Sonic the Hedgehog preview article

Double-S- · Post by **Double-S-** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 9:43 am

I seriously couldn't care less as long as the game is good.

Tsuyoshi-kun · Post by **Tsuyoshi-kun** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 6:20 pm

Double-S- wrote:I seriously couldn't care less as long as the game is good.

Good music and graphics, when combined with good, fun gameplay, strengthen a good game all the more. This doesn't stand for all games I like (never cared much for the music in Rayman 2 or the Ratchet and Clank games, both of which I adore), but it helps in my eyes.

SegaSonic · Post by **SegaSonic** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 7:13 pm

Tsuyoshi-kun wrote:
Double-S- wrote:I seriously couldn't care less as long as the game is good.
Good music and graphics, when combined with good, fun gameplay, strengthen a good game all the more. This doesn't stand for all games I like (never cared much for the music in Rayman 2 or the Ratchet and Clank games, both of which I adore), but it helps in my eyes.

Exactly,

who will be in charge of the music this time I wonder.

Double-S- · Post by **Double-S-** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 11:45 am

Post directly before mine:

SegaSonic wrote:I seriously hope Metal is in this game as a final sub-boss to redeem him from the Sonic Heroes crap.

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 1:53 pm

Meh, he hopes Metal is in the game as a sub-boss, he didn't say it was a requirement to make the game good.

SegaSonic · Post by **SegaSonic** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 2:22 pm

Hey!

whats wrong with that?

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 2:44 pm

I was defending you.

SegaSonic · Post by **SegaSonic** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 3:37 pm

Well I was really talking to Double-S in my previous post.

Thanks BTW :)

BEHOLD!!

Page 1: http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/2760 ... pg12mk.jpg

Page 2: http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/3135 ... pg25cd.jpg

Page 3: http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/8920 ... pg31av.jpg

Page 4: http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/7915 ... pg47nt.jpg

Credit goes to Dillo64 for the scans.

Wooduck51 · Post by **Wooduck51** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 8:50 pm

Does anyone else think that Sonic looks rather angry in all those pictures?

Dash · Post by **Dash** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 9:00 pm

Nice! It's pleasing to see that they got rid of that horrid shine on his eyes and shoes, and the city enviorment is looking pretty good technically. A little bit bland artistically though... Anywho, I'm more interested in how the organic areas are coming along.

I wish these magazine people would talk about more than the "INSANE SPEED" though. It's an important aspect, but this line of thinking has really hurt more Sonic games than it's helped.

And for the record:Breakdance Fighting=FUCK YES

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 9:21 pm

I really like the attention to detail they put into the bottom of his shoes. I guess you can't grind anymore then?

Frieza2000 · Post by **Frieza2000** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 9:26 pm

Can anyone remember when this overly showy breakdance acrobatic trick nonsense started? I think it was Advance 1. Don't get me wrong; Sonic and co have always struck cool poses and I like that, but this recent stuff is just retarded.

FlashTHD · Post by **FlashTHD** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 10:12 pm

I'm not sure about the idea of a break dance kick attack, but the Spin Dash was never that good a means of spinning in place as an attack, so it might work out. Personally I hope they bring back the ability to break into a roll after picking up speed.

One thing I find a little suprising about the city, aside from the fact it looks like the same war zone as the Shadow game's opener: on the second page, read the road signs at the top. One of them says "Central Park". What, is this supposed to be New York City, or is that just coincidental eye candy ala Speed/Radical Highway?

But what has me most interested is something that's not so easy to spot on the last page. Look in the bottom corner above the MIGHT AS WELL JUMP screen...on the ledge, you can see three enemies that look like hermit crabs. This leads me to believe that there will still be plenty of quirky-looking Eggman bots to spin through, so i'm not worried about that for the moment.

Light Speed: Sonic is grinding in a screenshot on the third page.

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Mon May 01, 2006 12:41 am

It is interesting that he can grind seeing as his shoes only have rubber on the bottom of them.

I think the break dance pose thing started with Sonic Adventure. The picture of Sonic on the front of the case had him in that weird pose that almost made a circle.
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000 ... ZZZZZZ.jpg

As for the ability to roll after picking up speed. I have a feeling that wouldn't work too well in 3D because controlling Sonic while going that fast is hard enough as is. The only way I could see it working is if you could only do it on designated tracks that were set up with a control scheme similar to F-Zero GX. If they did that, then it would kind of just be a novelty thing, rather than part of the typical gameplay.

Post by **Segaholic2** » Mon May 01, 2006 12:56 am

Light Speed wrote:As for the ability to roll after picking up speed. I have a feeling that wouldn't work too well in 3D because controlling Sonic while going that fast is hard enough as is. The only way I could see it working is if you could only do it on designated tracks that were set up with a control scheme similar to F-Zero GX. If they did that, then it would kind of just be a novelty thing, rather than part of the typical gameplay.

You could do it in Sonic Adventure 1. It wasn't very useful, though.

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Mon May 01, 2006 1:01 am

Yeah, cause you slammed into a wall and came to a stop.

Dash · Post by **Dash** » Mon May 01, 2006 1:28 am

Frieza2000 wrote:Can anyone remember when this overly showy breakdance acrobatic trick nonsense started? I think it was Advance 1. Don't get me wrong; Sonic and co have always struck cool poses and I like that, but this recent stuff is just retarded.

LIES

Ok, well just your opinion I guess. That's cool. I, on the other hand, welcome the idea of Sonic getting his groove on. Drawing people and characters dancing is one of my favorite things to do and I love to see dancing animations whenever possible. Seeing Sonic do crazy flips and tricks in a game always makes my day and I'm happy to see that they're continuing that trend. That's just me though.

The fact that they fixed Vector's dancing animation in Shadow ALMOST made me want to forgive it for exsisting.

The Central Park thing is interesting. It DOES look like that city Shadow romped through(What was it? Radical City?), though there there is a change in color scheme. Wasn't the city in SA2 called Central City? That could be where this is, but if so it has really strayed from it's San Fransisco-inspired design. Eh, I'm probably thinking about this too much.

As for rolling, I just hope that it's made into an essential gameplay mechanic again. Over the past few years it's become less and less important. Rush, as much as I like it, was pretty much the epitome of spin dash retardedness.

EDIT:No wait, Heroes takes that crown. My bad.

Senbei · Post by **Senbei** » Mon May 01, 2006 9:47 am

Breakdance fighting... oh, that's right. Zoolander. Excellent.

Post by **Segaholic2** » Mon May 01, 2006 11:21 am

Senbei wrote:Breakdance fighting... oh, that's right. Zoolander. Excellent.

Mog in Final Fantasy 6 was the <i>original</i> breakdance fighter.

SegaSonic · Post by **SegaSonic** » Mon May 01, 2006 11:49 am

I think Sonic started breakdancing in SAdv3 when you reached the goal.

But what has me most interested is something that's not so easy to spot on the last page. Look in the bottom corner above the MIGHT AS WELL JUMP screen...on the ledge, you can see three enemies that look like urchins.

Those look like the same new big red spider bots to me.

Not that the story is a nesessary component to a Sonic game anyway. As long as Sonic's running around at insanely fast speeds and bashing bad guys, we'll be happy gamers.

That editor guy is a total moron! the storyline is what motivates you to keep playing, because you care for these character of the past. Some game editors are just a bunch of nerds that only care about frames per second and the game's camera. The classic games had awesome storylines some hidden in the Japanese manuals. Dont tell Sonic doesnt need a good storyline or I'll rip your head off, part of what has made the recent sonic games suck are their stupid storylines..specially Heroes.

Protodude · Post by **Protodude** » Mon May 01, 2006 2:16 pm

Well...the story doesn't really matter! The Genesis games hardly had any story to them, yet they were very enjoyable. Although a good story is appreciated.

Also, Sonic has that sort of "Spank me, I've been naughty" look to him in your avatar.

SegaSonic · Post by **SegaSonic** » Mon May 01, 2006 2:40 pm

Well...the story doesn't really matter! The Genesis games hardly had any story to them, yet they were very enjoyable. Although a good story is appreciated.

Also, Sonic has that sort of "Spank me, I've been naughty" look to him in your avatar.

The old games maybe didnt had text on them, but they got the point across and you understood the storyline, even more so in the Japanese Manuals.
Yeah, a good storyline IS needed, if Sonic games dont have good story then the game will feel vague, we all know this come on. :)

Im curious about the music...is the rumor about 'Dreams Come True' false?

Also, Sonic has that sort of "Spank me, I've been naughty" look to him in your avatar.

You've got an interesting imagination there.

Majestic Joey · Post by **Majestic Joey** » Mon May 01, 2006 3:48 pm

Wooduck51 wrote:Does anyone else think that Sonic looks rather angry in all those pictures?

I'm just glad he doesn't look as pompus.

Post by **Popcorn** » Mon May 01, 2006 6:12 pm

SegaSonic wrote: The old games maybe didnt had text on them, but they got the point across and you understood the storyline, even more so in the Japanese Manuals.
Yeah, a good storyline IS needed, if Sonic games dont have good story then the game will feel vague, we all know this come on. :)

You know, at first I thought you were so wrong I was about to ban you into outer space, but now that I've thought about it for a second I sort of agree with you. The old Mega Drive games didn't really have any plot, per se, to truly speak of-- there was, for example, not exactly a lot of character development-- but they nonetheless had a sense of time and place, of events occurring after one another, and a kind of direction and meaning. If you compare S3K to the Sonic Advance games, one of the failings of the GBA series is that it's really just a bunch of unconnected, abstract twaddle. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that although a story of Sonic Adventure-style proportions is more or less inappropriate, a sense of narrative and direction is beneficial.

FlashTHD · Post by **FlashTHD** » Mon May 01, 2006 9:26 pm

The stories in the first few Genesis games were wide open to interpretation. In Sonic 1, there are no cutscenes save for in Scrap Brain Act 2, Final Zone, and the endings - and they're pretty minimal. There isn't anything in the game itself to indicate anything about South Island or a legend or whatever else, so Sega of America was practically free to concoct almost anything else as a selling point. It's one of those games where you could go in, totally unaware of a plot beneath it all, and know what's going on.

But, yeah - all the advance series games up to part 3 weren't designed with any story in mind, so without any flow or method to the madness, it all seems slapped together.

I don't miss much the simplistic presentation of the in-game events from the original games these days, though. Consoles get more powerful, creativity has more room to run, and storylines get bigger. Sonic 3 is an example: the programming team must have picked up on some new tricks that would allow the game to be designed with the story that they had come up with for once. (It gave SoA a lot less leeway - compare the original stories to the american manuals for Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles.)

For a game that's sort of a flashback to yonder days like New Super Mario Bros., it's fine, but if they want to make a deep story for Sonic Next, fine by me. Just don't make it suck and don't make it screw up the gameplay, and I won't bitch.