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Sonic Boom |OT| Sonic 2014

Are you going to blame Sonic 2006 on the Wii U too? Nobody has ever released a grossly misleading tech demo before. The final version of Sonic Boom looks and feels like it's from the PS2 era. Maybe SEGA is just bad at making games.

I don't know why people are coming up with conspiracy theories to justify this game's lack of polish. It's not like SEGA has a history of releasing broken games in the past.

It's speculation with a lot of hard evidence that points to the same conclusion. The lead next-gen versions of the game were canned when the exclusivity deal was penned. Let's look at the vocabulary used during BRB's recruitment phase before the announcement. To highlight:

As of mid-2010, Big Red Button was pitching IP "to publishers such as Sony, Konami, and Activision." By spring of the following year, Big Red Button landed an "unannounced major project with third-party publisher," which seems to be the title they are presently working on.

Big Red Button's recruitment copy describes the project as a "next-gen landmark AAA console project," and job openings hint at a cross-generation "character driven, 3rd person action" title with co-op gameplay and some sort of mobile integration.

Note that the footage included in the Cryengine reel was also revealed around this time. Clearly there was more at play here than we're privy to. There was very blatant mention of cross-gen/mobile development, for what was eventually known to be Sonic Boom. While the writing and direction of the game most likely wouldn't have been affected, clearly there was a large developmental shift during production which may have impacted the overall game directly. It's exactly what caused Sonic 06 to be as bad as it was when Sonic Team was halved during crunch so Secret Rings could begin development. I don't see how you could look at the above and not arrive to the same conclusion.
 
Stephen Frost is a cool guy and he worked on Shinobi 3D :( It's a shame he's feeling down about this. But if the game is bad, and it seems like it is, then it's understandably going to get bashed.
 
Ok started playing the game Wiiu my initial review
Let's start with the positive,
I like the platforming a lot especially the 2D segments, the game really gives me a PS2 platforming game.

The Bad and ugly
the Frames , I'm not the type of player that cares for 60 or 30 fps especially if the game is good and has a steady frame rate, but the constant dips in frames is really noticeable.
The movement between gameplay and cutscenes doesn't seem natural, my brother always thought I was skipping some cutscenes.
If the frames issue is resolved then this game would've been better.
 
It's speculation with a lot of hard evidence that points to the same conclusion. The lead next-gen versions of the game were canned when the exclusivity deal was penned. Let's look at the vocabulary used during BRB's recruitment phase before the announcement. To highlight:





Note that the footage included in the Cryengine reel was also revealed around this time. Clearly there was more at play here than we're privy to. There was very blatant mention of cross-gen/mobile development, for what was eventually known to be Sonic Boom. While the writing and direction of the game most likely wouldn't have been affected, clearly there was a large developmental shift during production which may have impacted the overall game directly. It's exactly what caused Sonic 06 to be as bad as it was when Sonic Team was halved during crunch so Secret Rings could begin development. I don't see how you could look at the above and not arrive to the same conclusion.

We dont know that, this could have turned the same or almost as bad as its now, Sonic 2006 quality is not to blame on Secret Rings/the Wii either, or how can you explain Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Unleashed, Black Knight and Lost World,.?
Sometimes, it can be the wrong team, vision or publisher, the art direction of this game never gave me hope.
If anything its Nintendo that got the short end of the stick.
 
So you played the game?

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"You don't have to play this game to know it's bad". Same thing with Assassins Creed Unity, so thanks for that example.

I've never played Legend of Zelda: A Link between worlds but I know it's good...or is that just blind Nintendo fanboy bias and it's mediocre?

I've played a bunch of games with technical issues but still found some enjoyment from them.
This game is one of those where one would be best get a proper judgement for by playing it, especially when there are some positive impressions of the game from some posters.

I don't have a Wii U myself though, else would've gotten this :V
 
I've never played Legend of Zelda: A Link between worlds but I know it's good...or is that just blind Nintendo fanboy bias and it's mediocre?

I've played a bunch of games with technical issues but still found some enjoyment from them.
This game is one of those where one would be best get a proper judgement for by playing it, especially when there are some positive impressions of the game from some posters.

I don't have a Wii U myself though, else would've gotten this :V

You can judge the game (you haven't played) by a general consensus. It's really not that difficult (to me anyway).
 
You can judge the game (you haven't played) by a general consensus. It's really not that difficult (to me anyway).
Consensus can be wrong though. It is not infallible. Not saying anything about it on this game mind you, just saying in general.

Crap, I gotta hit the hay, but I'll post some reviews on the OP now that we got some in.
 
Basic, generic gameplay that has little in common with previous Sonic games....so fans of Sonic are going to hate it, the game is designed poorly and the performance is choppy. I could see little kids who never played a Sonic game before enjoy this game as a weekend rental and that's about it.

Sad thing is, wasn't it reported that this game cost almost 20 million bucks to develop over the last 3 years? Even if the core gameplay was flawed, there should have been some performance polish with those costs.
 
Basic, generic gameplay that has little in common with previous Sonic games....so fans of Sonic are going to hate it, the game is designed poorly and the performance is choppy. I could see little kids who never played a Sonic game before enjoy this game as a weekend rental and that's about it.

Sad thing is, wasn't it reported that this game cost almost 20 million bucks to develop over the last 3 years? Even if the core gameplay was flawed, there should have been some performance polish with those costs.

If that's true, holy shit...

That money could've been spent SO MUCH better....so...so much better. ;_;
 
There has to have been some big developmental hurdles that bogged the process down for them. I know target renders are common, but the initial reveal trailers for the game showed gameplay that looked genuinely appealing and the graphics were great. I guess the Wii U couldn't handle their target render and things like that. Looking at that debut trailer, Bangarang and cornyness aside, now there's a game that looks slick and I want to play it. Maybe in a couple of years BRB will return on PS4 and XB1 (if Boom as a whole is still successful) and BRB can make the product they wanted to.

So, you think Boom would be a good game if it was released for PS4 / XB1? I could understand this if the shortcommings of the game were mainly in the technical area, but I have to stress: With only one platform to develop for, they could focus on the design and polish for that platform way better. If anything, having to develop the same game for PS3/PS4/360/XB1, too, would have resulted in an even worse product.
 
It's really upsetting to see what has happened with Lost World and Boom. Colours, Generations and the Racing games had done a great job restoring Sonic's reputation. Now we're right back to where we were, with the series being a laughing stock again. Sonic Team really need to deliver next year.
 
So, you think Boom would be a good game if it was released for PS4 / XB1? I could understand this if the shortcommings of the game were mainly in the technical area, but I have to stress: With only one platform to develop for, they could focus on the design and polish for that platform way better. If anything, having to develop the same game for PS3/PS4/360/XB1, too, would have resulted in an even worse product.
Yeah, the platform in this case is no excuse. You work with what you have, not what you want it to be. Which doesn't even matter here, because many of the issues cited have little to do with the Wii U's power or lack thereof. You don't need a top of the line console to program something as basic as collision detection.
 
Sonic 06 and '14 run better than MCC confirmed.

H8 life
Sonic 06 runs better than Halo 1 Anniversary and Halo 4 in the MCC but even the worst moments of split-screen in the MCC run better than Sonic 14 (which runs even worse than Assassin's Creed Unity).
 
People can argue that Sonic Boom is not the next Sonic 06 for many reasons. But even if the game itself doesn't compare to Sonic 06, this whole social experience sure feels like it.
 
What the heck is that even supposed to mean?

As in it seems like everyone's going crazy about how bad the game is and saying stuff like they want to check out the game just to see how bad it is. I mean you've got the Game Grumps doing Sonic Boom just to crap all over it and then the Penny Arcade comic above. I don't remember this kind of aggressive backlash happening with Sonic Lost World for example. It just feels like making fun of Sonic is once again the cool thing to do now.
 
As in it seems like everyone's going crazy about how bad the game is and saying stuff like they want to check out the game just to see how bad it is. I mean you've got the Game Grumps doing Sonic Boom just to crap all over it and then the Penny Arcade comic above. I don't remember this kind of aggressive backlash happening with Sonic Lost World for example. It just feels like making fun of Sonic is once again the cool thing to do now.

I dunno, the game is pretty piss poor. This has just had more attention than Sonic '06 because of the bold new character designs and the adjacent TV series. Plus the fact it's being developed by ex-Naughty Dog staffers, people thought it might be good.
 
As in it seems like everyone's going crazy about how bad the game is and saying stuff like they want to check out the game just to see how bad it is. I mean you've got the Game Grumps doing Sonic Boom just to crap all over it and then the Penny Arcade comic above. I don't remember this kind of aggressive backlash happening with Sonic Lost World for example. It just feels like making fun of Sonic is once again the cool thing to do now.
Lost World had mixed reviews, not straight-up bad reviews.
 
I dunno, the game is pretty piss poor. This has just had more attention than Sonic '06 because of the bold new character designs and the adjacent TV series. Plus the fact it's being developed by ex-Naughty Dog staffers, people thought it might be good.

More attention than Sonic 06? As far as I remember, that one got a shitton of attention.
 
I bought this game during the Target sale to give to my 5 year old son for his bday next month. He enjoys the new cartoon. He likes the 3DS demo and the 5-10 min he played of the Wii U game at PAX. I should probably return it, huh? I have gamefly so I can probably rent it just to show him how bad it is.
 
I bought this game during the Target sale to give to my 5 year old son for his bday next month. He enjoys the new cartoon. He likes the 3DS demo and the 5-10 min he played of the Wii U game at PAX. I should probably return it, huh? I have gamefly so I can probably rent it just to show him how bad it is.
Return it. At least Lost World is remotely decent. This......no.
 
No, what's cringe-worthy is confusing /v/ for Reddit. Oy...
I bought this game during the Target sale to give to my 5 year old son for his bday next month. He enjoys the new cartoon. He likes the 3DS demo and the 5-10 min he played of the Wii U game at PAX. I should probably return it, huh? I have gamefly so I can probably rent it just to show him how bad it is.
Perhaps he will have a good or decent play through with it? I have so far. We'll see if it ends that way...
 
Return it. At least Lost World is remotely decent. This......no.

No, what's cringe-worthy is confusing /v/ for Reddit. Oy...

Perhaps he will have a good or decent play through with it? I have so far. We'll see if it ends that way...

My fear is that the glitches will make the game even tougher for him. He's pretty good at playing games for his age, but some of these glitches look pretty bad. I'm glad we rented TMNT Danger of the Ooze instead of buying it cause that game also did not meet expectations, and he was bored of it in a few hours, and he LOVES TMNT... I'm guessing this will be the same...
 
Too bad the patch didn't fix Lost Worlds awful boss battles or terrible stage design in the later stages.
 
What did the patch do? I finished it before it was patched.
- Allow the Wisps to be controlled the traditional way without motion controls
- 100 Rings gives you a life
- More lives when you Continue
- Fixed some glitches

I recall it doing more, but I keep forgetting. Overall it was a godsend for the game.
 
- Allow the Wisps to be controlled the traditional way without motion controls
- 100 Rings gives you a life
- More lives when you Continue
- Fixed some glitches

I recall it doing more, but I keep forgetting. Overall it was a godsend for the game.

The rings bit still blows my mind. It's basically a Sonic tradition. Hell, it's a PLATFORMER tradition.

How do you fuck that up?!
 
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