Modernising 3D platformers - Insomniac has shown me the way

I actually have nothing against Sonic Heroes. I played it as a kid and loved it. When I was talking about bad Sonic games, I meant the more recent ones.

Sonic Heroes is... pretty bad.
The last 9 years of Sonic games have been really good, except Sonic Boom and Sonic and the Black Knight.
Surely you already know, but you should try Sonic Generations.
 
One and done. Nintendo are the leading devs in 3D platformers and they are the masters in that category. If somebody want to learn about that type of game just learn from Nintendo.

I agree with that, but I definitely think Banjo Kazooie is the best non-Mario 3D platformer game.
 
Ratchet and Clank is not a platformer. Seriously some people have really played way too few actual platformers to say that a game with 70% shooting (at best) is a platformer. It's like saying God of War is a platformer because it has some jumping and a few puzzles here and there.

Insomniac has done nothing to "modernise" 3D platformers, if modernising 3D platformers means throwing in waves of enemies and explosions and giving way more importance to that by reducing the jumping and puzzles to an almost insignificant amount then I'm out of the genre. If anything, Nintendo, Sanzaru and the developers of Yooka-Kaylee and a Hat in Time should be praised instead. Stop giving Insomniac the credit they don't deserve. They make good games but they're not 3D platformers.

The last game they made that could be considered a 3D platformer is R&C1. None of their games since that have been a platformer.

This.
 
Hoping Yooka Laylee turns out great.

Yooka-Laylee.jpg

I remember this. I was merely interested before but I'm quite excited now.
I can't afford it right now with UC4 but I will get around to it and probably the other Nintendo games I haven't gotten for the Wii.

Sonic Heroes is... pretty bad.
The last 9 years of Sonic games have been really good, except Sonic Boom and Sonic and the Black Knight.
Surely you already know, but you should try Sonic Generations.
I've been waiting for Sonic Generations to hit PS+ and I will continue waiting since it has been so many years. :p Btw, wasn't this and the DS game the only good Sonic games recently?

And I will not tolerate this sacrilege against Sonic Heroes!
 
Definitely check out Tools of Destruction and A Crack in Time. They're fantastic. Definitely would take Ratchet over Mario any day of the week. They're more fun and the gunplay is sooo good.
 
I remember this. I was merely interested before but I'm quite excited now.

I can't afford it right now with UC4 but I will get around to it and probably the other Nintendo games I haven't gotten for the Wii.


I've been waiting for Sonic Generations to hit PS+ and I will continue waiting since it has been so many years. :p Btw, wasn't this and the DS game the only good Sonic games recently?

And I will not tolerate this sacrilege against Sonic Heroes!

The good 3D Sonic games in the past decade have been Sonic Generations, Sonic Colors (Wii only), and half of Sonic Unleashed.

Though Colors has tons of 2D mixed with the 3D and half of Generations' stages are 2D levels.
 
Developers should be looking at Super Mario 64 as a template, which despite being two decades old now, remains unparalleled in movement options and control for a 3D platformer.
Ratchet is a hybrid, and its platforming moments are mediocre at best.
 
Developers should be looking at Super Mario 64 as a template, which despite being two decades old now, remains unparalleled in movement options and control for a 3D platformer.
Ratchet is a hybrid, and its platforming moments are mediocre at best.

The funny thing is, I wish Nintendo looked at Super Mario 64 as a template. It's weird, because even though I think the Galaxy games were technically better, moving Mario around in them wasn't quite as fun and slick as it is in Mario 64.
 
I've been waiting for Sonic Generations to hit PS+ and I will continue waiting since it has been so many years. :p Btw, wasn't this and the DS game the only good Sonic games recently?

And I will not tolerate this sacrilege against Sonic Heroes!

Sonic Rush (DS)
Sonic Rush Adventures (DS)
Sonic Unleashed (360) at least half of it
Sonic Generations (360 and co)
Sonic Generations (DS)
Sonic Colours (Wii)

While the bad are
Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric
Sonic 4 Episode I & II (at least for me)

I don't think we got anything else, aside from the superb "remakes" of Sonic 1, 2 and CD
 
Developers should be looking at Super Mario 64 as a template, which despite being two decades old now, remains unparalleled in movement options and control for a 3D platformer.
Ratchet is a hybrid, and its platforming moments are mediocre at best.

When I say look at Ratchet as a model I mean developers must ensure that they have
  • Top of the line graphics
  • Simple, responsive and addictive gameplay
  • Story doesn't have to be good but dialogue/moment-to-moment must be fun
  • Fun characters with humour and charm
  • Beautiful art
  • Lots of content and variety
  • Develop for and sell to your fans - they know best
  • A sense of adventure and fun (music is important here)
Ratchet and Clank has ticked all of these boxes for me.
 
The funny thing is, I wish Nintendo looked at Super Mario 64 as a template. It's weird, because even though I think the Galaxy games were technically better, moving Mario around in them wasn't quite as fun and slick as it is in Mario 64.

Super Mario Sunshine is a subpar Mario game as far as everything goes, but god, it's so much fun to just move around and do all sorts of tricks.
 
The funny thing is, I wish Nintendo looked at Super Mario 64 as a template. It's weird, because even though I think the Galaxy games were technically better, moving Mario around in them wasn't quite as fun and slick as it is in Mario 64.

yes its rather amusing how Nintendo got it so right first go, yet have regressed with each new iteration of 3d Mario since. The Galaxy games are nice but the sheer joy of character movement can't compare with SM64.
 
Ratchet, besides not really being a platformer, has always been really simplistic and boring to me. Look at Sunset Overdrive if you want to see what a modern platformer can be. Shooting is a part of it, but it's much more about traversing the environment and stringing platforming moves together. It plays like a dream and it's not reliant on a cartoon mascot emoting for storytelling.
 
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