Editor's note: In his second piece of his tryout, Mitch discusses an underappreciated aspect of gaming: developer commentaries. Do you listen to these when you play games? Share your opinions with Mitch. -Jason
I recently played and finished Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge for the first time. Much to my surprise, my enjoyment didn't come from the game. Don't get me wrong — LucasArts' Special Edition rerelease of Monkey Island is fantastic. I had a great time with it, and I say this as someone who's failed to fall in love with the entire point-and-click adventure genre. As impressed as I am that Monkey Island 2 could turn me around so easily, what grabbed me was the developer commentary.
Early in Monkey Island 2 Special Edition, you cross a bridge to an area full of shops. I tinkered with puzzles and bantered with characters for a bit before realizing the commentary icon had popped up in the top right corner of the screen. I activated it and listened to industry legends Rob Gilbert, Tim Schafer, and Dave Grossman discuss iMUSE, Monkey 2's music system that LucasArts used for a number of their older games. The gist of iMUSE is that the music picks up, slows down, and adds or subtracts instruments from the soundtrack every time you enter a new room. Before listening, I hadn't noticed what was another impressive — at least, for the time — audio feature. Aftwerward, I noticed the change every time I walked through a door, fell down a hole, or crawled out of a cave.
I would have never appreciated such a small yet significant addition as iMUSE, but it stuck with me for the rest of the game. This is the kind of educational experience I want to have in every game I play from here on out.
I realize that Monkey Island 2 isn't the first of its kind to include commentary. This feature seems to come standard in every Valve release. I loved listening to the Portal, Left 4 Dead, Half-Life 2, and Team Fortress 2 teams chat about their respective games because I learned a lot about the games I love. I also prefer the level of interaction the information brings. It's one thing to read about Portal's level design in an interview, but to hear designer Kim Swift explain it while you're solving it is something else entirely.
How amazing would it have been to listen to various artists and designers working on Mass Effect 2 talk about creating the believable world while you're exploring it? I'd love to hear High Moon Studios talk about environment and encounter decisions in Transformers: War for Cybertron as I flew from the ground to a vantage point 10 stories above. I'm intensely interested, but not necessarily skilled, in the art of game design. Developer commentary gives players the rare opportunity to gain an understanding of design straight from the source. Who knows? Maybe it'd inspire a creative mind to dive into the world of game design and cook up something incredible.
In some instances, this also encourages multiple playthroughs. The beauty of commentary tracks in movies is that you can get through a film in a couple hours. Watching it again with commentary isn't going to eat up a lot of time. Something like Portal is short enough to justify another playthrough with the developer commentary activated. Monkey Island 2 is just a few hours long as well, should you feel the need to avoid additional audio the first time through.
Sadly, this is also where the strongest argument against commentary presents itself. Games like Red Dead Redemption and Dragon Age: Origins can run 60 hours or more to complete. As much as I'm sure we'd love to listen to Rockstar ramble about their amazing world, are we really going to go through the main story a second time? In some instances, I'd argue that some of us would.
I've spent more than 100 hours on three different Dragon Age heroes, and another 100-plus in New Austin. But some folks don't have that liberty. The simplest solution already exists. Most games I've seen share an on-the-fly approach that lets you activate the audio during slow spots when nobody's speaking. You don't miss out on any key character moments, critical plot development, or anything else you'd otherwise hate to miss.
Having recently discovered that some of my favorite games — Star Wars: Rogue Leader — Rogue Squadron 2 and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay — also include commentary tracks, I fully intend on replaying them to listen to the developers' anecdotes and explanations. I also installed the video commentary for Alan Wake, which details some of the more technical aspects of the game when you reach certain safe havens. I'd love to have that experience in everything I play, even if it means having to play it twice.
Yes, this unrealistic expectation is a selfish pipe dream, but Monkey Island 2 made me realize how little I truly understand about the games I'm playing. I dig knowing about the people who worked on the entertainment I'm enjoying and what efforts they made to ensure I like it. I'd even play a game I didn't like just to listen to its developer commentary, if only to find out where its team's ideas don't align with mine.
I hope I'm not alone in my excitement, because audio commentary is easily my favorite feature in games. Forget multiplayer, loot gathering, and leveling up. Rather than playing the one game I've been aching for this summer, I'll be neck-deep in Alan Wake, Riddick, and Rogue Squadron again. Sorry, Dragon Quest 9. You just don't talk to me enough.