General Sonic is Terrible Thread

[Jermungandr]

so is shadow the hedgehog cool now?

cause i still think that's one hilarious fucking game

Well on that note ... could we establish what exactly is considered a good 3D Platform Sonic Game here? Because there seems to be a lot of disconnect in opinions in that regard. Some people think every 3D Sonic game ever made sucks, while there are others that think there's only one or two good ones. Personally I think it's about fifty/fifty. Here's my take on the ones I've actually played:


Sonic Adventure DX (GCN version) - "Good"
I'm pretty forgiving on this game mostly because it was experimenting a lot in genre that hadn't been explored a lot at the time. It was Sonic's first true 3D platformer, and probably the first 3D platformer ever to incorporate speed as a major element. I'm not a huge fan of this game personally, but I think given the mindset of the time that it came out it's a pretty decent title. It definitely would not be considered a good game if it came out in recent years, though, I feel.

Sonic Adventure 2 (GCN version) - "Great"
This game has it's share of issues sure, but I honestly think this is my favorite of all the Sonic 3D platformers. I might even love this game, glitches and terribly assembled cutscenes and all. I even love almost all of the music, including Knuckles' cheesy raps. Best part of the game: No stupid hubworld. The stages flow nicely from one to the next without having to do stupid overworld crap in between to get to or unlock the next stage. Notice that all of the worst Sonic games tend to feature such a hub.

Sonic Heroes (GCN version) - "meh"
It's the "formations" feature that really kills it for me. If this game had just let you switch between characters on the fly and use them individually without having to be in formations (especially the weird-ass Flying formation) it would have been a so much better game in my opinion. But even if they fixed that, there's still the problem that the different character groups don't even give you unique stages to play or even unique takes on the same stage. Team Rose, Team Sonic, and Team Dark are just Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulties respectively ... and the "easy" team isn't even the one you're suggested to play first, which makes it all the stupider. Then you got Chaotix, which is still the same deal except now you have mini-objectives to achieve in each stage. And you have to beat ALL FOUR to finish the game. I don't enjoy it.

Shadow the Hedgehog (GCN version) - "Good"
I actually like Shadow the Hedgehog, despite all the whining. I mean, I won't lie; the game has a lot of valid things to complain about. Primarily the story, which is as terrible as it is ridiculous. And the fact that in order to get every ending you have to play some of the earlier stages numerous times which gets agitating. But gameplay-wise this game can be a lot of fun. The guns really don't ruin the game all despite what people say, ESPECIALLY since their use is completely optional; you can totally complete the game just using your standard homing attack ... but honestly the guns will make your life easier and certain guns make the game a lot more fun, so you really shouldn't avoid them just out of indignation.

Sonic the Hedgehog (PS3 version) - "BURN IT WITH FIRE"
Fuck this game. Just fuck it.

Sonic Unleashed (PS3 version) - "meh"
I will be honest here, I didn't play much of this game. I played the first level which was ... fine I guess, I remember having a specific issue with the controls but now I can't remember what it was. I think it was something like I had to press a different button to perform a homing attack rather than just press jump a second time and that bothered me? Then I played the second level, which was a night level, and while the gameplay mechanics weren't terrible that I can remember, the stage just seemed to take FOREVER to complete. It was way too frikkin' long and the length annoyed the hell out of me. Then there was an awful airplane segment, after which they expected me to immediately play ANOTHER night level right after the first one. I didn't. I returned the game. The length of the night levels is friggin' agony and I understand why people complained about it.

Now I've heard that the Wii version has more condensed night levels and no stupid hubworld to deal with, so I might be willing to give that one a try someday if that's true? But as far as the PS3 version goes, I didn't enjoy what little I played of it.

Sonic and the Black Knight (Wii version) - "Okay"
I never played Secret Rings, so I wasn't a hundred percent sure what I was getting into here. This game wasn't terrible, but it did force me to waggle the wiimote way more and way more frequently than any other Wii game I've ever played, and it literally hurt my wrist, which is my primary complaint about this game. The second complaint would be that they should have left out the 2D platforming segments (of which there are thankfully few) out of the game altogether, as without a Sonic that can turn around it's really not built for them and they were not enjoyable. Speaking of not turning around, I can understand and forgive wanting to keep Sonic on a track for these games, but would it really have killed them to just include a button that did a simple 180-degree pivot so you can go backwards when you miss something? I get not wanting to give you free roaming, but having to literally walk backwards when you miss something is kind of ridiculous.

I'll be honest, I'm kind of disappointed that the Storybook Series is not going to continue. The games might not have been Sonic's best, but I did think they were simple and cute. I would have liked to see a few more stories get the same treatment. I haven't actually played Secret Rings, but if it's pretty much the same game but without the wrist-killing swordplay, I can't imagine it's that bad.

Sonic Colors (Wii version) - "Okay"
I didn't enjoy Sonic Colors quite as much as most people. I'm not saying it was a bad game, but there were a lot of little things irritating me. The first and most annoying would be Sonic's second jump. Instead of doing a forward airdash when there's no enemies to target, Sonic instead does a tiny, tiny little second jump. This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that tons of platforms are placed at just the right height so you have to use the second jump to reach them. If you're going to place 90% of the platforms so you need just the tiny extra boost in order to reach them, wouldn't it make WAY more sense to just make his default jump that much higher and scrap the extra jump altogether? Ugh, it drives me nuts. The other thing that really gets me is the cluttered backdrops on a lot of stages that make it really difficult to even see platforms; or rather, you have difficulty parsing what is and what isn't useable platforms from the backdrop. Then there's the tripping feature and the fact that I just didn't like some of the Color powers. The game just felt really messy to me; not bad, but definitely not anywhere near as fun as Sonic Adventure 2.

Sonic Generations (PS3 version) - "Great"
There's not a whole lot to this game, but it sure was a hell of a lot of fun to play. In fact that's probably why it's so charming. I honestly liked both the Classic and Modern bits, even though it seems most people only liked one or the other. I do confess that the Modern bits do have a bit of a "hold boost to win" feel to them, but I don't feel like that is entirely a bad thing as long as it's still fun. My only real complaint is that for a full-priced Sonic game it feels kind of short on content.

Sonic Lost World (Wii U version) - "Good"
I didn't super love Lost World. It was a decent game and definitely a step in the right direction, especially with bringing Sonic back to a more cartoony environment to play in. Controlling your speed variation with the shoulder button feels good and the parkour elements definitely work for Sonic. The main issues with this game fall on an overcomplicated control scheme with unnecessary features and an unpleasant new way of performing homing attacks. While this game is not quite perfect, I really hope their next title takes what they learned from this game and builds upon it, rather than scrapping it altogether and starting fresh. Basically all they need for their next game is simpler controls and bring back the old method of performing homing attacks and they're all set.