G.Silver wrote:Because--regardless of Sonic Colors' quality--is anyone else bothered that the "solution" to Sonic in 3D is to make a game that's 80% 2D sequences? I love 2D games, but I also loved Sonic Adventure and even SA2, and I'd like to play sequels that take what was good in those games and address the problems in those games. I don't mean to say I don't want 2D! Especially good 2D! I wish more games were 2D! But doesn't it seem like a cop out that the challenge of making Sonic in 3D is left hanging like that? I feel incredibly conflicted about this!
Even the 3D segments aren't even particularly three dimensional. They're almost exclusively race track like in structure, more Crash Bandicoot than Mario 64, with very little room for exploration and few interactive stage gimmicks. The 2D segments feel less like a classic 2D Sonic game and more like a 2D adaptation of a 3D Sonic game, filtered through Mario sensibilities. It's a good game, and I enjoyed it throughout, but it's very much its own beast.
Sonic Adventure, I think, was the only sincere attempt to translate the formula of the Mega Drive Sonic games into 3D, despite all the bells and whistles attached to it. SA1 took all of the core entries of the series as its source material, but SA2 only seemed to take SA1 as its source material. Since then it's been a case of incremental trial and error, throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks.
I like Sonic Colours a lot, taken on its own merits, but it's absolutely not the Sonic game we've all been waiting for - 3D
or 2D.
Esrever wrote:And Sonic Colours is pretty bloody good. Not just "tolerable," not just "a good first step", but a game of legitimate quality and care the likes of which the franchise has not seen in a decade. As I've been going back to collect all the red widgets, the expansiveness and depth of the stage design has continued to impress me.
The Wisp system absolutely makes the game, particularly the fact that you can choose where and when to activate the abilties, and there being multiple abilities per stage. There hasn't been such a sense of freedom and exploration in a Sonic game since Sonic 3 & Knuckles. I had more fun going back to find the red rings and using newly unlocked Wisps in earlier stages than I did my initial run through. The sheer amount of option available in each stage also lends well to replaying for a high score or best time.
Oh, and nobody seems to have mentioned it, but the Egg Shuttle challange mode is brilliant and should be in every Sonic game. It's essentially Sonic Colours presented like Sonic 1 or 2. You start with 4 lives, play through every level and boss in order with no maps or story scenes, once you beat the end boss or run out of lives the game is over and you enter your initials on the high score board if you ranked high enough. THAT IS VIDEO GAMES!
