Sonic the Hedgehog (X360/PS3): It's a one way track..

[blakjedi]

I have defended the company in the past for so long, but it's at a point where to keep trying is useless. They have IP that would make great games now adays, so why not just bring thee games back? Streets of Rage, Kid Chameleon, Vector Man, Golden Axe (on its way last time I checked), a real Phantasy Star RPG, Fighting Vipers, Eternal Champions, Daytona (despite licensing issues), a good Shining game, and countless others that are out there just waiting. Let's think about it. We had it damn good in the Genesis days, and in the Saturn days despite SEGA being in a distant 3rd. The games were still quality and great to play. Then the Dreamcast comes and the games are still great to play and even innovative in concept. Then SEGA went software only. I had such high hopes that the games they would make would bring them into a mega profit now that they no longer needed to sink money into hardware they couldn't manage. It was supposed to be great. If only it ended up that way. It feels as if SEGA lost its entire identity and the will to make great games. SEGA needs specific hardware to cater for, it is that simple. When the Dreamcast died, the rest of classic SEGA died with it. I wish the company as a whole would just pick a next gen platform and stick to it being entirely exclusive. At least that way they would get to know the hardware intimately again and we might see graphical greatness and just possibly gameplay greatness! (I know the two aren't related, but SEGA used to be the best at both)

That's the end of my rant. I have low hopes for the new Sonic game.

Perfect. except that I feel that they should not be exclusive but rather more like Ubisoft. I thought Sega would oust EA from the top 3rd party slot but the fell behind EA, Ubisoft, THQ and Activision... They have really janky rationales for their releases (no VF4 on Xbox? WTF?) and are definitely missing out on teh treasure trove of great master system, genesis, saturn and dreamcast games... sega is adrift

 

[sif]

You know, sometimes I wonder what game designers were thinking when I see crap like Shadow the Hedgehog. It seems like everything added to Sonic since his heyday has been for the worse. What the series needs is a back to basics 2d side scrollng (perhaps even with first person view to accentuate the sense of speed?) with some intricate, imaginitive 3d graphics, lots of oversatuarated colour (evoke some retro), a good sense of speed, Sonic, Tails and Dr Robotnik. That's it.

 

[tuna]

Shadow the Hedgehog was Sega's best selling console game last year. That is all I wanted to say.

 

[Tagrineth]

Shadow the Hedgehog wasn't that bad, but the gun elements were totally out of place.

Edit: oh, and the plot fucking sucked.

 

[Nesh]

Shadow the Hedgehog was Sega's best selling console game last year. That is all I wanted to say.

Which says nothing at all unless we see the numbers

This may indicate to an even worse market performance on other SEGA games

 

[Gollum]

Looks like my impressions were justified and my worst fears confirmed. Its a stinker:

[...]Sonic's controls are twitchy, unforgiving and unpleasant, with a touch of the stick in the wrong direction often sending him hurtling to his doom. Attempting to adjust your trajectory when moving at high speed regularly makes him fall over or simply slow down to a staggering stop for no apparent reason; trying to gauge jumps so that you land on a platform accurately is a matter of pure trial and error, which is a real shame in a game which insists on giving you a small, limited number of lives, loads of ways to die instantly, and is willing to put you back a good 20 to 30 minutes to the last save point every time this happens.

All of this is compounded by one of the worst cameras I've ever seen in a videogame. Very often, an utterly unhelpful angle which simply doesn't let you see what you should be doing next is chosen; better again, when you try to manually adjust the camera, it will snap right back to its original unhelpful angle at the slightest movement. [...] you get the strong impression that Sonic Team have learned absolutely nothing from over ten years of 3D gameplay. There are elementary mistakes being made here which would have been painful in 1996, let alone 2006. [...]

Conclusion
What should have been a dramatic return to form for Sonic, as signalled by the hugely promising trailer videos from earlier this year and the bold decision to use the original Sonic the Hedgehog name, has turned out to be an absolute mess. Like the hedgehogs I used to see as a child on the way to school, this game has been hit by a truck - and even its spines, in this case the name of one of the most loved videogame characters of all times, couldn't provide the slightest defence against the big fat tyres of apathy which have spread it all over the road. This game has one other thing in common with those poor, flattened hedgehogs: seeing it is going to upset a whole lot of children, of all ages.
2/10

After so many miserable Sonic games I'm officially convinced Team Sonic has lost it. Sega should hand the brand over to another developer and either disband Team Sonic, or only occupy them with "classic collections" and ports. Hold on, I guess they could screw even those up ... how can they screw up so massively over and over again?

 

[Dave Baumann]

I tried the 360 demo for a bit and the control of it certainly put me right off the game - I could hardly get off the first jump without dying, and just gave up in short order. The demo left a very negative impression.

 

[Corwin_B]

It seems the demo made a good job of providing players with a representative sample of the (un)finished product. After the massive snore-fest and horrible PS2-likeness that was the PSU demo, Sega saved me money twice in a row with their XBL demos. Good job !

In a somewhat related topic : WTH is wrong with Sonic Team nowadays ?

 

[V3]

I tried the 360 demo for a bit and the control of it certainly put me right off the game - I could hardly get off the first jump without dying, and just gave up in short order. The demo left a very negative impression.

Most of these 3D Sonic games, you have to first figure out, what the designer wants you to do at each obstacle. Once you figure that out, its pretty hard to die, even if Sonic controls like a 300mph brick.

 

[Silanda]

In a somewhat related topic : WTH is wrong with Sonic Team nowadays ?

What is wrong is that they aren't really Sonic Team anymore, AFAIK all of the orignal Sonic staff have left. Sonic has become a cash cow and Sega just don't seem to give the games either the time or talent that they deserve (maybe that's a bit harsh but I can't believe an experienced coding team would produce a game engine that is so sloppily executed).

To be honest I enjoy playing this game and can put aside most of its faults, but the amount of loading is an absolute disgrace. It breaks up the flow of the game and makes it feel unfinished (perhaps it is). The programmers should be shot I'm afraid.

 

[Shark Sandwich]

I found this video of Sonic the Hedgehog on Kotaku (MASSIVE LATE-GAME SPOILERS):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPcGGHtKqyQ&eurl= (skip to 33 second mark if you're sick of seeing that guy's hand)

Watch that if you want to see Sega crap all over your childhood Sonic memories (more than they already have, I mean). It's like they actively tried to make this game as awful as possible in every way.

 

[GB123]

What is wrong is that they aren't really Sonic Team anymore, AFAIK all of the orignal Sonic staff have left. Sonic has become a cash cow and Sega just don't seem to give the games either the time or talent that they deserve (maybe that's a bit harsh but I can't believe an experienced coding team would produce a game engine that is so sloppily executed).

To be honest I enjoy playing this game and can put aside most of its faults, but the amount of loading is an absolute disgrace. It breaks up the flow of the game and makes it feel unfinished (perhaps it is). The programmers should be shot I'm afraid.

I agree, the loading is hideous, i don’t' think i have ever experienced anything so disjointed and broken as this game.

That aside the game isn't that bad.

It's not just Sonic Team dropping the ball, it's Sega all round, since the days of the Dreamcast they have become more of a cash cow (think EA), although Virtua Fighter 5 looks very nice

It''s a shame Sega disbanded Smilebit (AM6) Panzer Dragoon, JSRF and Gunvalkyrie where great games.

Not to mention i'm still waiting for closure on Shenmue ><

 

[Nesh]

I found this video of Sonic the Hedgehog on Kotaku (MASSIVE LATE-GAME SPOILERS):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPcGGHtKqyQ&eurl= (skip to 33 second mark if you're sick of seeing that guy's hand)

Watch that if you want to see Sega crap all over your childhood Sonic memories (more than they already have, I mean). It's like they actively tried to make this game as awful as possible in every way.

I checked the gametrailers review. Graphics are nice. Gameplay more of the same craptasticness.

 

[Rolf N]

That video was goddamnawful. I feel so unclean. That was even worse than playing FF X-2.

 

[Fox5]

Can Sonic ever work in 3D? Sonic was all about speed, and speed doesn't control well in 3D platformers unless they're just a straight course (is that what this is?). Isn't this Sonic in name and protagonist only? How can they get it to play with the same feel as the 2D originals?

*Cough* 3d racing games have pulled off a few better sense of speed and control than 2d ones ever did *Cough*

That Sega can't make a decent high speed 3d Sonic game is not an example of the impossibility of the task, but rather a lack of talent or ideas. If they want a fast game with a 'loose' feel, all they have to do is copy F-Zero or Wipeout and replace the car with Sonic.

 

[Corwin_B]

That Sega can't make a decent high speed 3d Sonic game is not an example of the impossibility of the task, but rather a lack of talent or ideas. If they want a fast game with a 'loose' feel, all they have to do is copy F-Zero or Wipeout and replace the car with Sonic.

Which, incidentally, seems to be what Sonic Wii is all about.

 

[Arwin]

This new Sonic has the right idea, I think. Almost the way it should be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ2bWpmucYM

 

[Nesh]

This new Sonic has the right idea, I think. Almost the way it should be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ2bWpmucYM

That seems to lack as well. Its motly running on one side of the screen, and there isnt much use of Sonic's rolling like a ball

 

[El Leone]

IMO, the first thing I think they should ditch is the mutiple characters. Bring the focus back on Sonic (and co op wise, Tail and Knuckles). My second suggestion I'm not so sure off as I'm trying to decide how they would implement it but I osmehow they should make it one big world, kind of like GTA but obivously more enclosed and with the sonic feel to it.

 

[Nesh]

IMO, the first thing I think they should ditch is the mutiple characters. Bring the focus back on Sonic (and co op wise, Tail and Knuckles). My second suggestion I'm not so sure off as I'm trying to decide how they would implement it but I osmehow they should make it one big world, kind of like GTA but obivously more enclosed and with the sonic feel to it.

They should add on the open enviroment lots of parts with rails as well that will give the opportunity for Sonic to accumulate speed without fearing of cliffs and obstacles.

Sonic Adventure is still the best 3D sonic because it offered lots of opportunities to speed on rails and HUGE loops. The exploring enviroments were also open enough for you to run. It had some camera and control issues since then but instead of improving and fixing the formula the idiots made some of the issues worse, others were still kept, and they reduced low risk rails and loops. Oh and they decided to increase cliffs of doom, stupid enemies, and more obstacles than a Super Mario game. Not to mention that they TOTALLY ruinded the boss fights