Sonic The Hedgehog

[gunswordfist]

Also, Death Egg, HYDROCITY and an actual stage for Stardust Speedway (which probably had the best boss fight in the game). They should keep all the stages the original had, add more including the above and ditch the way they set up bosses. Meaning I want bosses at the end of every stage and not just at boss gates.

Also, they should add cart racing featuring every possible Sonic character, 2D and 3D foot racing and other mini-games.

[Spark Of Spirit]

As long as Modern and Classic EACH had two acts. Really, that's all I wanted from the first game. I could have gone without any missions if it meant I could have had a second act for each style.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Hence why I said that if they scrapped the missions entirely that'd increase development time for adding in new levels. The game could still be only 9 zones long, but give us 2 acts for each Sonic per Zone like in the classic 2D Sonic sequels, and if the game still needs more development time to make that happen properly, then let Sonic Team take as long as they need to finish the game and make it as polished as Generations turned out to be. I think one of the problems with most 3D Sonic games is that a lot of them could have turned out much better than they were with some good polishing. Sonic Team actually tries to be ambitious and do a lot with the 3D Sonic games but can utterly fail at it since they seem to try and rush out each new entry within only a year or so of development time. I'd rather have fewer games spread apart in longer intervals if it meant better overall quality and balance to the challenge.

Lets not forget the ultimate disaster that could occur with a rushed Sonic game, which is the Sonic '06 catastrophe, which is a game that was clearly not finish. Granted, that game was full of terrible ideas to begin with and still likely would have sucked, but at least the game would have been playable had it spent a lot longer in development, and they could have weeded out a lot of the garbage that made it such a chore to trek through. Really, though, whoever's idea it was to try and incorporate 9 different playable characters and even more different play-style crammed into 1 Sonic game really shouldn't be involved in game design and planning.

[Nel_Annette]

That's actually how I originally thought the game would be: each level having two acts for Modern and two acts for Classic. Could have really done without the optional missions, as I never really played them unless I had two. I loved how both styles played, and hope we can still incorporate both in the future. Maybe Sonic could still play Modern style, while Tails and Knuckles play in their classic style with their signature moves. And incorporate a character who plays like Sonic in the Adventure series, as I loved that too.

That'd be the perfect way to do multiple gameplay "types", for me anyway. Just have all characters get to the goal, but playing the different ways Sonic has over the years. I enjoy how Sonic plays now but the Classic gameplay in Generations was two good to only use once. Beat Sonic 4's physics, at any rate.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, I had some spare time on my hands after I finished studying tonight, and I ended up playing through and beating the rest of Sonic's story-line in Sonic Adventure. My thoughts on the final 3 stages:

Sky Deck- This one was a pretty fun stage, honestly. I know that a lot of people complain about this one and how frustrating it is and how bad the camera is. Admittedly this is one of those stages where even for me I find the camera can be way too awkwardly positioned in some areas, but for whatever reason it doesn't hinder me too much since I only ended up dying twice in this stage, and one of those times was my own fault for making a bad jump, so I don't consider it that big of a hindrance, honestly. As for the stage itself, I really like it, as it offers up a lot of variety and also has some kick-ass music to keep me pumped while playing it.

Lost World- Count this as the only stage in the game that I don't like. To be honest, I completely forgot that this level even existed until now. I honestly don't mind when a Sonic game tries to prioritize platforming and other elements over just pure speed. In fact I welcome it, as Sonic isn't just about speed, but the problem is that this level's slower platforming comes in the form of tedious puzzles rather than challenging and well-designed obstacles. The water puzzle is extremely annoying as the camera just isn't made for this sort of platforming, and jumping on and off that swimming snake statue can be really frustrating since its easy to miss a jump and end up landing at a lower part of the stage and having to make it all the way back up from scratch. This level has some nice ideas in it, and I appreciate the attempt at creativity, but its just flat-out not executed well. It took me just over 16 minutes to beat (not counting some annoying deaths I had along the way), which is way too long for a Sonic level in ANY Sonic game.

Final Egg- This is a good stage to end on. It has a perfect combination of both speedy segments and slower-paced, more methodical and challenging platforming. The camera for the most part is back to cooperating with you in this level, and much like Sky Deck it has a lot of variety to it and basically makes you combine just about everything you learned playing as Sonic from previous stages and utilize those skills to make it all the way across the stage.

The Egg Viper boss fight is subsequently a good final boss fight to complement a good final stage. I love that part at the end of the fight where even after you take out his health he still tries to get in one last cheap shot at you, as per his character. The game DOES warn you about it, so its still your fault if you get hit. Either way, though, its one of those classic gaming moments that you don't often see in games these days.

Overall, I think that Sonic Adventure has aged well as far as Sonic's stages go. I enjoy 9/10 of them which is definitely a good thing, and since I've beaten his story-line, I can always just skip/ignore that particular stage I don't like, and I can replay any stage that I want to whenever I feel like it. As far as my favorite stage, I can say with certainty now that its still definitely Red Mountain. I'd totally love to see a Sonic Generations-esque spin on it one of these days. I can't speak for the other characters, yet, but I'll be playing through the game once again as each of them, so I'll see how their stages measure up to Sonic's and how well they hold up today.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The Sonic story is why I have a hard time criticizing the game.

Windy Valley, Speed Highway, Twinkle Park, Red Mountain, Sky Deck (other than the weird camera problems), and Final Egg are phenomenal levels. Emerald Coast (though a bit too linear), Casinopolis (when you explore the sewers), Ice Cap, and even Hot Shelter (despite Sonic not playing it) are also really good.

Lost World would be great if the camera during the snake part wasn't infuriating and the shifting wall platforms weren't so finicky.

I can still pick up the game and play through the Sonic and Tails levels and have no real issue. They're still really fun.

[Nel_Annette]

Same here. Except I do think Lost World is a legitimately bad level. Good music, though.

...I want to replay Sonic Generations. Again. That's how much I still love that game.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Like I said, I appreciate how Lost World tries to break up the standard Sonic formula a bit by having heavier emphasis on platforming and light puzzle-solving rather than just running through corridors and loops and such, but its at this time where the camera really is too much to deal with. That water puzzle with the snake statue is the worst offender of this because it just outright exploits all of the worst features of this game's camera and platforming. I barely had a problem with the camera in any other stage except this one. The platforming itself also feels a bit tedious and boring for my liking, and sort of reminds me of why I'm personally not a fan of Marble Zone from Sonic 1, either.

Still, its the only stage in Sonic's story-line that I don't care for, so it doesn't hinder the overall quality of the game for me.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Have you guys ever seen this fan-hack from Generations on Emerald Coast?

I would love to see the next Sonic game have levels like that (obviously more polished, of course) in the future. Lots of wide space.

[Nel_Annette]

Well shit, that's actually one of the best fan-levels of Generations I've seen. Most people just copy/paste levels in entirely, but this guy takes a lot of locations from the original level while spacing it out enough for modern Sonic's speed, and has other parts that make it feel original. Good stuff.

And while it's a tiny detail, I love that he put Station Square in the background. That's some good consistency right there.

[Kiddington]

So... I like what I've seen out of Generations so far. Cutscenes aside (which are still as painfully cheesy as ever, but are, thankfully, kept to a minimum), I'm liking this even more than Colors. Great balance in the gameplay; Modern Sonic's levels are actually a lot more fun than I expected them to be.

And hey, that soundtrack is pretty snazzy too.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Come on, I had to post that.

[gunswordfist]

What the hell kind of rope is that?

[Lord Dalek]

I just beat Sonic 2 on the Master System. What are your thoughts on the 8-bit Sonic games?

[Spark Of Spirit]

I really enjoy the first one though it's not all that Sonic-y and more Mario-like. Sonic 2 is terrible on the Game Gear, though, since you can't see things half the time. On the Master System it's not too bad, and I like being able to skip across water when you roll. As a whole, I find it decent.

Sonic Chaos is insanely easy and kind of divisive, but I like it. It's extremely linear compared to the others though the gimmicks aren't as varied as Sonic 1 to make up, it's still a fun game to play through every now and then.

I don't think they quite beat the Genesis games, but I think they're good platformers. I think Alex Kidd In Shinobi World is pretty good though, so maybe my opinion isn't quite so trustworthy!