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A new Sonic Next-Gen trailer has appeared on XBOX Live Marketplace.
The video and screencaps are available for download here: http://www.xboxyde.com/news_2888_en.html

At first glance it seems to be a fusion of Sonic with Final Fantasy, then it just turns out to be Shadow the Hedgehog 2. Glad to see they at least left a few small elements from the Adventure series though. Yet those robots still haven't changed...

Also, the new character is indeed white and they've made Dr. Eggman look...HUMAN.

Weird.

The Sonic parts look promising. The rest doesn't. I'm not completely opposed to the 'realistic' human CG-- it's unnerving, and Eggman looks all, all wrong, but it's not too dissimilar an effect from the original Sonic anime and that catgirl princess or whatever, I guess. Shadow and Bullet Time Hog can just fuck right off though.

My feelings on this game are really, really, really torn. Part of me is really excited by all this new stuff and a new direction for Sonic and the prospects that holds.

But the other part of me really dreads all this; I hate a lot of the character design, and some of the stuff sounds really stupid. And who can forget Sonicteam's track record with the Sonic franchise?

With each passing news update of this title, I get the distinct feeling Sonic 2k6 will make or break the Sonic franchise.

Wow, that princess is ugly. So is Whitey (who looks a lot whiter than in that brochure picture).

Okay, now I've watched the trailer and... every frame that did not have Sonic in it looked God awful. The few seconds with Sonic's gameplay looked somewhat appealing. Everything else made me slightly nauseated. The same sort of feeling I got when I saw the Shenmue Online trailer.

Oops, I didn't know Spazz made this topic here. I just posted the same link to the trailer in another Sonic 2006 thread.

Popcorn wrote:The Sonic parts look promising. The rest doesn't. I'm not completely opposed to the 'realistic' human CG-- it's unnerving, and Eggman looks all, all wrong, but it's not too dissimilar an effect from the original Sonic anime and that catgirl princess or whatever, I guess. Shadow and Bullet Time Hog can just fuck right off though.

Double-S- wrote:Okay, now I've watched the trailer and... every frame that did not have Sonic in it looked God awful. The few seconds with Sonic's gameplay looked somewhat appealing. Everything else made me slightly nauseated. The same sort of feeling I got when I saw the Shenmue Online trailer.

So basically, it is Sonic Adventure 3 after all.

Just watched the trailer. Shadow has starred in a fucking game of his own yet not only does he seem to have a starring role in this but they have to include his shitty gameplay mechanics as well. The opening CG looks more like a Final Fantasy game than Sonic. Other than that I have to agree that it looks like the actual Sonic parts of the game might be fun but it looks like the extra characters will screw this up just like most other recent Sonic games.

Weeeeiiiiirrrd!

I actually think the more-human Eggman looks kind of neat, although not as cool as the original. Everything else? Well, yeah... it really does just seem like Final Fantasy Hedgehog, which is exactly what I've been worried about since we first learned the story. Eesh!

Still, who knows. Maybe all these bizarre changes, however unnecessary they were, will add up to a compelling narrative. With all the comics and cartoons and reboots, I'm kind of used to the idea of enjoying totally unrelated Sonic continuities and not being bothered by all the changes and weird original ideas they inject into the formula. Years of Sega's indescriminate tossing about of the Sonic license have totally prepared me for this new weird shit!

I guess what I'm saying is, I hope this story turns out well, even if its making some big changes and looks kinda silly at the moment. I think I can accept superhuman Eggman and Whitey the Matrixhog if they do a good job of presenting them. Same goes for the vehicles from Shadow. Vehicles can be fun when they don't control like shit!

PS: This is just based on the screenies, the trailer is downloading at like 2 kbps.

Man oh man...I dont know whether to cry or laugh...

I fear for the story, I jump for joy at the gameplay.

Also, the princess is a total butterface.

I like the Sonic sections, it seems Sonic will steal the show again! which is what we all want and what he deserves... FINALLY!

Shadow's gameplay may be stupid but its different and hes just not another Sonic Clone and I aplaud SonicTeam for that.

The New guy looks interesting, and I love his looks aLOT..since I like White Angelic-like things, hes become one of my fav characters already.

Eggman...hmmm....hmmmm...the Princess...looks weird but alot better than some crap out there.

And I think I see the Devil...or Ibliss...whatever you call him.

Saw it. Loved it.

Random Observations:
- IT'S A FRICKING VIDEO! Where the hell is the playable demo!! I was looking forward to getting this on Live today! :(
- THE GRAPHICS!! They look arse in screenshot form, but when it's all moving, it's stunning! Seriously, that usual Sonic-esque dichotomy between CG and real-time rendering was barely there anymore. That "I've found the Iblis trigger" scene didn't look any better than the gameplay scenes. That bit where Sonic's running down the street in the flaming city, and he's got all that barely-visible slipstream wind around him, looked cool, as did the freefall through the water-tunnel sequence.
- IT'S FAST! A fast Sonic game. My gosh it's been a while!
- Shadow's in it, but he doesn't run around anymore, he's in no way fast, and he has no guns. Perhaps a next-gen re-interpretation of the Tails shooting levels from SA2?
- I think that Shadow and white-Sonic are unnecessary. I could have really gone for an old-school Sonic vs Eggman type of game.
- Human Eggman works surprisingly well. The way they have kept him in human proportions, but kept all of his features (the impossible moustache, the toymaker-from-hell costume etc) looks jarring and freaky in all the right ways.
- Beautiful cutscenes. That opening shot of Soleanna pwns.
- The lava monster looks shite. Seriously, boss character = Eggman in a giant robot, NOT a N64-looking lava dragon!

This week should be interesting. Remember, as well as this trailer, there's the gameplay videos and the hands-on previews of the free-roaming levels that Gamespot promised to do during E3.

With all the comics and cartoons and reboots, I'm kind of used to the idea of enjoying totally unrelated Sonic continuities and not being bothered by all the changes and weird original ideas they inject into the formula. Years of Sega's indescriminate tossing about of the Sonic license have totally prepared me for this new weird shit!

You do realise that the Sonic games have never had any continuity with each other in the true sense? They're very much like the Final Fantasy series in that respect. I mean, there's the Adventure continuity, where Shadow carries a gun and there are humans everywhere. There's the Genesis-era continuity where platforms float in mid-air and all the rocks have grid patterns painted on them. There's the SOA continuity that follows those god-awful cartoons etc etc.

Damn all, right after posting my impressions of the trailer in the other thread too.

I see responses here are on a different note than mine were. I will side with you all, the Sonic parts are the only truly good parts of the trailer. Eggman scares me, as well as Shadow the Angsthog, his vehicles, and Silver the Matrixhog. I am having a hard time deciding if this game is Sonic Adventure 3 or Shadow the Hedgehog 2.

Christ on a bike.

I have to say, I couldn't wipe the idiotic grin off my face the whole time I was watching the trailer. It looks so, so, so, SO, good right now. Dr. Robotnik looks bloody great, seriously; any qualms I had about them injecting some realism into the design are long gone, because he really does look fantastic. Princess Elise is pretty darn cute too, and though she represents an order and theme of storyline that Sonic has so far managed to avoid I really see it going places.

The colourful fantasy setting really tickles my pickle, especially with the delicious juxtaposition of urban decay represented by Shadow and the burning ruins of Generic City, as well as the random smattering of Eggman's robots churning up the beautiful, FF-esque Kingdom Valley. The firey Satanic chap was slightly jarring... I'm hoping that's not the end boss, mainly because it seems a bit stupid to show him off in the first ever trailer for the game (spoils it ever so slightly, doesn't it) and also because, like everyone else, I want to fight Eggman in a silly-huge robot. I'm not calling the lava dude "Ibliss" though... that word could be attributed to absolutely anything, and I refuse to speculate further until we find out the story, or at least whether or not the white hedgehog was even referring to Sonic when he said it.

I can't help feeling unsettled by the appearance of Shadow or this other hedgehog (especially with them being playable characters), but then again we have no idea just how they will play or how they fit in terms of storyline. Hell, they might only have one level each while Sonic gets a full whack of fifteen; we just don't know right now. Still, with the game looking near enough complete to call it a decent indicator of the finished version, it's definitely reassuring to see them sticking by the title Sonic The Hedgehog.

Just a small thought about the white hedgehog: looks pretty cool (definitely rates above Shadow), displays an interesting aspect of what I assume to be Chaos power that was only really glanced over previously (time/object manipuation I mean... it's usually just used as "teleportation" and/or just a convenient deus ex machina) which links him nicely to the other two hedgehogs, and could also be an indicator to some sort of hints regarding Sonic's past, or at least the extent of his powers. One problem I have though is not with the character but with the reactions to him; referring to him with witticisms such as "Matrix the Hedgehog" due a two-second clip of him stopping bullets is painfully fucking stupid.

All in all? Colour me excited. :)

Observations based on the screenshots only (damn my weak connection):

1) Eggman is too realistic-looking. He hasn't lost weight so much as having his 'stache streamlined to the point where he's scary to look at. In a bad way. I wonder how much better he'd look if you replace his 'stache in those shots with the jagged one he's had since SA1...
2) The princess looks...pathetic, really. Generic too.
3) What is Shadow doing driving a jeep again?
4) Whitey would look a bit better if those two big quills of his were shorter.
5) That demon thing...god, I can't even tell what it's supposed to be.
6) Why do they insist on showing off this city stage like it's the only level? Is it supposed a crossroads stage for all 3 characters like the Egg Carrier was?

Frankly, i'm not sure exactly how to interpret this without seeing the gameplay in motion. It's given me more reason to go "what the fuck" than much else.

To be honest, I think Eggman looks okay, certainly not as weird as when they announced Shadow the Hedgehog (In my opinion, anyway). I'm still downloading the video, but since everyone else said it, I'm just going to say "The Sonic bits are the only parts that look enjoyable". I'm curious to see how Whitey will play, actually.

Also, that magma monster looks horrible.

I hope all that was not directed to me, j-man. Truth be told, I have no idea how to feel about the trailer. I cannot hate it, I cannot like it. We all thought this game was going to be just a prettier Sonic Adventure 1 at first and now it looks like a whole other creature all together. There is a strange fantasy story, a bizarre looking Eggman, a human princess, a white hedgehog, a couple religious references here and there, Shadow is back along with his vehicle-based gameplay, I have no idea what this game is suppose to even be. That was why I concluded it to be Sonic Adventure 3 earlier. SONICTEAM has confused me before, but not like this. I really wish they would just make up their minds already.

Everything is looking great to me. Although having Shadow playable is going to suck the rest couldnt be better. The music appears to be bang on, the graphics blew me away personally and I now refuse to play this game on anything other than a HD TV (better start saving). Also Robotnik's new look is kind of sinister and the acting is surprisingly decent, adding to this effect. Also the seeing the princess clutching the emerald with fear all over her face was kind of dramatic and not at all cheesy like I had expected.

I am now very very encouraged.

It seems that Shadows Gameplay is what sets him apart from Sonic, what makes him Special..Yeah I know..their ideas are nuts.

Wow umm, okay, that was certainly different. I guess I can't really say much that's not been said before but I'll still give my thoughts. The Sonic parts look relatively good and the game is defiitely holding up visually after all, but almost all the rest looks like the opposite of what I'm after in the game. Shadow appears like he'll still be packing heat, the white hedgehog's "supernatural powers" don't look even remotely interesting and the story seems like utter tripe.

I do have to say though, the one thing that bothers me the most is the feature that wont really impact the gameplay much...Eggman's look. I don't like it, plain and simple. I suppose I'm glad they're trying something different with the game, but the old design was badass to me, I'm a massive Robotnik fan after all. This is just <i>too</i> different and I'm sorry but I'm going to have to say he's looking a lot more queer than cool just now. I'm hoping my opinion will change once I see more though, it could be the in game model is more appealing than the one in FMV.

Overall at the moment I think I'm a little bit more positive about the game again than what I was when that horrible trio picture was revealed the other day, but now one thing had been made completely clear and there's no chance it's going to change now - this is NOT the kind of Re-invention that I was looking for at all.

I guess what they ment by Re-invention was the life-like CG Movies and athmosphere. :P

I understand. When I first saw the new Eggman, I spent ten minutes going, "Um... Well... Er... Okay... Eh... Geez... What?" Exactly like that. Well, I don't know, Bowser looked weird in Mario 64, but his designed improved later on. Eggman just needs to eat more now, that's all. Also, his suit has lots of patches in it. Find a new outfit.

Also, I noticed something in IGN's preview.

IGN wrote:Sonic the Hedgehog (temporary name) for Xbox 360 and PS3 looks fast, colorful, and like good arcade-style fun.

"Temporary name"?

Prof Mach wrote:I hope all that was not directed to me, j-man.

Not at all, my friend; general comments all around with nothing personal nor specific, although you were guilty of the "Matrix hedgehog" thing that's been pissing me off. Don't lose sleep over it or anything, though.

Sonic the Hedgehog (temporary name) for Xbox 360 and PS3 looks fast, colorful, and like good arcade-style fun.

'Sonic Adventure 3' anyone?

They can call it anything they like. I just want it to play as good as it looks.

SegaSonic wrote:

Sonic the Hedgehog (temporary name) for Xbox 360 and PS3 looks fast, colorful, and like good arcade-style fun.

'Sonic Adventure 3' anyone?

They may as well call it that really, they've probably realised all meaning in calling it "Sonic the Hedgehog" in the first place has completely vanished now.