Gut Reaction: Sonic Lost World
I don’t hate it.
But if you have to start your opinion off with four words, “I don’t hate it” is a dark portent of things to come, right? Because those four words set up a dreadful fifth: “But…”
…it’s not the Sonic game I was hoping for.
Sonic Unleashed surprised the hell out of me (and to be specific, I am talking about the HD version). Early trailers made me cautiously curious about what that game was, and once it was finally in my hands, I gradually fell in love with it. Unquestionably, the Werehog and the medal collecting bits were a huge bummer to deal with, but once you got past that, it was the most fun I’d had with a Sonic game in years, if not ever. It turned Sonic in to a game exclusively about speed. Boost wasn’t a win button, it was a gas pedal, and the game favored racing game etiquette like proper drifting and cornering technique over traditional platform hopping. And while full of plenty of scripting to keep you on the right path, the comparison I’ve always liked to borrow from Errant Signal is that it kind of turned Sonic in to Guitar Hero – sure, a lot of it involved rote memorization, but it was about how well you could ride the game’s flow while being almost uncontrollably fast. Measuring accuracy under extreme pressure turned out to be remarkably engaging.
Sega had finally done it. They’d discovered a way to make Sonic’s extreme speed work in 3D, and above all else, I wanted more of it. A lot more.
Further Sonic games took the formula established in Unleashed and tried to “fix” it. Sonic Colors was a great game that ultimately felt kind of unfulfilling and frustrating, given an undue focus on hopping around slow, cramped environments with controls that were better suited for blistering speed than precision platforming. Sonic Generations more deftly balanced the runny-fasty bits with the jumpy-platformy stuff, but the game still felt like it was dragging its feet a little bit whenever Sonic wasn’t breaking the sound barrier. Both games simply lacked the raw thrills to be had with Unleashed, and it was largely due to a greater focus on slowing you down.
So, naturally, you can imagine that upon viewing the Sonic Lost World trailer, I’m a little less than enthusiastic. The natural comparison is that this is Sonic the Hedgehog by way of Super Mario Bros. The aesthetic resemblance to games like Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario 3D Land is more than a little obvious, with abstract, skybound environments. Some maintain that Sonic was always a platformer, and at a glance, Lost World looks to be more of a platformer than any other Sonic game to come before it. But to what end? Outside of Sonic Team openly admitting that Mario was their inspiration for Colors, Sonic’s never encroached too deeply on the plumber’s territory before. You could even say that this franchise was specifically founded on the idea that Sonic wasn’t just another Mario. Do we really need a Sonic game that can best be described as “kind of like Super Mario Galaxy, but a little bit faster”? Is that what Sonic the Hedgehog should be?
Of course, the argument could be made that nobody at this point knows what Sonic the Hedgehog should be anymore – largely due to Sonic Team’s own indecision on establishing a gameplay “base” for Sonic throughout his 3D career. A slower platformer like this definitely isn’t an unacceptable direction for them to be taking; we’ve witnessed everything from RPGs to fighting games starring this blue rodent. But Sonic’s defining characteristic across all media has always been his speed, and the games we were getting before embraced the embodiment of speed better than any others. If that isn’t the perfect way to define Sonic the Hedgehog in a game, then what is? Based on the 80 seconds of footage we were treated to yesterday, it might not be Lost World.
That’s not to say there isn’t merit in what Lost World is trying – everybody always focuses on the fact that Sonic can defy gravity by running up vertical walls and across ceilings, but I always saw that as a simplistic way of showing that he’s acrobatic. The real Sonic the Hedgehog would move something more like what we saw in the intro to Sonic CD – bouncing off walls, trees and rocks with free-running parkour techniques. Lost World touches on these elements a little bit, by introducing wall runs and ledge grabs. It does beg the question, however: if most Sonic games were comfortable expressing Sonic’s acrobatics with loops and other extremely sloped environments, does the addition of a wall-run ability mean Lost World will consist of mostly straightforward, hard-angle stages? Sonic’s always done better with winding, rollercoaster-like slopes and valleys, and outside of a few brief glimpses of more snake-like loops, most of what we were shown involved running down an oddly flat-yet-curved environment with very few changes in elevation or gradient.
Of course, what was shown was pretty visually striking – with abstract configurations of tubes and half-pipes stretching across the skies. It gives the game a pretty distinct look, and while it does summon comparisons to Super Mario Galaxy, it does enough to define its own unique visual aesthetic separate from Mario’s. I do worry, though – there was a time where bottomless pits were considered to be the most notoriously awful part of 3D Sonic games. More recent games like Unleashed and Generations have made it a lot harder to fall out of level boundaries, but Lost World seems to introduce level designs that have a considerable number of bottomless pits and 90 degree hairpin turns. And while the art direction itself is striking, the visual fidelity leaves something to be desired – I’m seeing a lot of flat textures and simple, blocky geometry. Not that it looks especially ugly, but after Unleashed and Generations, it can look a little plain in certain places. Thankfully, these early screenshots seem to be making up for that with a bold sense of style.
Ultimately, it’s probably a little too early to be making definitive judgement calls on how Sonic Lost World will turn out. I’m certainly open to the possibility that the game will pleasantly surprise me much like what happened with Sonic Unleashed. But part of me also hopes that Sega still has a “normal” Sonic game planned for the other consoles. Because that’s the thing – in spite of Takashi Iizuka telling IGN that this was the new direction he wanted to explore post-Generations, Lost World simply feels like another spinoff game to me – something not too dissimilar to Sonic & the Secret Rings, or even Sonic Colors (something that is reinforced by the reveal of Lost World‘s “improved color powers”). The fact that Sonic Team would start over fresh after finally finding their groove with games like Unleashed and Generations is still something I’m having trouble wrapping my head around, because it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense except in the context of this being a weird experiment born out of their contract with Nintendo. And I’m completely fine with it being just that – the real question is where this franchise goes after Lost World.
Unfortunately, it could be years before we’ll have a sufficient answer.
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I think that, assuming Sonic Lost World does really well, this might be the new Sonic for a while. Even though Sonic Unleashed (Day), Sonic Colors, and Sonic Generations are great, they aren’t pulling the sales nor the scores Sega wants, and it takes a ridiculous amount of development time to make a single 3D-Boost-Sonic level, especially graphically. The simpler graphics in Lost World make me think that Sonic Team is spending more time with level design and controls and less time with graphics, which might make a better (and bigger) game. A common complaint I hear is that Sonic games are too short, and although Colors and Generations took good steps to fix that, I think Sonic Team is looking for a way to increase the amount of time it takes to beat the game, be it through slower gameplay (compared to U/C/G) or more levels.
(Did that make sense?)
You said pretty much all I wanted to say. Thank you.
You guys have to keep in mind that money goes behind these projects and the invisible wall thing is actually quite limiting so this tubular thing might actually be the solution.
Agreed
Basically, a tl;dr of this would be: Sega wants to make a better Sonic game, both in sales and in score. Currently, they’re trying to improve game length, control, and level design, so instead of using the Unleashed method of really big, fast, detailed levels, they’re trying the Mario Galaxy method of slower, cartoonier, more spread out levels. This method allows for better control and less development time, at least for level design. (I guess that was more of an explanation than a tl;dr.)
I fully agree with this entire article.
Also, those “Deadly Six” or whatever the hell they’re called look like they belong more in a Pixar animated short than in Sonic. Just saying.
I never saw it that way until now! So true!
Sega’s been chasing Pixar’s style since Sonic Unleashed. Remember Night of the Werehog? The credits sequence was basically ripped out of The Incredibles.
And the series has been all the better for it.
Not really.
Not at all actually.
It’s very unfitting and awkward, and the style is just unappealing.
It looks natural and flowing in animation but in game it’s god awful.
Other than the human characters in Unleashed, nothing at all implies Pixar, and has not been so since Unleashed. So this isn’t a really good comparison. (And the humans in Unleashed look absolutely wretched.)
@Jaidy
Still better than this:
http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/KhlOoUAZw0M/mqdefault.jpg
I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels that way. Felt like they were trying too hard to be cartoony with those designs.
…because anything anthropomorphic introduced in a Sonic universe SIMPLY MUST BE a thing that only Pixar makes. = =;;
Yep, you pretty much hit the nail on the head for me.
People are glad Sonic is getting away from the “serious” stories, but when that happens, the new games end up looking like spin offs. I feel it wasn’t terrible when we had more serious stories — IMO some of the classic titles and of course SA1 and SA2 were some of the best games due to fun epic stories and fun gameplay.
Sonic 06 was jusr a terrible game overall and I wonder if people wouldve been more accepting of its too serious story if the game was actually finished and enjoyable.
TLDR, I want my epic stories back with these great new gameplays.
Some people might have been, but most wouldn’t. Elise is pretty widely hated by just about everyone, and even if Sonic fans lapped up the gameplay, the story would still be the butt end of everyone’s jokes forever.
I honestly don’t understand this very much tbh. Other than Elise I loved the story of Sonic ’06. Of course I’m the exception rather than the norm. (I haven’t actually PLAYED Sonic ’06 mind you.) And even then I didn’t think Elise was THAT bad, and her relationship with Sonic was entirely one-sided (although I fully admit it was unnecessary.)
Yeah, the story in a game is the part that takes the least amount of time and resources to put together (and hence is why it’s the first thing to get chopped, like with most Mario games).
That is, even if Sonic 2006 got all the polish and refinement it wanted, the story for Sonic 2006 would still be a mess because this was most likely already finished and thus what was intended.
You say this only because that’s how things turned out, believe me if the game was up to scrap, things would be different, your tone of voice would be much different
I have the same worries as you tough I think is way too early to try and make any predictions, I was much more worried about Sonic Unleashed (day levels) the first time I saw it than with Lost World but I ended up loving it. Right now I still love Unleashed/Colors/Generations gameplay though I think that formula needs an urgent upgrade before it gets old and Lost World could be it.
I’m sorry, Ryan, but I have to strongly disagree with your points, respectfully.
Huh, it’s weird. It’s almost as if we have our own….opinions. 🙂
Shocking, isn’t it? (These days it is)
Unleashed was awesome, and I love it to pieces for exactly what it is. The Guitar Hero comparison is perfect. But Guitar Hero gets old (and the more you play/master it, the more quickly it does so), and so did Unleashed. Something had to be done to mix things up and add something meatier to the experience. Speed is great, but it can’t be all there is forever.
Colors wasn’t perfect, but I’m surprised to see you mention it with such indifference. What it did well, it did significantly better than Unleashed, and I’d take a handful of clunky platforming stages padding out the game over another Werehog any day. Seems kind of unfair to compare the worst of Colors to the best of Unleashed.
Honestly I wasn’t too happy with Unleashed style, I still prefer the Adventure style. This game seems to be taking a step in the right direction gameplay-wise, focusing on a mixture of speed and platforming and is overall closer to the Adventure titles than Unleashed.
But the graphics? So totally agreed on that, the graphics and visual appeal are a huge step down from the past three main series games.
The boost gameplay gets a lot more praise then it deserves. Not to be that guy, but even though I enjoy Generations and Colors, the boosting is just nothing more then speed shoes and the invincibility shield turned permanently on. Which is the equivalent of playing as Super Sonic in the classic games. And because of that, there’s no sense of danger outside getting squashed or falling into a bottomless pit. Enemies no longer have a reason to be there other then to be fuel fodder. What is the point? This is also related to my argument about how enemies in Sonic 4 are now arranged for you to home attack your way to new paths instead of, oh I don’t know, actually picking up speed and rolling off hills to reach higher ground. Might as get rid of the enemies altogether since the rings build up your fuel too.
And with the boosting gameplay, the stages were designed to be long narrow halls with the occasional branching paths. It left little for people to have some sense of freedom and exploration. You couldn’t be able to head back at all because either the platforms end up unreachable or the camera will never tilt in your favor, constantly reminding you to go this way instead of actually wanting to do *gasp* something different. I really don’t like that. With Lost World, I’m seeing the sense of speed without the mindless boosting PLUS actually having some sort of freedom to explore here. I actually am interested in seeing what is ahead with that giant windmill thing in the pictures I’ve seen for Lost World. We’ve been shown very little of the parkour ability, but it definitely feels like it will be defining aspect for player skills, what with having to be agile and keep the fast pace going while still being able to platform around.
While I agree with your initial statement, I don’t necessarily agree with your supporting argument. Sonic games are rarely hard, especially before the final levels where rings become scarce. The fact that a single ring grants you virtual invulnerability makes EVERY Sonic game feel safe. Being squashed, bottomless pits, or overly unforgiving level design have always been the only things even remotely threatening.
The Unleashed formula is every bit as challenging as any other Sonic game, just in a different way. The bosses, granted, are substantially easier, but Sonic hasn’t ever really had very many great bosses in 3D. The whole “constantly running” gimmick applied to boss fights really limits what you can do with them. It’s a shame.
I won’t be suprised if Sega resign from making Sonic games soon enough.
I hear people begging for Lost Worlds style “return to roots” and fuck off to his furry friends and stupid plots.
I hear other people say he is too kiddy, (isn’t he a cartoon anyway?) and miss the emo / serious drama Era.
And now all these complaints…
I think… Sonic would be better of dead now. The fanbase is far too broken up and alienated by the Eras to satisfy anyone now.
Poor Sonic will never be the same again.
It’s not that it’s falling apart. It just needs to improve.
Never going to happen.
So you can stop spamming this.
I don’t believe it’s going to fall apart. That’s what I was stating with the whole “improve” thing.
Its just too early to tell anything. Its that simple.
I think ST was a little scared to leave the comfort zone of appealing to all sonic fans with generations. So in order to deal with the fear of moving beyond generations, they created this new style that throws modern sonic in classic sonic’s world in 3d. My guess is that in doing this “cartoony aka closer to the classic era” art style mixed with the modern sonic design and new moves, they might be able to caption the effect of appealing to all sonic fans again.
My two concerns are as follows: 1. Where are the tricks after homing attacks. Were they replaced with that stiffy looking Jump-N- kick?
2. Are they getting rid of rail grinding?
These two things im most concerned with cause i feel they helped attract the skater crowd of the sonic community when SA2 came out. They have kinda stuck around ever since and remained a positive feature. I can tell this game will appeal to most classic fans, but hopefully they have some form of tricks or rail grinding to also attract the other half of generations audience.
if we had sonic next gen characters and personalaties, with unleashed gameplay , it would be nothing short of perfect. i mean, sure, sonic is a cartoon, but, he just isnt the same anymore. heck, even unleashed had a nice feel. lets face it, sega said before colors was made they were focusing on children. this is bad news for people like myself who have been playing since the genesis days. now sonic is nothing but a joke. i think ill go buy another copy of unleashed and leave this game, which looks like an utter dissapointment after waiting two years, on the shelf.
Actually, most fans that grew up from the Genesis era are the ones WELCOMING the shift back to simplicity and childlike focus. It appeals to the kid in us, and more accurately reflects the Sonic we grew up with. It’s pretty obvious that a large portion of the people with a problem are the people who were introduced to the series later (hate to call ’em out, but there’s no getting around it), around the Adventure era, where they decided THAT version of Sonic was his most iconic iteration.
To a lot of older fans, this new Sonic isn’t “a joke”, because we never expected Sonic to be anything other than a simplistic fun high speed platformer. We grew up without a lot of the junk that came later on, so this back-to-basics approach doesn’t bother us.
I hate it when people do these wet blanket articles.
Is it that you hate hype? Let people have their own issues and worries don’t put it on a freaking news site- this is more fitting for a forum post where opinions belong.
Reviews are at MOST “fine” (using it loosely) because they’re AFTER the fact but shoving your personal opinion on the hundreds who come to this over a game that has yet to even come out like this is a blog all so you can be that one insufferable spoilsport who always takes it upon himself to be the biggest party killer is so incredibly annoying.
Have an opinion? Go to a forum. Or the comment section.
Or maybe make a blog section for TSSZ’s personal kicks and segregate it from the ACTUAL news.
Please.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Op_ed
Oh wow. After the fantastic Sonic Colours and the brilliant Sonic Generations, I would’ve thought the Sonic fanbase would’ve gotten a bit more optimistic by now!
I understand that sometimes it’s wise to be cautious and I wholeheartedly agree that despite their recent efforts these past few years, SEGA still needs to work hard to improve themselves if they want to be taken seriously again. But after watching the Lost World trailer (about six million+ times since Tuesday XD), scrutinzing the screenshots and videos and reading everything that has been revealed about it, I honestly cannot see, even in the most open-minded, critical and nitpicky of perspectives, -anything- wrong with this game so far – as naive as that sounds. It takes the best of the old and the new and makes something totally unique out of it. Whether it’ll play good remains to be seen, but given their recent efforts, I’m sure they can at the very least pull it off decently!
We unquestioningly gave Taxman and Stealth the benefit of the doubt with their classic ports (and my God, were they something else or what?! =D) – let’s give Sonic Team, and Nintendo now apparently, a chance too and see what happens. After all the love and effort put into Unleashed, Colours and Generations, I reckon we can afford to trust them this time. =)
FINALLY! Someone who actually understands how I feel about Sonic Unleashed! Up until this point I haven’t felt like I’m in the minority, it feels like I’m alone.
Not a single person I talk to understands why I enjoy the game so much, they think I’m insane but to me everything about the game (sans the werehog) hits the mark of absolute perfection.
I mean really do people ever take a step back these days and wonder if just maybe… they’re actually just bad at the game?
Sonic Unleashed HD has a steep learning curve, you could spend years trying to perfect the daytime stages and still surprise yourself when you see a youtube speed run showing off new shortcuts you had no idea even existed. But once you can perfect the stages yourself there’s just no other feeling like it, it’s such a damn rush and there was no other game like it. (At the time anyway)
And come on, the production values are through the roof! There is so much creativity, personality and effort put into every small detail. The cinematics, the visual art style, the soundtrack, the unique worlds you explore… dude, even the NPC’s are vibrant and full of life. I sometimes turn the xbox on just to go to Shamar and get my fortune told, socialise with the locals and buy chip some snacks from the trading post. It’s almost as if old granny is talking directly to me when she reads my fortune, it makes me all warm and tingly inside!
(Then I go tell Amy Rose I’d willingly date her after I save the world, poor girl is desperate for attention so badly she might even starve herself someday…)
But yeah I agree with this article 100%, I’m in the very small minority that thought sonic colours was overrated and going in the wrong direction after they very nearly hit perfection. (I mean complaints with the gameplay are one thing, but why the hell did they have to completely rewrite the characters personalities after they finally had them nailed down. They FINALLY perfected Dr. Eggman then they just ruined his style completely, even AOSTH Robotnik isn’t 1% as cheesy as the newly portrayed Dr. Eggman is. Same goes for Sonic and Tails.)
The writing style in sonic unleashed could appeal to anybody but colours truly felt like it was pandering to a much younger audience in an almost entirely patronising way. I mean call it an age gap between older and younger generations but even AOSTH and Sonic Underground wasn’t even a fraction as patronising as this, and the former involved sonic acting like Bugs Bunny in nearly every episode, putting on several disguises and winking to the audience while he tricked the bad guys into falling off a cliff.
But long winded rant aside, it was mainly the wisp abilities that made sonic colours a forgettable experience for me (And an unbearable one in the DS version)
They didn’t compliment sonic’s gameplay style or his abilities, they just forced me to slow down and take a different approach to exploring the level when all I really want to do is blast through the stage, enjoy the atmosphere and feel as free as a blue hedgehog can be. Sonic CD didn’t force different gameplay styles on me in order to fully explore the stage on offer, but honestly I really wouldn’t of minded so much if it wasn’t for the absolutely irritating music that plays whenever you absorb a wisp. If you could turn that off I would’ve enjoyed the experience a hell of alot more.
And I feel exactly the same way about the sonic colours stages in sonic generations as well. I’m enjoying this damn stage and WHOOPS, I can’t go any further until I absorb this damn rocket into my system and break this locked gate with it or turn into a fireball and dodge these exploding balloons.
The point I’m getting at is that I didn’t enjoy sonic colours because I felt it was offering me a near polar opposite of everything I loved in sonic unleashed, sonic generations mostly made up for it (though I probably am alone when I say I prefered the tight controls and physics in unleashed – generations just felt too loose and unresponsive at times, I’d often mess up in an area and get frustrated, feeling it wasn’t my fault because the controls didn’t respond fast enough where as in Unleashed I felt the level design could be unforgiving, but never had a reason to blame the controls for it.)
But anyway Sonic Lost worlds announcing the return of wisps feels like a bad omen to me and like you Ryan, I strongly hope this is just a creative one off and not signs that this is where the franchise is heading now.
It’s clear sonic team are taking in as much feedback as they possibly can to give sonic fans the gaming experience they truly want, the only problem is we ‘DON’T ALL WANT THE SAME THING!’
But hey, Sonic Unleashed > Sonic Colours > Sonic Generations > Sonic Lost world > ______
It could be an interesting pattern? One sonic game a year for the speed freaks, one sonic game a year for those who love to explore.
I very much agree with a lot of what you said and what is said in this article; so no, you guys are not alone. 🙂 (But, sadly, we ARE in the minority.) :/
All I hear is “I’m scared. ;_;”
Just let go.
Put the walls of text behind you and just let go.
Sonic is great hands. The franchise has drastically improved in quality over the past 6 years and it’s gonna keep getting better from here on out.
Sonic Colors was the best game I think next SA1. I’m going to try to stay positive about Sonic Lost World.
Couldnt agree with you more. Especialy the bit about unleashed colors and generations though i would argue generations was near perfect but with a too forgiving ranking system.
I have to agree with Ryan in some places but disagree in others. I do agree that Sonic Unleashed HD’s day stages gave Sonic the exciting speed that was missing in previous 3D Sonic games and I loved that game for doing that; however, the problem with these stages was that they felt too much like stages, they had very little in the ways of platforming and if you wanted to go to alternate routes for further exploration you had to mostly rely on preplanned quick time events.
Sonic Team decided to add more platforming and exploration sections in Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations (for modern Sonic) but these did not work well with the faster Sonic gameplay (even when they toned down Sonic’s top speed). Many of the platforming sections and exploration sections in these games were done in 2D or they continued to rely on quick time events and even with Sonic’s slower speed platforming was less fun in these games (especially when compared to the 2D games and maybe even the Adventure titles) and the speed cap made the 3D stages less thrilling . I do think that Sonic Unleashed’s fast paced gameplay is still very viable, but I feel Sonic Team should increase the speed cap again and develop that gameplay as opposed to trying fit in too much precise platforming and free-style exploration (something which this style of gameplay does not work for). While Sonic Unleashed’s fast style gameplay was a step in the right direction I feel that more mainstream Sonic games need more harmony between speed, platforming, and exploration (something which the 2D Sonic games did very well for the most part).
Sonic Lost World appears to be balancing speed, platforming, and exploration elements through gameplay mechanics and stage design. Sonic’s three speed settings allow player to easily slow Sonic down for precise platforming and careful observation, or speed him up just enough so that he is moving quickly but you can still see alternative routes around, or make him speed up so fast that he rolls in a ball form and blasts anything in his path. The parkour system helps keep the flow going by not having Sonic stop when he reaches walls and other solid objects (although the implementation of such a system is very important as it can detract from exploration and if not implemented to be dynamic it can make the game feel scripted, so I have to see more of this aspect of the game to make a final proper prediction if it will help or hurt the game). Lastly, the cylindrical and spherical shaped worlds coupled with the Mario Galaxy like gravity system can open up new pathways of exploration (of course the design of these pathways and other platforms will be crucial to making the game flow properly). Ultimately, Sonic Lost World’s gameplay style is a bit risky and may seem unoriginal but based on what I have seen so far I feel it provides a conceptual foundation for a well balanced 3D Sonic game; of course that is assuming that the mechanics work like they are supposed to and are implemented properly by Sonic Team.
The art style, like Ryan said, is more abstract and cartoony which I believe matches the abstract level design. However, there are a few problems with the art style and graphics. In terms of the graphics Ryan was right on the spot when he said the game contains some blurry textures (it seems as if these textures were recycled from previous Wii games and they do not look very clear in HD, Sonic Team can fix this problem later and I am confident they will improve it as this is not the first Sonic game that had texture issues in the pre-release trailer which were fixed in the final version of the game. The bigger problem here is the inconsistent art style. The game environments and enemies appear to use a toon shader whereas Sonic and the flickies are more of a solid fill and these models themselves are better used for Sonic games that take place in more realistic environments. This problem is a bit ironic because with most of the 3D Sonic games Sega has attempted to put Sonic (who is of course a cartoon character) in more realistic settings and the result was a character that felt out of place from the rest of the environment, the response to this problem was the Hedgehog Engine which used lighting techniques (amongst other graphical capabilities) along with more natural and fluent models to make Sonic seem in-place with the rest of the environment; now the problem is that (at least to me) Sonic and several other models feel our of place from their more cartoony surroundings. Another issue with the art style is that the setting shown is quite empty, again this is something that Ryan touched upon as well, it would do Sonic Team a lot of good to add more assets resembling artifacts to the settings shown in the trailer and in the screenshots. I am also concerned about the level themes because so far based on what we have seen and what IGN described the levels themes are recycled from past Sonic games (the stage shown in the trailer is yet another Green Hill Zone colon and one of the Desert regions described by IGN seems to resemble Sweet Mountain Zone from Sonic Colors).
Story wise I do prefer a more serious story in my Sonic game (Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic Unleashed’s story all hit the right nerve with me) but I feel they will go with something more light hearted here which again matches everything else in this game. I do hope that Sega does bring back more serious Sonic stories (although not as serious or dark as Sonic 06 or Shadow the Hedgehog), but I do not think this type of story is appropriate in this type of game (although it will not hurt them to do an epic cutscene like the one used to start Sonic Unleashed).
I agree with this wholeheartedly. However, I think the parkour may be the saving grace for people who aren’t exactly speed demons. Since they already stated that coming to a complete stop is less of an occurrence, I’m interested to see how well it’s incorporated. Maybe the parkour could offer even MORE free-form speed-running techniques and styles. Say you’re flying through the air, but miss a ledge slightly. The parkour could save you from that. It would still mean more time on your score than a clean landing, but it lets you continue with a lot more room for error.
This of course is all speculation, but I’m more piqued from how they pull this off than how good the game actually will be.
Also, it’s kinda scary how much you matched my feelings in this article o_o
I’m gonna put my opinion. Not trying to argue or anything with anyone. Im sorry if noone agrees but here it is. Well, story wise, it can meet in the middle like Sonic Unleashed, where as its light hearted when needed and serious/dark when needed. Nothing too serious.. cause when i was little, that part in the last story of SA2 where they were really Gerald Robotnik’s diary creeped me the hell out. Yeah, the kiddish stories does match Colors and apparently Lost Worlds cause of the cartoony art/level design. Now do i really think it matches Sonic all around for the cartoony design?? No not exactly… And i know what everybody says “Well isn’t Sonic a talking cartoon hedgehog???” Well, yes. BUT..
For about 8-10 years, (1998-2006 or ’08) you can say that Sonic was placed in a world with realistic looking humans. In the games, and hell even the anime Sonic X. And i grew up playing the adventure series. Yes, the classic but adventure too. I can honestly say i saw him in that environment and didn’t really think twice about it. I mean i just can’t get used to him being in a Disney looking environment. Honestly after the first 2 Adventure games i didn’t really imagine him back in his little “South Island” area, i mean that could because that’s what i saw as a kid, and i grew up with that in my system, idk.
Whereas the gameplay goes, when Unleashed came out i thought that style of gameplay (modern) was just a one time thing, just to give the series a good, well created game with something new (Don’t get me wrong, the werehog stages KILLED my ass). I never played Colors though but i thought “cool, they went with the Unleashed gameplay style, but its kinda kidish). I picked up my copy of Generations and i played and beat it. I thought it was an amazing game. But the story was lacking and it didn’t take hardly no time AT ALL to beat Generations. I mean i guess i look down on the modern cause i had too much fun and time beating A1, A2, Heroes, STH, (Hell, Sonic ’06 had ALOT flaws but i did like the Adventure formula on an adventure game and didn’t have too much of a bad time playing it). I think my point is i probably look down on the Modern/New gameplay gimmicks is because i’m still trapped in the Adventure era. Maybe i am an Adventure fanboy. But i don’t care for an Adventure 3 game though. Just the game style.
*Reading his diary
The problem with Unleashed styled gameplay (and Colors/Generations by proxy) is that they are damn near inaccessible for those unacquainted with the franchise to pick up and play.
Unleashed did a number of things right and had a fair amount of effort put into it. From the meticulously designed hub worlds to the bubbly incidental characters, it’s clear that a lot of love went into it. That being said, it was the introduction of speed and adrenaline being the driving force behind this franchise which resulted in breath-taking but immensely shallow trial and error twitch based gaming. The genesis games were easy for anyone to pick up and play. It was instantly intuitive to curl into a ball and platform at relatively high speeds (still no where near as fast as sonic goes while using the boost in modern games). What we have now (as the video you’ve linked to demonstrates) is a kind of game that only the most devout/hardcore fans will be able to get into because of the reflexes and memorization required to play levels fluently. At numerous points in the level are these terrible hazards that would instantly kill the player at the slightest of mistakes (the wall running and water running were especially unfair). Generations, while an improvement, still relies too heavily on scripted events and set pieces to get a reaction from the player. Obstacles and platform whizz by at speeds that you would need to be super human (or have played the level MANY times) to even react in time to.
Colors addressed these concerns slightly by slowing the game down with extended platforming sequences and limiting the amount of boost the player had to work with. It’s because of this that Colors is perhaps the best post SA1 3d sonic game to date, trumping Unleashed and Generations with its careful level design and willingness to take things slow.
Lost World being more like a “faster mario game” is honestly the best news I’ve heard regarding the franchise in a decade. Sonic should be above all things a joy to control. It excites me that they are looking for new solutions regarding controlling the character’s speed as well as how he interacts with the environment.
This is a problem I feel has long plagued the Sonic series and is the single biggest thing stopping it from being something bigger and better. In fact, I’d go on to say that it began with Sonic Adventure: You need to be pretty hardcore to put up with its weird spontaneous glitches and play what is essentially seven smaller games, each with their own complicated mechanics.
From then onwards, it’s only become more and more beginner-unfriendly (among the home console games, at least–Sonic Heroes is the exception), and I feel that culminated in Sonic Unleashed. When you make your games beginner-unfriendly, you lock out other people, and you get diminishing returns.
Sonic had been stuck in quite the dilemma since: With each game that shut out newcomers, the loyalists became even more loyalists. By the time Generations came out, much of the remaining fans are those who like these new mechanics. Iizuka would thus have to choose whether to stick with the formula and keep the existing fanbase, or make a new main series Sonic game from the ground up and create a new fanbase at the cost of alienating much of the old one. I think he made the right decision here–it keeps Sonic from getting too stale.
P.S.
I mean “the loyalists became even more loyal.”
I should also explain that Sonic Heroes is the exception because while you had to learn three sets of moves, they were all platforming control schemes. It was also a rather slow Sonic game, with speed sections mostly being transitions to the next segment of the stage.
It’s still not nearly as intuitive as any main series Mario game, but it was by far the easiest to understand among any Sonic game between Sonic Adventure and, I dare say, Sonic Generations.
Ophelia, you’re exactly right! There’s a reason why the series is having a hard time breaking 2.5 million copies world wide these days. Franchises need to be growing in order to survive, otherwise as you’ve mentioned we’re stuck with diminishing returns. Instead of pandering to us they should focus on making a game that’s enjoyable for newcomers above all else, a game that is fun to control and about half as frustrating and complicated as the past 5 titles have been. I remember feeling like we had gone completely off the deep end when during the loading screen for Unleashed, they try and remind you what the controls are (http://i2.listal.com/image/1192035/286full.jpg) because there are now so many abilities and maneuvers that almost every button on the 360 pad is scripted to an action!
We’re getting closer though, I can feel it! Each title is growing progressively more charming if not streamlined. Hopefully apart from using the triggers to control sonic’s speed, there isn’t much else to the game. I’m confident that audiences are as ready as ever to embrace Sonic as a gaming icon again. Given the right steps there are plenty of fans out there to be made!
This whole conversation makes me happy.
You say that Sonic Unleashed is inaccessible to those unacquainted with the franchise – how? Sonic Unleashed actually bucked a lot of trends and struck out on its own as far as gameplay systems go. Wouldn’t that mean EVERYBODY was unacquainted with it?
There’s nothing wrong with memorization – a lot of games rely on a degree of memorization in order to be properly played. Practice makes perfect, and all of that. Just because the game wasn’t made for you specifically does not mean it is automatically invalidated as something that can be enjoyed by others.
What I’m saying is that you needed a certain amount of patience/dedication to enjoy Unleashed. Something that to my knowledge only fans of the franchise have in the first place. Most people aren’t going to put up with the amount of cheap deaths and slamming into obstacles that are present in all three Unleashed styled games.
I dont mean to invalidate the game or objectively claim that others can’t enjoy it. But from the perspective of a general audience member I found it to be too unforgiving and demanding to ever be a hit. That’s why I’m glad they’re moving away from this style of gameplay. Speedrunning is very cool but will only ever appeal to the most hardcore of players.
For the record I really enjoyed Unleashed, Colors, and Generations myself. But the popularity of this series just isn’t growing and I believe inaccessibility has a lot to do with it.
I see it a different way – nobody wanted to bother to figure out Sonic Unleashed because they were burned in so many other bad Sonic games that they refused to accept one that actually managed to do some things right.
It wasn’t until Colors and ultimately Generations that more people became receptive to the fact that Sonic games might actually be enjoyable again, but Colors and Generations owe their entire gameplay legacy to Sonic Unleashed. I’ve actually seen people out there in the wild that have through Generations gone back to Unleashed and admitted it probably had better Sonic levels.
The game’s uncontrollable speed had nothing to do with it, otherwise games like Burnout, Trackmania and F-Zero GX wouldn’t be as beloved as they are. There is a place for a superfast game like this, and Sega’s abandoning it just when it seemed like they had finally found their footing.
Unleashed was terrible.
That is all.
YOU’RE TERRIBLE
He’s not wrong. Unleashed was pretty sucky.
Unleashed was citizen kane compared to what came prior. Context is important.
Ehh… it was mediocre. I don’t think it was terrible, but it wasn’t a spectacular experience. Especially with the Werehog, which although I didn’t have too much of a problem with it, nighttime stages didn’t get fun until you’re damn near done with the game when you’re already leveled up to the point where you can one shot most common mooks and most of the minibosses are no problem, and most people don’t want to have to sit through all that tedium.
>gets shown a trailer of the easiest stage in the entire game
>pretends to think that the entire game is like this
How many times are we going to repeat this process guys? How many times in history must we do this?
How many times are we going to repeat the process of people leaving comments on articles where they either didn’t finish reading or didn’t understand the point?
Both these articles and posts exactly like the ones you’re making are always going to exist. They existed before the era of the internet, and will continue to exist long after the internet.
You should really just relax.
I think Sonic Lost World is going to be fantastic because the focus in on CONTROL! I’m really interested to see how this turns out because the modern Sonic in Unleashed, Colors and generations controlled terribly when you weren’t running 300mph. It’s like, I’ll be able to control Sonic with the same precision as in the Adventure titles, but in a modern Sonic title. Really psyched up for this one, I think it’s going to be awesome.
And also, I approve of Iizuka starting fresh even after the recent trend of modern Sonic games. I never cared to much for it anyway. I mean, I think generations really nailed it when it came to the balance between speed and platforming, what an outstanding game that was! But seriously, they aren’t completely remaking the new Sonic formula, but just trying something new. They always do this with their Nintendo exclusive Sonic titles, and I’m sure that the next multi-platform Sonic will be back to normal, but if they could find a way to mix awesome control and blistering speed, like Lost World seems to be going for, it might be the best thing that’s ever happened to the franchise ever!
Mix all of this with the fact that NINTENDO is co-developing it (At least, I thought they were…), and I think this is going to one no Sonic fan will want to miss! I also like how rescuing animals is useful. They’ve never done that in a mainstream Sonic. It’s just the tiny, but cool little additions, I find, that really make the game interesting!
Wow… I didn’t think I’d see something like this where someone agreed with what I felt so much.
I mean, I agree that his defining feature is his speed. That’s what makes him special. I think Generations is an improvement from Colors and Unleashed as they both seemed to be too much of one of the two elements while Generations was a nice blend which could only improve by allowing for more adventure such as in the explorability of Sonic Adventure. And at least Tails and Knuckles playable in S3&K/SA1-2 kinda way (gameplay-wise, not objective-wise)
So this game does look fun to me, with the parkour and wisp thing and all. It even seems a bit complex. I like that they’re finally re-tackling the Sonic X-Treme idea too cuz it’ll be fun.
But as a game it doesn’t really have a “hook”, it does look plain, it comes off as a spin-off title to me as well, it doesn’t really define Sonic and shouldn’t be the continuing direction of the series, and many other things you listed.
I DO think it looks creative as heck tho. A little TOO creative as it reminds me of any other cartoony platform/puzzle solver game with twisted complex rules and controls. lol But we’ll see how it goes.
So deviating from the hedgehog engine is bad? You guys aren’t really giving this game a chance. If they had used the unleashed style, this would’ve been the 4th main series game in a row with almost the EXACT same gameplay. As stated before, its causing the series to get stale and driving away newcomers who prefer something. As to what Sonic should be, who says only one style of gameplay must define the series? The only two constants should be speed and platforming. Just because we’re stepping out of the comfort zone here doesn’t mean it’s a step in the wrong direction.
Pretty late to the party here, so I doubt anyone will read this, though perhaps Ryan might.
First off, good article; you raise a lot of fair points, and you sum up some of the big evaluations and feelings everyone’s having–namely, its (so far) similarity to Mario Galaxy. And like many of us, you’re optimistically cautious.
There are a few bits I respectfully disagree on, though. In your third big paragraph, when you begin to discuss how it compares to Mario Galaxy, it felt like–to me, at least–that you were taking this idea of “encroaching on the plumber’s territory” (which, of course, this game IS doing), and getting it mixed up with being a platformer. Mario doesn’t own the platformer genre; being a platformer doesn’t make you a Mario spinoff. This is why the original sonic games could come across as so original, despite the fact they WERE platformers. Mario had flat ground and a slower pace; sonic had slopes and loops and speed. So I would say that just because a sonic game is more of a platformer doesn’t mean it’s encroaching on Mario’s turf. It has to do more. (And Lost World certainly seems to be doing that)
Furthermore, I would say that while yes, SONIC’S defining characteristic is his speed, when it comes his games (especially the classics) it is not. Of course, speed was always his selling point, ever since day one (“Blast Processing” anyone?). But that’s because Sega had to differentiate the game from the current market dominator, and their rival, Mario.
As an analogy: if I built a vacuum cleaner and wanted to compete against all the other models out there, when I went to advertise it I wouldn’t say “it can suck things!” because of course it does, and that’s no different than any of the others. I would need to find something it did differently than anyone else. For Sonic, what was different from Mario was his speed. Mario was a platformer, and only showcasing sonic as a platformer wouldn’t have really turned many heads.
But just like how my vacuum cleaner’s primary purpose is still to suck things, Sonic is still a platformer. His selling point was speed, it is what he himself as the character is known for, but the games–what everyone played, what made him famous–were platformers, and not just about speed.
So making a game that focuses entirely on speed is contrary to his roots or foundations. That doesn’t make it a bad game! It simply means it’s not a “pure” sonic game, and the whole reason I’m bringing it up is because it felt like you were implying this in your above piece. I believe that sonic’s home is in high speed platforming–for his games. He is and always will be about speed; but his games, I think, should not.
You’re right, being a platformer doesn’t make you a Mario spinoff – but I feel like combined with Sonic Team’s comments regarding their decisions on Sonic Colors, plus the obvious aesthetic similarities to Mario in Lost World, that it’s obvious what they’re going for: They want to make a Sonic game that appeals to fans of Mario. They dipped their toe in to the pool with Colors, and now they’re winding up to dive in head first.
You’re right that speed was not always Sonic’s most defining characteristic, but I’d say that with the many different hats Sonic has worn over the years and how much his gameplay style has evolved that at least to some degree, once he moved out of the Sega Genesis 2D games he had trouble finding his groove.
Mario had to evolve in order to work in 3D, but Sonic tried to stick to similar structures and mechanical memes that defined his 2D games. Sonic Team really fought hard to keep Sonic close to his “roots” – tacking on weird gimmicks like rival systems and teamplay mechanics and RPG elements without significantly trying to evolve certain other archaic gameplay elements. Sonic Team was infatuated with trying to recapture the magic of the 90’s without looking forward to where they needed to go next.
I see a game like Sonic Unleashed being this franchise breaking free of the shackles of what used to be and going off in bold new directions. There are no shields, no power-ups, no little TVs with 10 ring icons on the side. Sonic Unleashed re-invented a lot of how “being a Sonic game” was defined, and Colors and Generations continued that trend, with Generations once again trying to pull the franchise back to its roots. And it worked, sure, but it didn’t work as well as the daytime stages in Sonic Unleashed did, because it lacked that purity of vision. They were trying to imitate something for the sake of nostalgia, and as we saw with Sonic 4, they’re really, really bad at doing that.
By all intents and purposes, even though it is surrounded by a lot of less-than-stellar ideas, the daytime stages in Unleashed were Sonic’s Super Mario 64 moment of being WAY different and it working.
And now they’re saying “Eh, Super Mario 64 wasn’t good enough for us, let’s re-invent the wheel again and maybe stick closer to Sonic’s roots this time.”
And I’m just shaking my head, because I’ve been here before, I know how this typically ends, and that has me worried.
It’s just too bad that Sonic Unleashed was pretty mediocre.
I don’t think so at all! It does a lot of things remarkably well and is pretty intelligently designed for the most part – except, of course, when it comes to the Werehog stuff or having to collect medals. And Eggmanland’s kind of dumb.
I think some people do not appreciate it enough because they were either so burned by other Sonic games that they refuse to even try to enjoy Sonic Unleashed, or they’ve already made up their minds about what they think a Sonic game should be and because Unleashed doesn’t fit in to their neat little definition, they write it off.
When Sonic Unleashed is good, at least in my opinion, it is one of the best Sonic games ever made.
Oh yeah Sega’s definitely taking the route of imitation on this one, no doubt about it; and I don’t necessarily consider that a bad thing, since personally, I WANT more platforming in my sonic games, for reasons related to my original post (what I don’t want, however, is a sonic that looks or feels too much like mario, or at all really; but what to do if that’s the only way to get a game element I want?).
I’m pretty sure though this disagrees with your own wishes, and that’s okay, in that I’m not saying you’re “wrong.” I mean, we all have our favorite sonic games, and we want new ones to continue in their direction. We passionately defend the games we like. And that’s not to say we don’t use facts and objective observations to defend our stances either. Put me in charge of making the next sonic game, and I know exactly what kind of game I’d be making–and it would be one that does not follow in the path of any of the others, but rather a fan made game (which follows the classics). But put others in charge of Sonic, and you’ll get different results.
But perhaps I can assauge your fears a bit. Namely, I think you and I are giving too much credence to what Sega has been saying about their “new direction for sonic” without giving much consideration to their, shall I say, squirminess. Maybe I’m being too harsh, but all in all, I’m not classifying this as the new definitive direction for sonic until I see what they have planned for Sony and Microsoft. This may well be their direction going forward for Nintendo, but unless this is also what they are doing for the other two consoles, you might not have to worry quite as much. Though I WILL say that there probably wont be another game that plays exactly like the daytime stages in Unleashed ever again. I think this is due in part to the feedback they got from it, as well as the feedback from Colors and Generations.
While this doesn’t really bother me (well, not for the same reasons as you), I can totally see and understand why it bothers you, and as a fellow sonic fan, I’ll feel your frustration. Like, really. Everytime Sega does something I legitimately think is a bad move or a wrong way to go, I die a little on the inside. It’s pretty clear to me that you really loved Unleashed, so it’s rough that in many ways Sonic seems to be moving away from that. While Unleashed isn’t my most beloved game, I do have my golden idol, but let me tell you, the chances of Sega ever going down that path are one in a million. But I legitimately believe it to be THE best direction for sonic, one that encapsulates what he was originally.
Which brings me to an observation–if I may be so bold–about you and I, and that is this: we both have two fundamental–and different–assumptions here about the “proper” direction for a sonic game. I know I can certainly speak for myself, and for me that assumption is that sonic’s proper direction should be in line with the very innermost core elements of the classics (and I’m not talking about ring boxes or power ups). Now correct me if I’m wrong here (and I very well may be) but for you, I think that assumption is that the proper direction can–and perhaps should–be something new, which WORKS in 3D but still encapsulates the core ideas of Sonic, i.e. his speed.
Ergo, for me, I’m still looking towards the classics (which trust me, have never been close to realized in 3D, by my standards), and for you, you’re looking towards Unleashed. After all, you said it yourself, Unleashed redefined many things about Sonic, and if you held this sort of “purist” notion–more along the lines of what I do–you’d probably see Unleashed as violating what sonic should be as opposed to redefining him in a necessary and good way. And personally, I don’t see it as a violation either.
All this amounts to me saying: I think there’s just some things you and I are going to disagree on when it comes to where sonic should go, and what’s his best iteration for 3D. This is one of the reasons I’m trying to avoid discussing whether Unleashed was a good game or not, because I don’t think it would get us anywhere in the topic of where sonic should go, since we both have fundamentally different ideas about this; we’ll just keep disagreeing on certain key points. But I will say I greatly enjoyed the Day stages in Unleashed, and will be forever thankful to it for FINALLY giving me an Ice stage that could bring me close to the enjoyment I get from Ice Cap. SO finally. I waited forever for that!
Anyway, if you would actually like to hear my opinions on Unleashed, and what I do think about it in regards to Sonic’s “proper” direction, or just what that dirction specifically is for me, I’d be happy to spill the beans. Though I can’t imagine anyone wanting to see me talk any more haha. Case in point: I could talk about sonic FOREVER (as could we all). So feel free to indulge!
I’m curious as to what your “golden idol” is. In reading your thoughts it appears that we both want the same thing out of this franchise, which is to slow the game down and to let platforming take center stage again.
I don’t know why the commenting system won’t allow us to have longer discussions(perhaps we should take this debate elsewhere) but oh well. Anyway, I appreciate the points you’ve been making and do agree to an extent that the Unleashed style of gameplay offered something truly remarkable and unique.
I have to insist though that the comparison you’re making to Mario 64 isn’t accurate. Mario 64 was an enormous success because the game worked on a fundamental level and brought platforming into the 3rd dimension with confidence. It is light on glitches, and is easy for anyone to pick up and play. Most of all it was a success as a quality product.
Unleashed on the other hand is anchored down by tedious medal collecting, a mediocre beat em up component that dominates well over half the play time, and some truly unforgiving late game stages on the daytime side. I think that if the game had been fully comprised of levels like Apotos and Mazuri(which I personally think is one of the best sonic stages ever made, period) then I would be more inclined to agree. Unfortunately the day time stages for Adabat, Shamar, Empire City, Holoska, and eggmanland are terribly designed monstrosities that punish players relentlessly and will test the patience of even hardcore fans. It’s true that if you muscle through these stages and practice you may find something incredibly rewarding and satisfying. But this kind of required dedication is what makes this style of gameplay completely unmarketable. I think the truth is that we’re still waiting for our Mario 64.
With regards to the games you’ve listed that are similar in their sense of speed/difficulty/frustration, those are incredibly niche titles with the exception of maybe burnout(But can burnout even be grouped with F-zero/Sonic? It’s a game about smashing into things after all) You’ve only enforced that for Sonic to be more accessible, he needs to try something else.
You’re not looking at Mario 64 in the right light – I was not saying Sonic Unleashed was as technically good, I’m speaking more in terms of design, and in relation to that, I am ignoring a lot of the “filler” content in Sonic Unleashed and focusing on the meat of what I find fun about that game. In that essence, the leap from 2D Mario to 3D Mario is similar in terms of how much 3D Mario had to change in order to adapt to the format.
Furthermore, you say that Super Mario 64 was easy to pick up and play, but it really wasn’t. Going from controlling games with a d-pad to an analog stick was like learning how to walk again and I remember Super Mario 64 being BRUTALLY difficult in that regard, especially towards the end of the game – Rainbow Ride and Tick Tock Clock were considered basically impossible around these parts. With 18 years of experience with 3D platformers under my belt that’s a different story, but that certainly wasn’t the case in 1996.
Nevermind the fact that while my mom absolutely adored Super Mario World and similar 2D platformers, she loathes Super Mario 64 because she doesn’t know what to do. The open environments confuse her because to her they are directionless and boring. Talking with him about it over the years, our own ex-writer Solus also wasn’t entirely warm on Super Mario 64 either.
It’s funny – the stages you mention for Sonic Unleashed as being terrible are actually some of my favorites – notably Adabat, Shamar and Holoska. You’re right about Eggmanland, however, but that’s mainly because it takes many of the lessons the rest of the game teaches you and intentionally does the opposite in some areas.
As for whether or not the games I listed are niche or not is a matter of opinion, but most of them have 85+ on Metacritic, which qualifies some of them as the being the “must-have” games on their respective platforms, if you ask me. And while you could say Burnout is a game about smashing in to things, crashing in that game is still usually considered a failure state.
Oh…. Darn…. It’s not gonna use the crashing into everything speed and hazards. It’s not gonna bring back the tedium that was featured in Unleashed. It’s the end of the world!
I honestly don’t get what the big deal with the speed boost is…. I miss the times when Sonic ACTUALLY had speed, precision, and control.
@Ryan Bloom
Yeah, there wasn’t anything ELSE wrong with Unleashed. Not like Sonic never crashed into everything and the fact that speed boosting is required to mask everything bad about unleashed.
I thought a Sonic game should be about Speed physics, control, and platforming. Exploring and gaining speed was supposed to be rewarding. Unleashed does the “hold down the button to win” mentality and doesn’t do it well.
Sonic only crashed in to things if you didn’t understand how to play. If you miss a lot of notes in Guitar Hero or Rockband, you’re gonna fail those, too.
Just because you personally did not like it does not mean it was wrong.
See:
“…or they’ve already made up their minds about what they think a Sonic game should be and because Unleashed doesn’t fit in to their neat little definition, they write it off. “
Difference (don’t know why you even compared it to Guitar Hero or Rockband), you can actually SEE the notes before you actually pressed the buttons. Unleashed is based on trail and error and it doesn’t help that you need to speed boost everywhere to pass by the obstacles.
I can say the same thing with your article; you just wrote off the possible good things Lost World could benefit from not using the Unleashed style.
Also, after three straight games, I’m fairly certain that people would want to try something a bit more different than playing a 4th unleashed game.
I could see just fine in Sonic Unleashed. I’m no stranger to hating trial-and-error gameplay; go read my Sonic CD review for more on that. I know it’s a cliche, but I just don’t think you are suited for those types of games. But I am, and I want more of them.
Sure, yes, Sonic Unleashed requires a little bit of memorization to get good at the game – but all games do. Try Contra 4 on the DS and tell me you can beat that game without practice. You can’t. For a more recent example, try Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, released just last year.
Or how about belovedly fast games: F-Zero GX, Wipeout, Trackmania, and Burnout. I could keep going. Some of them are faster than Sonic Unleashed, even.
Nobody’s faulting you for not being able to keep up, but it’s not an issue with the game.
I don’t think three games was really enough; especially not to scrap literally everything and start over. The core design of Super Mario Galaxy 2 was still derived from Super Mario 64, after all, and Galaxy 2 was the fourth game in that mold (64/Sunshine/Galaxy/Galaxy 2). Depending on what they show at E3, we might even get a fifth game like that.
@Ryan Bloom
Good for you.
Those games never had something that went FULL SPEED.
Those games never had ridiculous hazards like spikes, enemy placements, or a cheap win button.
So it’s my fault for the buttons not responding when I go crazy fast?
You know, I think it would be suspicious that a 4th game used the Unleashed style of gameplay. Because the Unleashed style usually involves speed boosts, enemy placements, and hazards. Plus, sunshine never played like 64, Galaxy, or Galaxy 2. And 64’s design was nothing like Galaxy or Galaxy 2.
When was the last time you played F-Zero GX? There are entire tracks based around the fact there are no walls to keep you on the road so you can fling yourself off in to essentially a bottomless pit and you automatically lose the race.
Imagine being 3 minutes in to a race, on the final lap, and you slip off and die. When that happens, you have to restart the entire race over from the beginning. I’ve never been able to finish Story Mode on Normal difficulty, and there’s Hard and Very Hard difficulties on top of that.
Honestly the only things that worry me about Lost World are the Sinister Six designs (I don’t hate them, but I can see why people do), what this might mean for the tone, and the absence of Sonic’s friends as playable characters yet again. I’d almost bet even the multiplayer will have multiple Sonics again. Sonic’s only like my fourth favorite character, I was sick of playing as just him a long time ago.
If you were to get hit in sonic unleashed/ generations/ colors you would come to a complete stop. The environment can stop you in your tracks as well. Despite the success of Unleashed, Sonic does have a hard time getting around environments than aren’t clean. Fans did ask for more jumping. While sonic generation did provide, it doesn’t mean it was very good. The amount of precision to land certain jumps was too high. In comparison to sonic unleashed most will die due to their own rash actions, slowing down will ensure less deaths.
the same mind set from colors will be applied to sonic lost world. Classic will be fit accordingly. Take a look at sonic colors for example. Motorbug was fast, Drillmole clashes and slow your ascent to the surface, catakiller is placed on easy to climb high point shooting at you. Unlike generations classic elements weren’t trying to be rekindle but fit in accordingly to be used fully.
Sonic colors weakness were hidden which is why you didn’t get to play is a 3D world most the time. The 3D level design level was made so you wouldn’t be force to deal with the problem unlike sonic generations.
I’m not sure if its been said yet, but doesn’t anyone think Lost World looks a whole lot like Sonic Xtreme?