Sonic's Future Confirmed: expect more of the same

[Kogen]

Sonic CD's stages are built so you can get from any point to any other point, like a playground, compared to S3K's one-way rollercoaster construction.

Hey look, the goal post, I better turn around! Oh wait, the screen is stuck.

[j-man]

I just sighed so hard I think I collapsed a lung.

[gr4yJ4Y]

Reviewers I think are a big problem with Sonic games because they always think they know what Sonic is about. They will go on about he was all about speed and then switch it up and say he is about the attitude and then later say he is all about platforming. But the fact is they are preaching shit they don't even know and a lot of people believe it/listen to it.

Reviewers seem to have different criteria for how they evaluate games, although maybe the current state of gaming journalism is pretty homogeneous in that aspect. So for examples, I'll use two review systems that are a bit different from the ordinary (or at least so much so that I can tell). Game Informer puts more focus on cinematic presentations, aesthetics, and "mature" themes than others. Meanwhile Insomniac specializes in recommending more challenge-based games. So you'll often see FPS blockbusters with the highest ratings in Game Informer and shmups with the highest recommendations in Insomniac.

This, combined with Sega attempting to please all reviewers leads to... nothing good. That Sega representatives keep mentioning Metacritic and having their games being designed to reach a certain mark (80% is apparently good enough for Sonic) is stupid and a time waster for those doing the market research. Sure they could look at each individual gaming news source and think, "If we focus on aspect X IGN is going to give this game an 8.5, but 1Up is going to give it a C." From there they could predict a Metacritic score. Even then you never know for sure how the reviewers are going to go.

I think it would be better if they spent more time checking for bugs, editing level design, etc. You know, making the games themselves.

[Isuka]

For the sake of brevity: ditto Senbei, CP, BS and J4Y right above me.

On the seemingly eternal and almost incomprehensible Sonic conundrum: I've come to the conclusion that no one can answer it. Developers, execs, PR guys, old fans, new fans (picture Yahtzee's wordplay joke), lollerific game "journalists"... no one has a fucking clue about how all this stuff works when put together. We have game design from a graphic/ conceptual point (all the motifs and "what Sonic is supposed to look and feel like"), from a mechanics point ("what it's supposed to play like"), from a market point (bullet lists of new features that almost always end up being incongruous with the original games' fomula and rushing every product, as opposed to game and instead of game also as a product), and from a target demographic point ("they should totally think about these and only these people when developing the game, instead of, you know, the friggin' game itself"). Putting all these together, in a world where "old gamers = old people = guns and swearing" and "young gamers = kiddies = shallow, simplistic, regurgitated, boring, unimaginative, talentless, tasteless, heck even nonsensical design" and mashing 'em in order to conform a homogeneous whole, well most definitely we'll get all o' this.

Sonic games' current state, without the original, critical team behind the original games and without a reasonable company resource management is, by cause and effect reasoning, all too inevitable. Discussions like "fast-as-fuck Sonic" vs. "exploration-centric Sonic" or "playground-like exploration" vs. "clearly defined routes exploration", because of their higher level of specificity, can only be seriously considered and must be circumscribed to a sensible outlook, to a certain identity, if you prefer. There's no such thing in nowadays Sonic games, and fat chance there'll ever be.

[Frieza2000]

Most of all, I think his continued popularity is due to the existance of Sonic X and to a smaller extent, the Sonic comics. I mean, I wonder if Sonic X(or any other Sonic cartoon) was never made this decade, would many kids even give a crap about the franchise?

Yeah, Sonic always has and always will be a character driven franchise. It was the characters more than the games that made Sonic a superstar. I'm not sure he would've gotten off the ground in the early 90s with the kind of games being put out now, but he makes up for the lack of quality by talking. Kids are looking less for a game than for the next episode of a TV show. I can relate; after SA1 the reason for my continued patronage of the series drifted from it being a reliable source of excellent platforming with a magical blend of music and scenery to wanting to see another story with Sonic and co. in it. Then once it became evident that the story was never going to emerge from the abyss into which it had sunk, the degradation of gameplay became less easy to overlook. That's never going to occur for the 12- group; as they get older, the awful dialogue and ill-conceived gimmicks will probably evoke a masochistic nostalgia that will keep them hooked, and probably with less complaints than they get from the current adult group. It also might have something to do with the fact that this generation has been endowed with terrible taste in entertainment.

[Crisis]

Sonic has lasted so long since he's obviously a character with tremendous appeal. It's hard to define exactly what that appeal is since he's gone through so many design changes, but Sonic has had one of, if not the most dedicated fanbase of any video game character ever. For whatever reason, even the potential of a good Sonic game gets gamers very excited. And when it doesn't work out, gamers - especially children - are willing to overlook the flaws because Sonic seems to represent something exciting and timeless, and hey, the rules of probability dictate that eventually SEGA will put out something that happens to be good quality.

Even after so many years getting screwed over, people are desperate for a good Sonic game. What is so frustrating is that SEGA is sitting on a gold mine. If they invested the time, money and talent into making a truly spectacular Sonic game, I guarantee they would win back the gaming community overnight. It wouldn't even be that hard, there must be tons of competent developers who would LOVE to get their hands on a project like that! Throw in a couple of sequels using the same game engine and SEGA could easily get an incredible return on their investment.

As for how to actually do it, well, I think this is a topic the fanbase thinks far too hard about. There are dozens of ways; the Adventure style is probably the most well-established and safest route, although a 2.5D game couldn't be THAT hard to make (SEGA made 4-5 of the best games ever - in a row, no less - using a purely 2D engine, and the more recent Rush games were well received even though they suffered from poor level design compared to their Genesis-era counterparts). The Unleashed Sonic stages were pretty okay, if the game had had development time and the design team scaled up a bit it could have been the return to form we were all praying for. Free-roaming and/or mission-based gameplay could work as well. A lot of recent games have focused on the combat aspect of the 3D games, which isn't really a logical design route to take, but as the Mario RPGs and Karting spinoffs have shown us, terrible ideas that are well-executed can still become classics.

Basically, the only thing holding Sonic back is SEGA themselves. By playing it safe they're shooting themselves in the foot, a common mistake for businesses in their position.

[Arcade]

Well, there is also the whole thing of "rushing" the games, that even seems to afect Sega games that arent made by Sega... something Sega has been doing since at least Sonic 3. Whats the damn hurry? Is a Sonic game, people are still gonna buy it, you dont really have to release it six months to early, do you?

Take Sonic Chronicles for example, the thing everyone conplained about it was the the sound efects, how long it takes to change sound efects?

[Zeta]

We need our Christmas bonuses. Who cares if people are going to buy it either way - we want that cash NOW, bitch. Fork it over. Instead of releasing one good game, we'll release three piles of shit! Three times the cash!

[Wombatwarlord777]

And afterwards they could sell a patch that half-heartedly addresses the game's flaws!

IT'S BU$INE$$ GENIUS I TELL YA!

[gr4yJ4Y]

Yes, releasing rushed products every year is excellent business.

[Yami CJMErl]

So excellent, they keep firing employees each year just so they can hoard more money!

[Kogen]

I think they should just update the same game each year slightly, then still sell it for full price.

[Neo]

I think they should just update the same game each year slightly, then still sell it for full price.

So... PSO?

[Zeta]

I think they should just update the same game each year slightly, then still sell it for full price.

Ah, the Blizzard/Maxis/EA Sports business model.

[Wombatwarlord777]

Preorder your copy of Sonic '10 today! Comes with two additional stages and the all new sniper rifle!

[Kogen]

I think they should just update the same game each year slightly, then still sell it for full price.

Ah, the Blizzard/Maxis/EA Sports business model.

You forgot Activision, Ubisoft, Midway (or Tradewest!), Namco, Square Penis, and Koei.

SEGA is just slow.

[Delphine]

Square Penis

While I agree with your other points, sir, I don't believe that there is any penis to be found within Square.

[Shadow Hog]

There is, it's just flamboyantly feminine. And thus probably gay. Meaning more penis.

[Arcade]

You mean the same thing Ea has been doing with "FIFA Football or FIFA Soccer" games since "FIFA International Soccer"? At least the name of the football player games changed, the graphics and sound got better and...

wait... are you talking about that overvalued car racing series?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need_for_Speed

Really, when it comes to selling slighty diferent versions of the same thing, the Need for speed series is the winner!