Sunday November 7th 2010 (12:12 pm EST)
Remember this date, because it marks a historic moment.
I am notorious for the amount of anger I feel towards the Sonic franchise and SEGA since it hit 3d. I've felt nothing, but growing disappointment for every re-iteration of Sonic that has been made, and I constantly rage in threads about Sega in general.
This...looks good.
SOUND
The music is alright, and is obviously trying to appeal to the amount of love the world expressed for Mario Galaxy's soundtrack, but it feels nice. I still think it is inherently off for a Sonic game, and the option to play a chiptune version of the stage tracks during gameplay would likely please me, though. So I'm a cheap fix on this. Im bias. Sue me. Just realize many of us miss the classic tracks to the point that non-digital tracks sound wrong, and get over it. For now, this is okay, and even enjoyable to someone like me so know you did about as good as you could here without giving us two sdtk options to choose from.
I also enjoyed the drill theme greatly.
My only major gripe is Sonic's voice. I still hate it when he talks. I love that he isn't saying anything snarky but I do not like his voice announcing the wisp powers. I would instead have the wisps say it for it in their own cuddly fashion. Sort of an "I'm helping!" from them like a child would yell. Food for thought here.
THE ENEMIES
These are still rather bland, and pointless since the game still has my notorious enemy "the homing attack". However, their are so few enemies that it matters very little, and lots of enemies would likely break this game in half with the way it plays. Perhaps include sections with large, really iconic looking enemies flying along behind the stage in the background that could either be just for show, or occasionally fire hazards toward you that are easy to spot but challenging in large numbers. It's risky if done wrong, but done right this would please me as a fan of the older iconic enemies. And even if they did nothing back there this would please me.
Its really my only gripe, and it's more of an atmospheric thing that seems missing than a gameplay one. Perhaps include some harmless drones that you can't be hurt by that explode when hit that are stylish and call it a day.
THE FLOW
This game seemed to flow very well. It still had it's share of moments where the game played itself, but no more than the original 2d games did. Good job monitoring the use of rails, and launchers Sega. You did it in a way that added fast paced experiences without forcing gamers to sit back and watch for too long of a time period. Highly praiseworthy.
The platforming looked fair to bland during 3d moments with Sonic, and I think this is about as good as it gets from this camera perspective. We've seen for years how poorly this angle lends itself to Sonic jumping, and I think it is best that these moments were NOT USED FOR PLATFORMING. Way to go Sega, ya done good finally getting this.
2d Platfoming while Sonic is running wisp-free looked like it could have used some more paths to take, but given how far back the camera stays it would make this impossible to do in a manner that would feel the same as the old games. Perhaps if you hit an area where the camera pulled into about the distance of the classic games, then fill the screen with multiple paths located either just above or below Sonic that would open out into the wideshot after taking one for a few seconds this would recapture the fast paced platforming moments of old without sacrificing any of the beautiful gameplay I'm seeing here. If you do this Sega, do it without including any pits in these areas...these would destroy the flow of these moments and make the game feel cheap and filled with blind spots.
Wisp oriented platforming looked great though. These moments had some nice Spider-ball Metroid moments, and the drill and laser looked like they would have some incredibly memorable segments for players. FANTASTIC! I thought I would hate Sega for changing gameplay, but this time they did it in a manner that follows the golden rule of platformers..."If you add any new way for the player to traverse their environment, then be certain it in no way invalidates any of the core gameplay used in any of it's well received predecessors. To ignore this will make the core gameplay style pointless at times." The wisps all add moments without removing anything, unlike the homing attack removing the necessity of timing jumps around enemies, and Sonic's jump animation often not having him tuck into attacking ball to protect him from any enemies he might blindly hit. I mention the last because occasionally Sonic jumped without tucking when coming out of ramps too fast and this would get him nailed without giving the player a chance to live. No enemies=not present in this game though so chalk it up to a gripe from previous games that I hope I don't face later in this game.
NOSTALGIA
It's back to a large degree. Sonic being shot almost entirely in 2d while maintaining GOOD transitions between 3d camera angles is incredible in this game. I had my doubts on vid 1, but then it opened up and looked great. I even saw many hidden paths to take thanks to the drill and laser later on and the multitude of acts you could end up in per world based upon where you exited the previous act was wonderful. I always thought this would work great, and showing it off in a puzzlebobble themed map to let the players know when they took a new route that earned them a new zone was great. I can't praise this enough.
Also, allowing players to jump around during the points totaling, and increase their score while occasionally finding one ups was great! I had missed this so much since the old 2d games. It felt wonderful. And unlocking the canisters of wisps at the end of the stage felt so iconically similar to saving the animals in the old titles. It really felt good to do this. Thank you for bringing this moment back Sega. Granted I miss all the warm fuzzy animals, but the wisps become quickly lovable with all the power ups they give you. And unlike shields they do not blur the view of your character on the screen from the wideshot you implement throughout this game. Good design choice here.
CONCLUSION
Sigh...I can't believe I'm saying this. Buy this game. It's great. It may still lack a few things the old games had, but it appears to do a fine job of keeping even a bastard like me happy, and that is an achievement. I'm as shocked as you are. I don't own a copy yet, but I will so long as this game doesn't screw itself over any outside of these levels.
I still think it could improve in the areas I mentioned, but this is by no means another bad Sonic game from Sega. I am willing to accept this as the first Sonic title that I will be willing to acknowledge since the classics as a good game.
