The GHZ Forum

The game shipped yesterday, so it should be hitting stores today or tomorrow.

This thread is for discussing the game, its merits or faults, gameplay questions or comments, etc.

Wha? it did? wasnt it delayed until December?

Only the PS3 verson. The X-BOX 360 version is still coming out as planned.

Oh, thats right! I totaly forgot about the 360 ver.

Aaand we're off to a great start!

You can download stock character art into your Xbox 360 for $4 an image!

Are Sonic Rivals and Sonic the Hedgehog: Genesis out this week as well? In theory I guess it's a good week to be a Sonic fan but it looks like we've got one shoddy port, one bland side game made by a developer with a poor track record and another overhyped mess. Oh well, perhaps these games will turn out better than expected.

Yeah, right!

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gentop ... ard=929717

...

I suddenly feel ill. Granted, it's GameFAQs, but that board is flooded with load time complaints.

(note: In case the following sounds odd, I was responding to someone and the post has now vanished.)

It's too late. It's already in my house and I can't play it to find out until christmas.

Just...ugh. 6 months of creeping, paranoid doubt crashing on top of you all at once sucks. I got that creeping feeling Sega would rush it in the final weeks but not with these consequences. All of the 3D games got rushed in some manner and never left such a shitstain as 5-10 second loading breaks everywhere. More than anything I want a logical explanation.

I think one could call this the Sonic fan's equivalent of "coming down". I was sort of hoping for a 7, though. Not expecting it, but it would've been nice.

I'm writing very detailed impressions right now. I will simply link my blog, because I spoil the entire plot up until where I stopped playing (after Crisis City), but a very simplified version is: Yes. It's shit.

It's perhaps one of the most shit games I've ever had the misfortune of playing. Sub-missions in Soleanna are horrible, the controls fight you every step of the way. The game very clearly decieves you; you may choose to play as Sonic, but mid-way through some stages, it'll switch to playing as Tails or Knuckles, and their gameplay and controls are ten times worse than Sonic's. It's a big, buggy, horrifically unpolished mess.

Mach speed stages are fucking awful, too. Hardest part of the game because you're moving SO FAST and the controls get really slippery. It becomes a matter of "If you get hit, try and find some more rings as quickly as possible before you get hit again" - and you WILL get hit again. It's almost impossible to AVOID any of the obstacles in the mach speed sections.

There are still moments when the gameplay clicks together and everything works as it should, but those moments are fewer and farther between than ever before.

I will say, the plot and the production values given to cutscenes are higher than ever, and I would enjoy this game a lot more if I didn't actually have to play it.

I've heard playing as Silver is a lot more coherent than playing as Sonic, though, but I haven't touched Silver or Shadow's stories yet.

Edit: And here's the blog. I wrote a lot.

Edit 2:

Crappy webcam footage ahoy!

http://blazemp3.sepwich.com/sonic2k6/so ... mecore.avi - Plot spoilers mainly, as I let the cutscene run for a little bit before skipping. (Digicam only records up to about 1:30-2:00 of video).

http://blazemp3.sepwich.com/sonic2k6/so ... ecore2.avi - Audio goes wildly out of sync on this for some unknown reason. No plot spoilers, really, just gameplay. Showcases some really stupid glitches that weren't in anyway my fault, the game just decided that instead of sending me on it's scripted pathway it'd fling me into a pool of lava.

Well, here's praying the Wii game is at least a bit better.

I’m sure the PS3 version will have 80% of the bugs fixed.

And it will be a $660 gamble hardly any one will want to take!

Hey! Hey! Didn't you guys read the thread title? You're supposed to be celebrating.

Arcade wrote:I’m sure the PS3 version will have 80% of the bugs fixed.

Haha, yeah just like Sonic Adventure DX fixed all the problems of Sonic Adventure! Sega are great at using extra time to iron out flaws and glitches, wouldn't doubt them for a second.

James McGeachie wrote:

Arcade wrote:I’m sure the PS3 version will have 80% of the bugs fixed.

Haha, yeah just like Sonic Adventure DX fixed all the problems of Sonic Adventure! Sega are great at using extra time to iron out flaws and glitches, wouldn't doubt them for a second.

See: Sonic Adventure International. SADX was little more than a lazy port.

Well, the UK PS3 version isn't out until March. Assuming Sega takes the hint, they'll at least get a version that might not be so technically broken.

From what I keep hearing, I may not worry about it. I don't have a PS3 or an Xbox360 so I'll just get myself a Wii and hope everything else is better.

What of Sonic Rivals though? Could that be worth something? I haven't gotten a PSP either and I'm always careful with my descisions.

FlashTHD wrote:Assuming Sega takes the hint

Have they ever?

Once Upon a Time in the East, yes. After all, it seems like they knew EXACTLY what to add to the original games.

Esrever wrote:Hey! Hey! Didn't you guys read the thread title? You're supposed to be celebrating.

Generic level design! Bottomless pits! Hold down forward! Endless new characters! Corny dialogue! Nonsensical stories! Aliens! Guns! Jacking cars! Parallel dimensions! Casual time travel! Fart jokes! Boob jokes! UNPLAYABLE GAMES!!!

Ceeee-le-brate bad times, COME ON!

FART jokes? Really?

Sonic Riders.

Eggman's attack.

What... what's wrong with fart jokes?

Arcade wrote:I’m sure the PS3 version will have 80% of the bugs fixed.

The problems in this go above and beyond simple bugs. There are serious design issues present in nearly every aspect of the game.

Adventure Fields are way too big and they're empty as hell. Each adventure field in 2k6 is at least 3 times the size of every adventure field in SA1 combined. And there's almost nothing in them. Soleanna has these huge roads and giant skyscrapers, but there aren't any cars to be seen and very few people are out and about.

It gets even worse about the time you get to the biggest adventure field in the game - Soleanna's forest. All that's out there is a couple of stage entrances (Kingdom Valley and the Jungle level), a bunch of ugly trees, and one or two construction workers by the doors. Even as Sonic it'll take you a good 3 minutes to go from one end of the forest to the other, nevermind Silver.

That's not a bug, that's just poor design.

Part of me hopes Sega will make an announcement soon along the lines of, "Oops! Sorry. We accidentally sent out the wrong copy of the game and we'll give you the REAL game instead."