FIFA 18 Wishlist: 10 Things That Must Be Included
4. Tighter Commentary
No football game has ever perfected commentary, and FIFA 17 was no different. The usual team of Alan Smith and Martin Tyler were present again, but last year’s offering actually felt like a step back from FIFA 16. Smith & Tyler have rarely sounded so robotic and mechanical, and the game featured a glut of scripting issues, many of which weren’t even fixed through patches.
As always, the commentators could benefit from a greater variety of recorded lines, as every FIFA player eventually reaches a point where it sounds like Smith & Tyler are just regurgitating the same thing over and over. Their interactions are often stunted and completely inappropriate to the action before them, and they can be slow and unresponsive when it comes to reacting to what’s happening on the pitch.
EA Sports would do well to learn from 2K Sports’ NBA series, which has mastered the art of fluid, dynamic commentary in a sports game. NBA 2K’s commentators sound like actual human beings having an in-depth conversation, not scripted androids reacting to pre-programmed trigger points.
The problem isn’t with Smith & Tyler themselves, but the way they reflect the game, and this is something that must be improved upon in FIFA 18.