFL 2K was the first game in which I realized it could be a positive.

I do tire of the some of the stories they put in the game. But they really don't take up that much of time in the scheme of things. What good commentary does is tell the story of the game. And 2K does it so well. Even the the EA's NHL series does a nice job of translating key stats into commentary.

And when it is done well, it provides these audio clues that let you know when the other team is intimidated, what pitches are working, and which players are hoy or cold.

Hearing it done well makes the poor commentary that much more irritating.

[RobVarak]

I almost always turn the commentary off, turn down the crowd noise and music and turn up the on-field sounds. The exception is FIFA, where I usually rotate around all the foreign language commentary because I enjoy it.