Popcorn wrote:Am I the only guy who still thinks that this game looks rather good?
I'm excited for the gameplay, but nearly everything else about it makes my stomach churn. It also worries me that some of the uglier aspects of the previous generation of Sonic titles still remains (the total lack of artistic creativity and variety in robot design, for example).
I'm keeping a small ember of hope that the storyline is going to turn out better than it seems at this first glance, but I don't expect that it will. And storyline was something I really enjoyed in Sonic Adventure (and, once I got over the whole "OMFG! SCI-FI INSTEAD OF FANTASY!" thing, I enjoyed SA2's, too).
I really don't think the robots look that bad. They are way better than the infinite amounts of Eggman wannabe robots in Heroes. They just look less quirky and more like 'I am going to kill you and everything you love'. I personally don't have a problem with that.
I realize that sounded kind of sarcastic, but it wasn't.
The premise: Ehh, sounds pretty corny. It's like a cross between Zelda and the Sonic OVA. I do like that it's "different" from what we usually see, but we can only hope they've ditched the "Eggman gets punked at the last gasp" twist once and for all.
The gameplay: Looking good. It's the SA1/SA2 mix that it's been assumed to be, without the shooting/hunting/fishing prattle that drug SA1 into the ground and messed with the consistency of SA2. The previews make out the levels to sound nice and diverse, something I definitely applaud, but James has a point; you have to wonder how far they're taking it. I guess it's nice to see the adventure fields back, though they really should work on making them more interactive - in SA1, it didn't get much more deep than chatting with NPCs and finding action stage entrances/boss encounters. The "mach speed areas" idea...well, it'd be less underwhelming if the loops in every 3D Sonic prior to this didn't suck. It only makes you worry more about how the camera's going to function.
As for the new character, i'm typically more tolerant when it comes to those. For some reason, though, this one i'm showing a little skepticism towards. I just hope he doesn't become the third rival for Sonic in as many games (Riders, Rivals, this?), because that's getting old. I'll wait until we see his face and gameplay style before I say anything else about it.
This doesn't look good. Like many people have already pointed out, Sonic Team is focusing on all the wrong areas once again.
The thing that confuses me, though: wasn't Sonic Team boasting about depiciting Sonic as if he were in the real world? Now all of a sudden we're up to our eyes in shit. Kingdoms, princesses and prophecies? At first glance it looked like a throwback to the Genesis games, with a neat little myth as a backstory, but to be honest I get a totally different vibe from this.
The more I hear about the plot (1up.com's preview has a couple more minor details), the more it's starting to kind of remind me of The Sonic OVA, which is a good thing.
Still doesn't shift my expectations back to "Optimistic" from "Cautious"
I think his new model looks pretty good, but I agree it will be weird/different seeing him standing next to normal people. Especially after running around SA1's adventure fields.
Popcorn pretty much said it. This is prerelease material. Story. The prettiest levels. Explanation of how the game works. Really, what bearing does anything but the last item have on the enjoyability of the finished project?
Even then, Sonic Heroes' pre-game footage was practically an apology for every SA2 flaw. Checkered hills! Chaotix! Abstract levels! A non-intrusive plot! Yes, this was surely back to the roots. Sonic Team never said it, though. It was just our inference. Now Sonic Team is pulling out those guns. And they're not doing it with the buzzwords I mentioned earlier.
Five-foot Sonic will definitely take awhile to get used to. But when one designs levels to be similar to Earth, making one's hero a midgit can make things difficult. Besides, Sonic's been built proportionally like he was 5'10" since SA2. Let's face it, if we couldn't tell from the shots so far, then we shouldn't be bitching.
The reason why I'm suddenly so adamant about giving this game a chance is because this is the first time Sonic Team's actually admitted to bringing the series back to its roots, and I'd like to think they should get that one safety net seeing as how the only two titles they really bungled past the point of enjoyability were Heroes and Shadow. Reasons to give up hope on a game? Hedgehog weilds gun. That made sense. Levels look poorly designed. I'll excuse everybody who looks at the levels and immediately know they can't like playing them. Not a good reason? The main character's damn height.
So is Sonic's height, like, officially 5-foot-whatever, or is that just an off-the-cuff blurb from some halfwit IGN journalist? Because to me Sonic's model, at least proportion-wise, doesn't look all that different from the SA2 style. (Except for his balloony spines, which kind of bother me.)
I'm looking at the levels and I see another Sonic Heroes. The only screenshot that looks interesting is <a href="http://www.1up.com/do/slideshow?pager.o ... 3564">this one</a> and even that doesn't look all that fluid. All the other screenshots look extremely linear.
The only disappointing thing about this news is the new hedgehog character. We've already had Amy and Shadow, not to mention Metal Sonic and the Mecha Sonics. Enough with the hedgehogs.
I still don't care for the art direction of the game, it's all so bland and too real looking. But then I thought that about Sonic Adventure at first, and that ended up being a nice blend of fantasy and realism, so we'll see.
Now that the other thread says that the levels will contain multiple paths I am a bit more excited about this game. It would suck if that meant they just fill the stages with flicky-kissing miniquests though.
I have a slight problem with this game with regards to its new "deep" storyline. I don't mind a deep Sonic game per-say, but only if its done right. Already in this game we're getting hardcore mysterious names like "Ibblis Trigger" and "Soleanna". Now these would be great in a Harry Potter game or something but this is a game about a cartoon hedgehog. They sound retarded.
As far as I'm concerned also I'd like the story to come from the gameplay, like the old 2d classics, but as this isnt very practical these days with immersive 3d graphics and what not any story along the lines of SA1 is fine by me. Its "deep" but not overly complicated and trying to be clever. However I'm now worried about the direction this game is taking, I seriously cringed when I read those names, it was like hearing the "RENOWNED babylon rogues" for the first time.
Sonic The Hedgehog (PS3, Xbox 360) - Release: Fall 2006
Sonic celebrates his 15th anniversary by blazing his way onto the next-generation consoles, with his first adventure set in the human world! Featuring interactive 3D environments and a large cast of returning and new characters, get ready for the reinvention of Sonic The Hedgehog, in his most intense, high velocity escapade to date!
While Sega seems to have forgotten the stories of the Adventure series, they are still keen to keep up the tradition of having a large cast.
That's really bothering me! EVERY 3D Sonic game has been in the human world, except maybe Heroes. Amazing that no one in the games journalism world has bothered to point this out.
I still don't care for the art direction of the game, it's all so bland and too real looking.
I wouldn’t be surprised if, like most other Sonic problems, the art style (and the story) is influenced by marketing factors. As the Playstation 3 is expected to have a high launch price, most of the initial owners will consist of older teenagers or young adults. Using an overly real style increases the chance that this game will appeal to such an audience. (Of course the sensible thing to do would have been to wait until the user base is more developed).
Hopefully, the low launch price of the Wii together with the family-friendly approach of its marketing will allow greater freedom for Wii Sonic to adopt a more colourful, fantasy-based style.
