Other The Sonic franchise. Will it ever have it's glory back?

I can remember it like it was yesterday. Opening up my Sega on Christmas morning and hooking it up to play Sonic the Hedgehog. I could not think of anything that could be as cool as I was at that moment. Time passes, and Sonic 2 comes out. I love it, just like I had hoped. Then Sonic 3, and Sonic and Knuckles. I had loved these games, and was even more pleased when Sonic for the Dreamcast came out, which was just as enjoyable. That was when it went downhill for me.

I never heard from the Sonic Franchise for a while, unaware of the troubles that Sega was going through. I waited.

Then it came out. A Sonic game for the Gamecube. Finally! I get it an pop it in....What? somethings.....different. I don't like this! What happened?!

That's basically how it went down for me. Sonic went from bing the super cool blue spikey hedgehog to a pitiful attempt at something great. I waited again, and then Sonic and the Secret Rings came out. I thought "Hey, that looks cool! I'll give it a shot. Maybe they've learned from their mistakes." WRONG! With the constantly repeating music that was only cool the first 2 times you heard it and the repetitve stages "haven't I been through here already?!"
I lost all hope. He will never be as cool as he used to be. I just hope Knuckles got a different agent.

Now here I am, once again considering giving them another chance. It's kinda like that one girlfriend that you just can't let go. You always let them back, but you just don't want to believe they're never gonna work out. That brings me to the new Sonic RPG on the DS, which seems to be getting 7's and 8's in reviews. Any of you all given it a go?

Oh and as for the above rant, how many of you can agree with me? Do you think he'll ever be a respectable name again?

 

One of my mates has the new Sonic game, he reckons it's gone back to what made sonic great

 

what made sonic great is that it was a good platformer without much proper compition + a smidge of nostalga. like how many people would have played the first level 30+ times because there was no save feature, would you play for example the first level more than twice??. no they should have let sonic die gracefully back in the sega days

times changed and sonic wasnt a game that worked after the change. styles have changed and platformers dont work anymore as full games.

have both sonics on my 360 and love them tho but as retro games. dont dress it up as something new.

if the new ones actually good thats great ill buy it like but im not excited about it in the least till i hear more

i really cant see me buying the new one

 

For me... the series peaked with Sonic Adventure. Everything afterwards was just dire...

 

ratchet & clank seems to work pretty fine.

 

platformers work fine. it's just sega seem intent on making the wrong choices constantly when it comes to sonic.

i've also heard the new one is much better. how much truth is actually in that? i have no idea until i play it.

to be honest, i love sonic -- in a... nostalgic way. but i haven't been too fussed when it comes to him for quite some time. i hope unleashed is good though. it won't be anything close to it's heyday, but if it's competent and ACTUALLY PLAYABLE then it's a start.

i shouldn't be thinking like that, but after sonic adventure 2, it's what it's come to.

 

I've got the new one on my rental list now, when it arrives, if it's any good I may buy it.

 

me too, although i'll just finish it and then send it back

 

Beat me to it, platformers very much do work (I realise that probably makes no grammatical sense but oh well). The problem is the classic platformers just don't work well in 3D. I loved Mario, but I have not liked a single Mario game since the SNES games. Sonic I was never really that keen on, but I can say with certainty that the 2D games were much better than the newer ones. The problem was they didn't really translate them into 3D very well, and I don't actually see why the needed to anyway, I think Mario and Sonic, iconic as they are, didn't need to make the jump to 3D. To me, it felt like the 3D games were made because they felt like they had to make new games. It didn't really feel like Sonic and Mario anymore but at the same time, kind of did. They kept in the quirks of the game that were there simply because of the limitations of the consoles, and they had to keep them in because that had become ingrained into the character of the game. When you played the new games and compared it to new platformers, it felt vast and empty IMO.

I really love platformers and there are some fantastic 3D ones out there. Spyro, Croc, Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Banjo Kazooie. Yes, they are more complicated than the basic platformers of old, they do involve a lot more than just simple jumping from one platform to the other and jumping on someone's head, but at their heart they're still dominantly platformers. It also didn't stop me from having to spend hours trying to get my mum off my playstation so I could have a go on Sypro/R&C, let me tell you, my mum is no gamer, but she used to play those games and get as drawn in as I do. Hmm, I think I know what to get my mum for Christmas now.

Oh, and according to my friend at work today who is a huge sonic fan, the new game does seem very good to him from what he's played so far. When I started reading your post I was thinking "Hang on, is this the same guy because he said exactly the same thing earlier in work."

 

I'm gonna try/play sonic unleashed but to be honest it still doesn't look right. Yes it looks like side-scrolling fast paced fun but theres very little exploration. From what I've seen it looks very linear and basically rollercoaster ride with the occasional jump or button interaction.

 

the middle ground would be to go ala Street Fighter IV (is that still coming out even?) and continued to have used the 2D platform with 3D models.

I think a 2D platformer with proper checkpoints and savepoints could still be viable in this age but itd take some nurturing care.

 

See Little Big Planet, from what I've heard yeah there are 3 depth panes but still plays like a 2D game on each pane

 

These new sonic games really suck. I have one for the 360 and it's horrible. The controls are funky, camera angle is stupid (you cant even control the damn thing) and the horrid joke of Miles Prower (Miles Per Hour).

There's even one level where you have to jump between the platform- things, and the camera is ALWAYS POINTED SO THAT YOU CANT SEE ANYTHING!!! So, i sold it to some sonic fanboy for 45 bucks.


-I bought it for 30.

 

Sonic unleashed is quite good, if you can live with the warehog levels that is *shudders* The sonic levels on it are some of the best 3D sonic levels ever everything is in there, speed platforming, branching paths. its a good buy, a bit underrated imo!

 

There are still some good ones out there. If you mean side-scrolling then I have to say I would perfer some MORE games to be side scrolling. I really don't like the Metroid Prime series. I MUCH perfer Metroid games to be side scrolling (though they aren't "fully" a platformer) like the last couple that came out on the GBA. The new Castlevania games are great which are side scrolling as well (but still not "fully" platformers). You can also play the New Super Mario Bros. for the DS, which is more like the old school with nifty graphics.

I really have to agree with Veles on this to an extent. The Sonic on the Dreamcast worked well in 3D but others I just couldn't bare to play. I think the side-scrolling platformer is being forgotten, and it's a real shame. You can still find some gems out there though, such a Braid. I think I lost interest in the Sonic series also from it going to a bit of a "cute" vibe, which I really didn't like. Sonic was supposed to be edgy not have cute little pink and overweight friends lol. I'm glad I'm not alone on this, and I hope they can straighten things out.

 

just picked unleashed up as gamestation are selling it for 19 quid. i really hope i don't regret it -- as i've been hearing more and more mixed reactions as the days have gone by since it's release.

 

I think you have to remember that video gaming standards have increased allot since the days when sonic was first released.
Sonic was great because there were very few games out there that did what it did so well. Over time standards have raised and it cant simply be starting from the left of a stage and making your way to the right through hoops and spring boards etc....it has to go beyond that and take it into a better direction.
Look at Zelda for example;

It too started in the 2D realm and really took itself in another direction while still keeping the adventure element there. Zelda still feels like zelda even now but with so much more in every aspect and thats where sonic failed I think.

I really liked the cartoons too, he was one of my favourite video game charectors...but that feeling and love is long gone.

 

I find that statement wrong in so many ways

As stated before, I'm all about a good side scrolling platformer and I'm sure others would like to see more as well. From what I've heard, the side-scrolling featuers in Sonic Unleashed are great so I would love to see more like it, though unlikely.

 

I would like to see more "simple" classic style games too.

 

tried playing unleashed on numerous occasions and when i look at it as a whole... i can't stand it. the sonic parts are incredibly enjoyable, but the exploration and werehog parts destroy what potential there was.

tonight, for example: i spent half an hour wandering around the world map looking for a stage i could play, then another half an hour looking for medals so i could unlock that stage, then another half an hour faffing around with the same section of the stage (it was a werehog one) where i couldn't do something as simple as swing across some water because of how un-responsive and utterly gash the controls are and was punished for it by being thrown three tedious fight sequences back over and over. it's just not fun.

i'm sticking it on ebay after christmas and hoping i can make a profit off my 19 quid, heh.

(ps: thanks sega for defecating all over my childhood)