Yeah, the crowd noise seems pretty good although without any commentary the presentation is weird. Hopefully the commentary isn't terrible.
Printable View
Yeah, the crowd noise seems pretty good although without any commentary the presentation is weird. Hopefully the commentary isn't terrible.
I'm guessing it's going to be the same as last year, maybe marginally improved. Last year was horrible. They somehow made Gus Johnson sound terrible.
You can start to get an idea of how commentary is going to sound in the game through watching (and listening to) the videos recently released by EA SPORTS:
http://www.thegamingtailgate.com/for...burgh-Steelers
http://www.thegamingtailgate.com/for...1st-Quarter-HD
It seems as though new commentary has definitely been recorded. And, thanks to the revamp of the broadcast presentation, it looks like the "QB versus QB analysis" which played before every game of Madden NFL 11 is gone and replaced with more game-specific comments.
It probably won't be perfect; maybe it won't even be considered "good" or "adequate" by some. But it is what it is; here's hoping, if things are still significantly lacking, that the community can push for a commentary overhaul for Madden NFL 13.
Get rid of Gus Johnson and Chris Collinsworth and it's immediately better. They couldn't have two of the most fuckin' annoying announcers EVER being the damn announcers...
Gus Johnson is awesome. Chris Collinsworth is boring as hell and lacks even an ounce of excitement.
I don't know Tom Hammond or whatever his name was before wasn't too great.
I'm a fan of Gus Johnson and a fan of Cris Collinsworth when I'm listening to NFL games on Sundays. The problem is that their specific commentary talents don't necessarily translate well to recordings for a video game about football.
I find that my feelings are well-illustrated by these two videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxSMP8yY-Pk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crfYXejxYfI
In the first video, Gus Johnson is in the stadium watching the game, it's almost over, and the commentary call is a gut reaction to watching the play unfold. In the second video, Peter Moore is asking Gus to perform his reaction months after the play happened.
From what I understand of the recording process, when Gus goes into the studio he's given suggested lines and works from those. It'd be difficult to record commentary for a sports video game any other way. The problem is that the reaction is less genuine because there is no "amazing play" prompting the delivery of the line. If the line sounds forced, people are going to be annoyed by it; if the line sounds underplayed, then somebody who pulls off a Stokley-esque play to win the game is going to be annoyed that Gus isn't more excited for them in Madden NFL. And unless EA SPORTS gets enough time with Gus to record reactions to every single potential outcome of a play in the game, there are never going to be enough lines to reference to keep it fresh.
As for Collinsworth, he has a lot of good knowledge from his playing time and from his awareness of current NFL players and their talents. The problem, again, is that asking Collinsworth to record anecdotes for every NFL player on the roster is time-prohibitive; even more so when you consider that multiple anecdotes per player would need to be recorded or else even the most casual gamer is going to be annoyed when Cris reads his one reaction to their favorite team's best player for the tenth, twentieth (etc...) time.
As more lines are added to the database from Gus and Cris as Madden NFL continues on with them on-board, the illusion of spontaneity will be stronger. Fewer lines will be overplayed and the commentary will remain fresher as a result. But unless some breakthrough is made in terms of implementing commentary systems in the game, it won't be revolutionary and the commentary of Madden NFL will remain polarizing.
Maybe my initial comment sounded snarky and sarcastic, but it's kind of how I really feel about it. Some people will enjoy the commentary, some people won't. Gus Johnson and Cris Collinsworth have a different level of quality for different fans of football. There are some people who will be thrilled with the guys in the "virtual commentary booth" right now and there will be people who long for the days when the voices of Madden were Al Michaels, John Madden, Tom Hammond, or even the nameless radio announcer guy from the first few Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games.
Announcers aren't supposed to be fans reacting to plays. Announcers are supposed to be knowledgeable people who have been around the game/played the game for several years and can add in thoughtful and inquisitive information about the thought process of the player/coach or how the play should have been executed compared to how it was.
John Madden and Pat Summerall were the best and Madden hasn't been the same since Summerall died. Michaels did an ok job but football commentary and Madden virtual commentary hasn't been the same since.
I don't want some moron screaming in my ear about a virtual play I just made. That's for me to do. Not the damn announcers. I HATE Gus Johnson's commentary and Collinsworthless doesn't know dick about the game of football.
Lest we get too far off-topic from discussion of the Madden NFL 12 demo--which features no commentary :D--I've put together a new thread here in the forum to discuss the commentators you would most like to have for the game:
http://www.thegamingtailgate.com/for...for-Madden-NFL
Pat Summerall died?
---
- Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I guess he didn't die. I could have sworn he died. For some reason, I thought he died and that was why he stopped doing Monday Night Football with Madden. Huh.
I just saw an animation where I had knox running deep and woodson trailing, knox reaches out for the ball thrown over his shoulder allowing woodson to catch up and lunge toward him and smack through knox's hands, knocking the ball out before knox could secure it.
Absolutely beautiful. The animations in this game is what is making it better for me than NCAA. So far, it seems as though all the animations that play for pass breakups are very believable and there is a lot of variety to them.
I've seen a good many warping picks by safeties so far.
Now that the demo has been out for a week, we've added a poll to get your thoughts on the demo.
Voted Love it
Again I was looking forward to the I wouldn't call little but not major features sort of speak. Such as "shading" and the removal of suction both hits and blocking.
After reading and hearing about Collision Detection and DPP I was eager to see what it was like and how it was implemented. Can definitely say with what I've experience thus far I'm pleased and looking forward to release. Though I already was prior to playing the demo
I voted liked it. If I had a better camera angle I would have voted loved it.
I'm curious about the in season scouting of college prospects in dynasty mode. I wonder if it will have the same addiction level as NCAA? I doubt it but Madden desperately needed something to do between weeks as an added attraction.
I voted love it, but I have found a few things that could prove to be really annoying online. Only time will tell whether that turns out to be the case or not, but I'm still going to say this will be the best online football video game this generation.
Voted liked it only because I need to hear commentary and it would have been nice to build a gameplan like last year. However, I fully expect that I will LOVE the game if franchise mode plays as advertised.
I love the demo, for obvious reasons already stated. As far as commentary goes, it's hard to simulate what Gus Johnson brings to the game. He is very solid as what he does, but he possesses the factors that make you riveted to the screen and that's hard to convey on a video game. It's much easier to bring Al Michaels and John Madden to the game, they translate perfectly. I think the MNF crew could seamlessly do the same thing IMO.
Liked it but could end up loving the retail version.
One thing I haven't understood in the criticism of the cpu QBs scrambling that I've read on some sites. I like it and I don't think it's overdone. A lot of guys just want to run Cover 2 Man, take away all the deep routes and leave the middle of the field wide open as they did in the past because cpu QBs never took advantage of it. Cutler and Rodgers both scramble about 3-4 times a game at close to 5 yards a pop in real life. And if you keep running that same defense they should take advantage when the coverage is blanketing the WRs. People need to call more zones and LB spies if they don't want the QB to scramble. I've never seen them scramble too often but I also pay attention to it.
Minor note.
During the challenging of a play, the view cuts away from the head coaches at the time the referee announces the decision.
It was like this in Madden 11. The reactions should be seen. It would add emotion to the game.
The biggest issue with commentary has been the engine itself not who is commentating. They have been using the same commentary engine since the PS2 era basically. This year they invested in a new commentary engine, but the benefits of it won't truly be seen until next year. The new engine is the same one FIFA uses and what they did was they made some new commentary on the new engine for pregame, qb's taking the field, starting lineups, and DPP. The play by play and pronunciation of player names is still from the old engine, but they will be redoing it for Madden 13. So expect improved commentary based on what videos I have seen in Madden 12 and expect really great commentary in Madden 13 with the new play by play and everything running on the new speech engine.
They also have toned Gus down quite a bit this year so he says things like "he's tackled at the seventeen yard line" instead of ''at the SEVENTEEN". This gives the commentary a better flow and doesn't sound quite as patchy as 11, but it still sounds that way at times. Again this is based on what I have seen of Madden 12 videos. I'm a big commentary guy so I'm excited about Madden 12 and anxious to hear the new commentary lines and stuff this year, but I"m stoked about the new commentary engine and everything for Madden 13. They are doing with commentary for Madden 13 what they did with presentation for Madden 12. The work they did on presentation with cameras, stat overlays, team intros, etc.. was actually done during Madden 11 development, but we didn't really see it until Madden 12. Madden 13 commentary will work the same way.
I would love to see Custom Stadium Sounds in Madden, but I think those songs and sounds are copyrighted. That's why in Madden 11 they had to go out and buy the team fight songs and stuff, which from what I have seen in the videos all the ones that were in 11 are still in 12, and hopefully they have added some new ones this year. Especially the ones that were supposed to be in last year, like Gridiron Heroes(Lions fight song).
Man, I really don't like the amount of warping interceptions I'm seeing. I can honestly say it's my number one annoyance in NCAA and Madden, and there isn't a remotely close second.
I think Interceptions should get redone. Besides a few rare INTs, Most of the INTs are WR Catch Animations. Most of the INTs can be pulled off by a WR. THere needs to be more jump INTs. I think it comes from QBs not putting any touch on ball. Either it is a Lob or Bullet. In NCAA, It is hard to stop your momentum, strafe, and get into position to pick off a pass.
I must say I prefer the feel of passing much better in Madden. Improved zone coverage has certainly hurt my already weak passing skills in both games but the outside areas of the field appear more open in Madden. I can throw more outs and curls than I can in NCAA. I love how the passing speeds are toned down a little in Madden. It makes it a little tougher on offense but a lot more enjoyable on defense as I feel I can make plays on the ball. I've missed that feeling.