Sonic The Hedgehog

[gunswordfist]

Spinball gets no love.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Spinball gets no love.

The 8-bit version doesn't deserve it. 

[talonmalon333]

Spinball gets no love.

The 8-bit version doesn't deserve it. 

Neither version does.

[talonmalon333]

So I've been thinking about Sonic. And I feel like it could be nice to be excited about it now. But truthfully, I think I'm kind of over it now. And I'm just gonna say, I'm also not even sold that it's actually back for good. I didn't care for Sonic 4 EP1, and I didn't really care for Sonic Colors either. In my own opinion they were fairly mediocre games, which still puts them above their predecessors. But that doesn't mean the franchise is going to be good again. I hear Generations is a good game. And I'll admit it, I'm sure it is. But I'm not convinced that an entire franchise is back based on a game that - let's be honest - banks much of itself on old games.

Basically, I don't think I'll be a part of Sonic's future. The fact that I haven't already gotten or really even looked into Generations or Sonic 4 EP2, plus the fact that I've recently been checking how much Sonic Colors sells for on Ebay and Amazon, tells me that. Not to mention, I really have a lot of games that I want to around get to playing. There's no shortage of games on my waiting list.

Keep in mind, while this means I'm probably not going to follow what comes next for the series, it doesn't change anything about my feeling on the old games. The 16-bit Sonic games are still as good as ever, and among them will always be some of my all time favorite games. So I guess it's still kind of one of my favorite franchises. But it'll fall into the category of games like Castlevania and Silent Hill, where I love them for what they accomplished before and the joy they brought to me in the past, rather that looking forward to what they'll be doing in the future.

So...

It all sounds good. And I wish the franchise the best of luck with. But I'm probably going to have to miss that comeback.

[Spark Of Spirit]

If you weren't frightened off by Sonic Heroes, Shadow The Hedgehog, Sonic Genesis, Sonic The Hedgehog 2006, Sonic Riders, Sonic & The Secret Rings, Sonic Unleashed Wii, Sonic Riders Zero Gravity, Sonic Unleashed HD, or Sonic & The Black Knight, I'm honestly not sure why Sonic Colors and Sonic Generation would be the games to do you in.

Things Sonic Colors did that proved the series is on the right track:

Platforming is the main gameplay focus
The difficulty is based on exploration for 100% and not trial and error
Art style is pure classic Sonic
Boost is nerfed to being a spindash style momentum boost
All level gimmicks are based around speed and platforming
Story is no longer ridiculously dark
Branching paths are a HUGE focus
Power-ups expand Sonic's move-set like the shields in S3&K and are mostly optional
Controls are a massive improvement (compared to what came before this was huge- these were almost perfected in Generations)
Soundtrack is no longer "epic" like 06 or Unleashed, but is back to Adventure and Classic style awesome
Voice acting isn't cringe-worthy (though Unleashed was an improvement for the 4kids cast)
The levels do not resort to "highways in the sky" difficulty like every single post-Adventure 2 Sonic game.
Super Sonic is back to being unlockable instead of forced into a terrible final boss battle
No collecting things to unlock mandatory parts of the game
Endurance Mode is something every platformer should have
The original bosses you fight (other than the doubles) are actually pretty fun if not easy
World map > hub
No extraneous gameplay styles to pad the game

All those made it a huge step forward for the Sonic series. While it may not be everyone's cup of tea, and I don't think it's without flaws- but it was the first 3D Sonic game where they didn't put anything Sonic fans didn't want to pad the game. They even slowed him down and put in more platforming, which is what people have been wanting since Adventure 2. Could it be better? Yes. But I have a hard time buying any arguments that it doesn't show improvement or doesn't succeed in its quest to be a fun action game.

I still want a Colors 2.

[Rynnec]

In regard to the soundtrack, I don't think Unleashed was trying to be "epic", at least not to 06 level's. In fact, it marked the start of the series going back to a more stylistic soundtrack similar to the Adventure games.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Oh, I don't disagree with that at all. I just think they really nailed it with Colors, whereas half of Unleashed was sort of going back and forth.

Rooftop Run, Cool Edge, Empire City, Savannah Citadel, and Dragon Road have excellent themes for the day themes. But the other half of the zones are just... blah to me. Shame too, because Eggman Land would have really benefited from a class theme.

[talonmalon333]

If you weren't frightened off by Sonic Heroes, Shadow The Hedgehog, Sonic Genesis, Sonic The Hedgehog 2006, Sonic Riders, Sonic & The Secret Rings, Sonic Unleashed Wii, Sonic Riders Zero Gravity, Sonic Unleashed HD, or Sonic & The Black Knight, I'm honestly not sure why Sonic Colors and Sonic Generation would be the games to do you in.

I guess I should've made that more clear. What I should've said as that I parted ways with Sonic a long time ago, and that I don't think they'll be bringing me back in. I definitely gave them a chance to bring me back with some of the recent games. And they certainly aren't bad games, and I can wholly understand you and everyone else liking them. It's just that I can't bring myself to be interested like how I used to be.

All those made it a huge step forward for the Sonic series. While it may not be everyone's cup of tea, and I don't think it's without flaws- but it was the first 3D Sonic game where they didn't put anything Sonic fans didn't want to pad the game. They even slowed him down and put in more platforming, which is what people have been wanting since Adventure 2. Could it be better? Yes. But I have a hard time buying any arguments that it doesn't show improvement or doesn't succeed in its quest to be a fun action game.

I still want a Colors 2.

I do think Colors is the best 3D Sonic game (that I've played, haven't gotten to Generations). Like I said in my initial post, it's definitely above the last few games before it. I just don't think it's anything special, or even a massive step forward. I really didn't like the controls for the 3D segments. They were far worse than I remembered them being in the Adventure games (though i haven't played those two games for a really long time). The 2D levels were fine. But I think the 3D levels in general weren't much different from what we'd grown used to, unresponsive controls and boosting from start to finish, etc. I thought Sonic's voice in that game was no better than it's been before (still can't get past that "This place is epic" line).

All that said though, I still perfectly see how others can like it. It's just not for me. In the end, perhaps 3D Sonic just doesn't do much for me in general. I enjoy 3D Mario far more.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Maybe if you jump straight from Adventure to Colors you might not see the huge improvement, but after playing Sonic Heroes and Sonic Unleashed- there's an obvious jump in focus and polish. And as for the controls, Generations controls are way improved for Sonic and the 3D platforming has been greatly expanded. Generations basically improved all the control issues with Colors including making the spindash drift which is a pretty interesting move for speed running. Colors 2 with Generations' improvements would be a great game for me.

But if you're just not interested, then there's not much I can say about it.

[talonmalon333]

Maybe if you jump straight from Adventure to Colors you might not see the huge improvement, but after playing Sonic Heroes and Sonic Unleashed- there's an obvious jump in focus and polish. And as for the controls, Generations controls are way improved for Sonic and the 3D platforming has been greatly expanded. Generations basically improved all the control issues with Colors including making the spindash drift which is a pretty interesting move for speed running. Colors 2 with Generations' improvements would be a great game for me.

But if you're just not interested, then there's not much I can say about it.

I played Heroes and Unleashed but both were a long time ago. I remember thinking Unleashed wasn't awful when it stayed away from the werehog, but I don't remember what the controls were like. I do think Generations sounds like a good game. I might even play it someday. But that most likely will be out of nostalgia which that games looks to bring.

[Foggle]

I just played through all of Sonic Genesis.

You know, that GBA port.

In one sitting.

I got the bad ending and used save states, but God. Damn. That was literal torture. They should use this game to interrogate prisoners at Guantanamo.

[Foggle]

Whoa guys, check out this awesome Sonic gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_lnlVZ3x1I

[Nel_Annette]

Oh, I don't disagree with that at all. I just think they really nailed it with Colors, whereas half of Unleashed was sort of going back and forth.

Rooftop Run, Cool Edge, Empire City, Savannah Citadel, and Dragon Road have excellent themes for the day themes. But the other half of the zones are just... blah to me. Shame too, because Eggman Land would have really benefited from a class theme.

But... Eggman Land's theme is awesome. It's just that you get sick of it after an hour of being in the level. 

Also, both themes for Jungle Joyride are awesome. Only recently have I come to love the night stage theme for it. Seriously, it's beautiful, which I can barely say about the other night levels.

[Lord Dalek]

Whoa guys, check out this awesome Sonic gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_lnlVZ3x1I

This does include the literal HOUR it took him to beat Robotnik in the Labyrinth Zone.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Oh, I don't disagree with that at all. I just think they really nailed it with Colors, whereas half of Unleashed was sort of going back and forth.

Rooftop Run, Cool Edge, Empire City, Savannah Citadel, and Dragon Road have excellent themes for the day themes. But the other half of the zones are just... blah to me. Shame too, because Eggman Land would have really benefited from a class theme.

But... Eggman Land's theme is awesome. It's just that you get sick of it after an hour of being in the level. 

Also, both themes for Jungle Joyride are awesome. Only recently have I come to love the night stage theme for it. Seriously, it's beautiful, which I can barely say about the other night levels.

Oh, yeah I forgot about the night themes. Jungle Joyride's was pretty cool, I infinitely enjoyed it more than the day stage.

I think what hurt Eggmanland's theme was that you frequently switched from Sonic to Werehog which killed a lot of momentum in both the soundtrack and general level design.

As weird as it is to say, the actual Eggmanland stage I quite enjoyed as a whole- other than the slippery controls and enemy gauntlets. It was challenging and there was a lot to do in the level including some really tricky shortcuts. Shame what follows it is one of the worst final boss sequences in any Sonic game. (Oddly enough the Werehog part is the best part of that boss BY FAR)